Green Fuels Research in collaboration with the University of Cardiff, and the London South Bank University, are working on the SALMO project. This project aims to showcase the use of waste from fish farming to produce sustainable marine fuel.
A Maritime Research and Innovation UK (MarRI-UK) initiative supported by the UK Department for Transport, SALMO will convert waste biomass from salmon farming into drop-in fuels suitable for use in marine diesel engines.
Commenting on the project, Dr Paul Hilditch, COO of Green Fuels Research, said that:
Shipping accounts for 3% of all CO2 emissions, and this is a sector which is going to find it hard to decarbonise without sustainable liquid fuels
The use of waste aims to ensure that the fuel is highly sustainable and fully biogenic.
Providing more details on the new fish fuel, Sergio Lima, a research manager and scientist at Green Fuels Research, explained that the fuel would be extracted from salmon processing waste and salmon morts. After this process, it will be converted to drop-in marine fuel through a chemical procedure.
As he explained, salmon oil has saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. These can be converted into oxygen-free hydrocarbons, which then will make up the molecules of the marine fuel.
