By Jeffrey T. Lewis
SÃO PAULO–Brazilian ethanol maker Raizen and Finnish maritime energy company Wartsila are partnering to study the use of ethanol to power cargo ships and help reduce carbon emissions.
Sales of ethanol for maritime use could begin within a year if the study’s results are positive, representatives of both companies said. Raizen Vice President of Trading Paulo Neves didn’t say how much ethanol the company might be able to sell to ship owners, but “the market is huge.”
Raizen makes several different varieties of ethanol, and would only need to make small changes to current production to adapt the fuel for the new use, he said. If sales begin within a year, Raizen sees no problems with boosting output to keep up with the new demand, Neves said.
Raizen is already using new technologies and building facilities that can increase production by as much as 50% while using the same amount of land for growing sugar cane, he said. Brazil is also boosting ethanol production using corn as a raw material instead of cane, Neves said.
The studies that the two companies plan to carry out will test ethanol as a fuel for vessel engines that can already run on methanol, an alcohol that is similar to ethanol, or on diesel, said Stefan Nysjo, Wartsila’s vice president of supply for marine power.
There are already ships operating with the so-called dual fuel engines, many orders for new vessels include equipping them with the engines, and older ships can also be retrofitted with the new technology, he added.
The effort to boost the use of ethanol as a fuel is just one of many that Wartsila is working on to reduce carbon emissions, Nysjo said. The vast majority of maritime fuels used today are heavy oil fuels, and ethanol can replace those and other fossil fuels being used.
“We’re not expecting that ethanol will be the only answer, we don’t believe there will be only one replacement,” he said. “The future will be very diverse in this area, and we believe that ethanol has a future in that mix.”
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