Fuel additives will be trialled on six more bulkers operated by Marfin Management after initial tests cut bunker consumption by more than 6%.
The Monaco-based bulker operator has been trialling the use of the SulNOxEco fuel conditioner, developed by the UK’s SulNOx Group, in which shipowner Constantine Logothetis owns a 23% stake.
The initial trial of the additive on board the 59,900-dwt Paolo Topic (built 2016) generated fuel savings of up to 6.4% when added to very low-sulphur fuel oil in the vessel’s MAN two-stroke engine, the company said on Tuesday.
The trial has subsequently been rolled out to six other vessels, which means the additive is now in use in Marfin’s entire fleet of handysize, supramax and ultramax bulkers.
CEO Alex Albertini said: “We are thrilled about the preliminary results of this trial and see SulNOx products as a solution to help reduce global emissions, meet the IMO’s Carbon Intensity Indicator and offset the costs associated with the EU Emissions Trading System.”
Ben Richardson, chief executive of SulNOx, hopes the trial will result in more companies trying out the additive.
“We are excited that Marfin has shown such significant savings on board Paolo Topic, which could amount to [about] $200,000 per annum and represent around 200% return on investment,” he said.
This is not the first time energy-efficiency measures have been installed on the Paolo Topic. In 2019, the ultramax was fitted with the world’s first hybrid propulsion system, supplied by Finnish technology group Wartsila.
An unnamed Hamburg-based shipping company in October completed a five-month trial of the SulNOxEco additive, which produced a consistent 5%-6% cut in consumption for a tanker using a two-stroke marine diesel engine.
The trial was conducted in collaboration with an unidentified university in northern Germany, which independently evaluated the results, SulNOx said.
Canadian giant Teekay is also among the shipping companies working with SulNOx.
Last week, the world’s largest marine fuel supplier, Bunker One, said it was stepping up its trials of Purify Fuel’s proprietary NanO2 fuel combustion catalyst and may enter into a contract with the manufacturer if things go well.
Its initial experiments with the additive generated fuel consumption savings of 6.4% with marine gasoil and 5.9% with VLSFO.
