NYK conducts long-term trial use of marine biofuels for full-scale introduction

The Frontier Jacaranda (Photo: NYK Group)

NYK Group announced Dec. 27 that, starting in fiscal-year 2024, it will conduct full-scale trials of long-term use of marine biofuels in navigating its existing heavy oil-fired vessels.

Moving forward from the previous short-term trials, NYK will comprehensively verify the safety and stable procurement of biofuels when used over a long period, the company said.

Through this trial, NYK will establish a safe navigation system using biofuels and promote biofuel development to achieve the group’s goal of a 45 percent reduction in greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 compared to 2021.

In this trial, NYK will use biofuel continuously for three months on multiple vessel types.

After that, NYK will gradually extend biofuel use for a longer period for further validation.

Since 2019, the NYK Group has conducted short-term biofuel trials on about 10 vessels.

While NYK has confirmed the safety of short-term biofuel use, NYK has not verified the impact of biofuels on the ship’s main engine, generator, motor or fuel-supply system, and the quality of biofuels after a certain storage period.

NYK also needed to ensure the stability of biofuel procurement when used in more vessels.

NYK announced the NYK Group ESG Story 2023 on Nov. 6, declaring a new target to reduce the NYK Group’s GHG emissions by 45 percent from the 2021 level by 2030.

NYK will promote this trial to achieve the goal.