Maersk And US Navy In Algae Biofuel Trials

Globally-dominant container ship operator Maersk has been carrying out alternative fuel tests with the United States Navy - the largest of its kind in the world. In the latest such event, a 50-50 biofuel mix with an algae content was used to power a vessel travelling between Europe and India, with successful results.

In 2011, the US Navy ran a previous trial involving 20,000 gallons of biofuel - the biggest of its type ever chalked up. Then, as now, the infrastructure used to get the fuel on board remained the same as with standard oil and nothing had to be specially adapted, as the USN's Lieutenant Commander Frank Kim explained.

"We use the same types of trucks, hoses and other dockside equipment to transfer the fuel, and no modifications are required either from a fuelling perspective or on the shipboard side", he said. "It's going to be pretty amazing to see where these fuels take us in the future. This might be the largest demonstration to date but it is not the last."

Algae Biofuels

Right now, the cost involved in refuelling Maersk's 1,300 container ships each year runs to something like $6bn, while the US Navy's overall annual oil use stands at approximately 40 million barrels. Partly through the wider introduction and deployment of algae biofuels, both organisations are aiming to have achieved a 50 per cent cut in traditional oil use by the year 2020.

"Shipping takes 350m tonnes of oil a year and causes 3-4% of all greenhouse gas emissions, so it is very attractive to find alternatives", Maersk's chief environmentalist, Jacob Sterling, stated, adding: "We can envisage ships being 10% or more powered by biofuels in 20 years' time."

Even in the volumes discussed above - shipping-related emissions pale in comparison to those produced by other modes of transports. According to Danish data released in 2009, the 15 biggest ships in the world, together, release an emissions output equivalent to that generated by every single car on the road - a total of 760 million.

USN and Maersk Biofuel Trials

The product involved in the USN and Maersk biofuel trials was produced by Solazyme - a US firm supported by the likes of Virgin Atlantic and Chevron.

"The technology is there: the question now is how to scale up", Tyler Painterm, Solazyme's chief finance officer, was quoted as having said by The Guardian. "We have tested thousands of algae, found in swamps, in mountains and at sea and we know we can be competitive. By using different strains of algae, we can produce different kinds of oils."

Image copyright US Navy

See also:

US Navy Marine Fuel Cell Technology