The UK’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC) is trialling the use of hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) as a fossil-free marine fuel for two of the country’s Royal Research Ships (RRS) James Cook and Discovery.
The trial is being funded by the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), which owns both vessels, to support a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) target to achieve net-zero emission operations by 2040. Before adopting HVO for this trial, both ships used low-sulphur marine gas oil.
Kevin Williams, head of Research Ships Engineering, NOC, commented that the Centre is focused on understanding and protecting the ocean. Reducing the environmental footprint and carbon emissions from the vessels is a major part of that, Williams added.
HVO is one of the more stable biofuels, which means it’s suitable for the different conditions NOC vessels operate in: from high-temperature regions to the Arctic.
…stated NOC.
However, Williams concedes, HVO cost and availability remain stumbling blocks for the time being.
Other NOC clean-fuel initiatives include: onboard battery power assessments, to reduce the use of the ships’ main engines during scientific missions; a focus on marine operations planning, to reduce overall vessel transit times; and more efficient routing, based on weather analysis.
