Synthetic Alternative To HFO Announced

Quadrise Fuels International has developed a synthetic alternative to heavy fuel oil (HFO) with what it calls significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

The fuel, called bioMSAR, combines renewable glycerol with water and refinery residues to produce an oil-in-water emulsified synthetic HFO. The primary benefits of bioMSAR over HFO are lower emissions, including 20-30% less carbon dioxide (CO₂), lower NOx and lower particulates, the company said.

Glycerol is a benign chemical that’s colorless, odourless, water soluble, non-volatile and bio-degradable. As a fuel, glycerol has excellent lubricity, it burns almost pollutant-free and is virtually carbon neutral, the company said.

The company said bioMSAR offers similar CO₂ emissions reductions as using LNG in place of HFO.  LNG however requires expensive cryogenic storage and liquefaction systems, with the potential risk of methane slip during use that materially impacts potential greenhouse gas reductions. bioMSAR® fuel utilises existing low-cost HFO infrastructure and systems, and does not contain methane.

A new patent has been filed in the UK jointly with Quadrise’s intellectual property partner Nouryon Surface Chemistry AB.

Having completed successful laboratory and pilot-scale testing of bioMSAR Quadrise is now working with industry partners to test bioMSAR in both diesel engine and combustion applications. Whilst remaining subject to subsequent larger scale studies, the company considers that bioMSAR has the ability to fundamentally  enhance the environmental and sustainability credentials of MSAR and, in time, to increase the market opportunity for Quadrise.

“Having planned a roadmap for a sustainable fuel product earlier in the year, the innovative Quadrise team has made outstanding progress in bringing our glycerol-based biofuel from concept to market in such a short time, including the filing of a new joint patent application with Nouryon,” said company CEO Jason Miles. “Our original target for bioMSAR was a 10-20% reduction in CO₂ compared with heavy fuel oil, however 20-30% has been achieved already which compares favourably with LNG, albeit at a much lower cost for conversion.”

The inherent stability of th water-based fuel technology lends itself well to future biofuel applications to provide a simple and sustainable pathway to decarbonisation, he said.

“We look forward to updating shareholders, as appropriate, on the results from planned engine and combustion testing of bioMSAR, new fuel developments, and commercial discussions with stakeholders in the biofuel supply chain during the coming months,” Miles said.