ShippingLab: New platform to test, validate green fuels

A new ShippingLab project aims to create an internationally recognized platform for testing and validating new fuel solutions that can aid in significantly reducing or eliminating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the shipping industry.

As such, the purpose of the platform is to assist the global transition towards sustainable marine fuels by creating a bridge between prospective suppliers of sustainable fuels and the marine industry.

Behind the validation platform are the following stakeholders — Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, Alfa Laval, MAN Energy Solutions, DS Norden and A.P. Møller – Mærsk and the supplier of biofuel MASH Energy.

As explained, the aim of the project is to develop a permanent platform for testing and validation of green fuels, which will help suppliers of sustainable fuels better understand the needs and requirements of the shipping world.

Specifically, the platform will facilitate a number of test and validation services for sustainable fuels in order to ensure that the required information within technical, regulatory, environmental and financial dimensions and demands is available to clarify if a potential sustainable fuel can become a product potentially traded in large volumes within the maritime industry.

These services will be provided by existing test and validation facilities at either commercial or academic organizations. So, the sustainable fuel testing and validation platform should not be regarded as a new competitor on this market, but as a platform that links producers with the relevant facilities for providing the necessary data about their sustainable fuels, according to ShippingLab.

The sustainable fuel testing and validation platform is to be an open platform for existing and future test facilities both in Denmark and internationally.

Chairman for ShippingLab, Kjeld Dittmann has no doubt that the overview created by the new platform will make a positive difference for both the manufacturers of new fuels and the industry as a whole:

“It has been a true pleasure to follow the creation of the validation platform and how the initial dialog has matured to a setup of great benefit for the maritime industry. New sustainable fuels are needed, but in practice it is a great challenge to create a new product, and the partners in the project want to help make this easier.”

“The joint forces of the partners will ease the clarification on various directions and solutions. The validation platform will facilitate a joint effort and reduce the likelihood of missing out on solutions with high potential environmental and costs impact,” Dittmann added.

“The transition to sustainable and climate neutral fuels for shipping is complex, and a platform that can reduce the uncertainty is of great importance for the potential suppliers of sustainable fuel solutions, but it equally provides the customers with insight and thereby ease the adaption of alternative fuels.”

The first step will be to gather the relevant stakeholders to establish which validation points are required in the shipping industry and to map which facilities are already available in this regard. If the mapping shows a gap between facilities and validation requirements, these gaps will be addressed in independent development projects with participation from the relevant stakeholders.

The development of the platform is supported by the Danish Maritime Fund.