Re: Marine diesels, turbines, and alternate fuels?


"Eugene Griessel" <eugene@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:44bb1dfd.218436@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"David E. Powell" <David_Powell3006@xxxxxxx> wrote:

I was wondering... considering the questions that people ask these days
about alternate fuels, I was wondering how some of the ones proposed
would do in marine engines? I know that some turbines can burn
different fuel types, so I was wondering if the kind of Ethanol Brazil
seems to be fond of would work in one. Then again, Marine turbines
often run on jet fuel, kerosene, which is pretty heavy.

Another alternate fuel some folks use in cars is recycled vegetable
oil. If it could be collected, and burned in diesels. At least one fast
food chain uses their old fry oil in their truck fleet. However,
diesels must be modified to use it and the engine must be warmed up on
regular diesel before it can be switched over to the vegetable oil for
cruise. Not sure if a marine diesel or turbine's fuel system could take
that stuff, or if enough could be collected effectively to fuel a ship
at all.

So, might either fuel pop up in the future if fuel prices stay around
these levels? The infrastructure investment costs would be pretty big,
and considering the amounts needed for just a few of a ship's bunkers,
it would need a good source, like a serious effort among vegetable oil
sources or in using some kind of agricultural waste, like crops which
had spoiled. And it would be a supply with spikes and lows. It would be
a portion of fuels used, not the full measure.

Alternate fuels do tend to have a lower specific calorific value than
heavy oils - which means burning more of it to get the same power.
Which, in turn means either bigger bunkers or smaller range.
Theoretically a diesel will run on any liquid that combusts under the
specific criteria of the engine, practically there are a number of
problems - such as the fact that many injectors use the leakage of
fuel to lubricate the needle and if the viscosity of that changes
significantly it means greater wear and tear. The viscosity
difference between alchohol (ethanol) and diesel/heavy oil is fairly
large. I have no idea what the cost differential will be, say diesel
versus sunflower/peanut/soya oil, but looking at the price I pay for
the stuff I fry my chips in I'd say its a non-starter. And I wonder
how many McDonalds would have to contribute their used frying oil to
move a tanker a practical distance ....

Way back in the 1970s - when the original fuel crisis hit - one of our
local universities started experiments with alternate fuels - running
a number of diesel VW Golfs/Rabbits on a variety of vegetable
oils/mixes etc.


My local supermarket already sells diesel with a 5% biodiesel
content. Its a mixture of recycled cooking oil and oil from rape
and similar plants

Cambridge biodiesel sell 100% biodiesel at the same price
as road going diesel. This is possible as it doesnt carry the
same duty as that from petroleum.

http://www.cambridgebiodiesel.co.uk/index.php?id=4

Main problem is that it is very prone to waxing at low
temperatures.

Keith




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