Strategies for promoting biodiesel use in marine vessels

The marine transportation sector, responsible for consuming a large amount of degraded fuel oil, is one of the major contributors to global warming and air pollution. These effects are responsible for a large number of premature deaths in the US and throughout the world. The international regulation known as the 2008 MARPOL Annex VI Amendment, which is enforced by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), has imposed progressively more stringent limits on emissions from marine vessels. Biodiesel, an environmentally friendly, renewable, clean, and low-carbon fuel, is regarded as the most appropriate alternative fuel for marine vessels. However, the promotion of biodiesel use in water-borne transportation is considered to be a bigger challenge than its more successful development in land-based applications. The major obstacles to promoting biodiesel blends in marine transportation are examined in this study. The strategies proposed to overcome these obstacles include the comprehensive field testing of the biodiesel blends in marine vessels of various representative types, establishing a marine-grade biodiesel specification, increasing the price competitiveness of marine-grade biodiesel by reducing its manufacturing costs, providing tax cuts, exemptions, and government subsidies, increasing the amount of biodiesel use in marine applications, adopting compatible elastomers and metallic materials in fuel feeding systems and storage tanks, applying approaches or technologies suitable for improving the low-temperature fluidity of biodiesel blends, and increasing the added value of purified glycerol. The effective application of these strategies will enable the more widespread use of biodiesel in marine applications, significantly reducing emissions from ships, improving global air quality, protecting the ecological environment and improving people’s health.

► A blend of biodiesel in marine fuel is considered effective for emission reduction and property improvements.
► The environmental effects of using biodiesel in marine vessels are investigated.
► The energy yield ratio applied in a life cycle assessment of biodiesel is discussed.
► Obstacles to the promotion of biodiesel in marine applications are examined.
► Strategies are proposed to surmount the hindrances involved in promoting biodiesel in marine applications.