Marine biofuel is the next big thing in the maritime business as it’s important to save oceans from pollution and help grow a sustainable business across the globe. Maritronics, a leading marine service provider explains the need for Marine Biofuels right now.
Role of Marine Biofuels in Reducing Emissions
The marine transportation sector can cost-effectively reduce climatic emissions and the role of the segment is commendable, says most studies. This can be achieved by using drop-in biofuels. These fuels are the best alternatives to diesel, liquefied natural gas or another on the existing machinery.
The use of biofuels can inverse the climatic change factors as they are more based on biogenic carbon which doesn’t add to atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Maritime biofuels create the potential to accelerate climate impact reductions in transport at lower costs.
Advantages of Marine Biofuels
The main advantage is the easy implementation of the fuel without many huzzles about regulations. Ship engine manufacturers are the key players in implementing these changes and help the marine sector to get involved with biofuels.
Biofuel Conversion Technologies
Biofuel conversion technologies currently undergo a shift from specific (e.g. biochemical) towards non-specific (e.g. thermochemical) processes. Thermo-chemical processes are gaining momentum fast and their products are in the market since the late 2020s. This can lead to upscaling of lignocellulosic based marine biofuels.
Challenges in Biofuel Adoption
One of the major challenges in biofuel in a sustainable way is its public acceptance. The best opportunities are with lignocellulosic based conversion routes using waste streams that do not compete with food and feed production.
These waste-based feedstocks, if managed well, have the capacity to have little to no undesired environmental and social impacts and/or to even replace harmful practices with sustainable ones that provide ecosystem services as well as adding value to primary producers, such as farmers.
Importance of Supporting Tools and Incentives
There needs to have the right supporting tools and incentive schemes for consistent inclusion of marine biofuel into the sector. There needs to be a clear sustainable strategy and circular economy principles with strong involvement even from the basic providers like forestry and agricultural sector.
To ensure both environmental and social sustainability of biomass feedstocks it is necessary to stimulate practices that are directed to diversifying the primary producers’ income and that contribute to improvements in biodiversity and soil health.
EU and International Maritime Initiatives
In the meantime, the EU Maritime space has initiated various levels of incentives and regulations, also the renewable and now-carbon fuel industry are pushing the union to take affirmative actions to reduce the climatic impact on the international maritime sector.
The International Maritime Organization has not yet set out the path and regulatory conditions for decreasing the fossil content of marine fuels. There is a real need for reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions reduction. The European commission could extend the renewable energy directive and its sustainability schemes to include the maritime sector.
Maritronics, a leading marine companies in Dubai believes that adding taxes with respect to emission can bring in necessary change. It is important to develop the right kind of machinery for involving biofuel in the maritime sector that needs to be envisioned and practicalized.
Realizing climatic changes due to transportation is much harder than in other economic sectors. The transition from fossil to biofuels needs an ambitious innovation program and needs to attract more serious policy attention and incentives.
Maritronics welcomes collaborators to work along future needs of the maritime industry to make the future of maritime business in the UAE much more promising and rewarding.
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