Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) and NYK Group company Shin-Nippon Kaiyosha Corporation (Shin-Nippon Kaiyosha) have started a tugboat biofuel test trial.
Neste Renewable Diesel (NesteRD) supplied by Itochu Enex Co. Ltd. (Itochu Enex) will go to tugboats operated by Shin-Nippon Kaiyosha.
This is the first case in Japan of a 100 per cent concentration of biodiesel being used in a ship.
Biofuels are made from renewable biological organic resources (biomass).
Burning biofuels results in virtually zero CO2 emissions. With increasing demand for reductions in greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted from ships by oceangoing shipping around the world, biofuels have attracted attention as a currently available alternative to heavy oil.
The biofuel being used in this trial is Neste RD, which is being imported to Japan through a contract that Itochu Corporation has signed with the Neste OYJ Group, one of the world’s largest renewable fuel manufacturers.
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Neste RD is a 100 per cent renewable fuel product that is manufactured from waste cooking oil and animal oil that would not be used by the food industry.
It can reduce GHG emissions on a life cycle assessment basis by about 90 per cent compared to petroleum-derived diesel fuel and can be used as a so-called “drop-in fuel,” just like gasoline or diesel oil, without modifying the existing infrastructure.
As a next-generation renewable fuel, NesteRD can greatly contribute to the reduction of GHG emissions by minimising the introduction cost related to decarbonisation measures, and its use in the shipping industry is expected to further expand in the future.
In April NYK took delivery of vessel Grouse Sun, a methanol-fuelled chemical tanker.
