A Review of Alternative Marine Fuels

Abstract

Today, ships navigating all around the world are not allowed to emit SOx more than 0.5%. Same regulation for nitrogen has already come into force. More and more nations are becoming aware and concerned about the negative effects of climate change, whereas many countries are already feeling the effects of harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, the world’s fleet needs a new fuel types, which are alternative to conventional petroleum-based ship fuels. Benefits such as low sulphur standards accompany all alternative fuel options. As will be discussed further in Section 2, there are challenges and limitations associated with CO2 emissions along with benefits. The review of the literature and field shows that the impact of these current choices on the management and environments is still not bright enough, although each alternative has consisted entirely different effects in their body and each alternative pose specific risks to the environment, crew, management and port states. This chapter gives a review on the impact of each alternative fuels on the environment. In addition, the chapter touches upon handling of risks associated with alternative fuels and technologies.