Marine South East’s GLEAMS (Glycerine Fuel for Marine Sustainability) project has after a year of research concluded that glycerine is a viable, exceptionally clean alternative marine fuel, the MSE said in a release.
The project partners are currently exploring early potential adopters for the technology including wind farm support vessels, research and education vessels, military specialist craft and superyachts.
The project publicly demonstrated that glycerine could be used as a fuel in compression ignition engines by displaying the glycerine powered GLEAMS emissions test engine for three days at Seawork International 2014.
Glycerine is currently produced as a by-product of the bio-diesel industry and is in surplus supply. However, the available quantities are insufficient to power the world’s deep-sea shipping fleets but could support a range of smaller vessel types and shore applications.
There is potential for a massive increase in glycerine supply from other organic renewable means such as salt-stressed algae.