A process demonstration witnessed by Lloyd’s Register showed that Genoil’s hydroconversion upgrader can convert high sulphur heavy fuel oil into IMO 2020-compliant marine fuel.
During the demonstration of the desulphurisation process the sulphur content of an HSFO was reduced from 1.72% to 0.38%.
It should be noted that the class society was not present throughout the complete demonstration cycle. However, as Muhammad Usman, Lloyd’s Register, Product Manager – Fuel oil bunker analysis and advisory service (FOBAS), commented: ‘Although LR did not have full visibility of the technical approach used by Genoil’s process or demonstration and was not present throughout, the sample analysed from the output sample of the demonstration was 0.38% m/m, in comparison to the feedstock used for the process which was stated to be an ISO-F-RMG380 fuel with sulphur content of 1.7% m/m.
David Lifschultz, CEO of Genoil, added: ‘Gaining independent verification from a renowned shipping classification society of the product characteristics of the supplied sample at entry to the GHU process and the end product at completion of the process is a significant step for Genoil in proving to the industry that there is a less expensive means of ensuing compliance with 2020 regulations that doesn’t require paying a large premium for distillate fuels, or investing millions of dollars of capital, which may never see full payback, in scrubber technology or LNG.
‘And because the GHU produces fuel with the same properties of heavy fuel oil minus the sulphur content, it also reduces the risk of engine damage, which so many in the industry are concerned with in relation to new hybrid distillate products.’
The recent demonstration was run with conventional high sulphur RMG 380 grade sourced from Rotterdam. A sample was taken by Lloyd’s Register of the input material and sealed in a FOBAS bottle.
This development follows comes after the latest demonstration run for the hydroconversion upgrader (GHU) conducted for Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) at Genoil’s state-of-the-art multipurpose demonstration facility hosted by the UFA Scientific Research Institute of Petroleum Refining and Petrochemistry located in Bashkortostan, conducted in October and November 2018.
Genoil highlights that its GHU can be built alongside existing refinery infrastructure in major bunkering hubs rather than incurring the costs to develop and build all new infrastructure.
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