VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland along with several collaborators are exploring how fuel oils made from biomass and waste plastics can be suitable for power plants and ship diesel engines. Through their research, partners aim to determine the most ecologically and economically sustainable ways for fossil fuels’ replacement.
Our goal is to find the most ecologically and economically sustainable way to replace fossil heavy fuel oil in ship and power plant diesel engines.
…Anja Oasmaa, Senior Principal Scientist from VTT, said.
VTT informed that power plants which use fuels will continue be part of energy systems, although there are differences in their flexibility.
In fact, conventional coal or biomass-fired steam boilers are not capable of load changes that are as fast as those of natural gas-fired gas turbine power plants or the most flexible power plants of them all internal-combustion engine power plants, VTT noted.
It is known that internal-combustion engine power plants use natural gas or heavy fuel oil in diesel engines. In order for large diesel engines be eco-friendly on land and at sea, it is of vital importance to find bio and waste based alternative fossil fuels.
In light of the situation, VTT will focus on these fuels and identify them though its BioFlex project.
We compare different methods of industrially producing fuel oils from, for example, waste plastics or biomass, such as harvest residues from forestry and agriculture. We are also conducting experiments to examine the suitability of the oils for applications.
…Anja Oasmaa continued.
Concluding, BioFlex project also goals to boost the objective of the International Maritime Organization to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from marine traffic by 2050.
