In the Netherlands, although biofuels have been used as blend components in the shipping industry for quite some time, there was no specific specification for this industry. The publication of the new NEN 7427-1 standard puts an end to this situation.
FAME has been commonplace in transport by road for many years. The EN 14214 and the ASTM D6751 specification apply to this. They are also used for marine fuel (in accordance with the ISO 8217 specification), although they were not developed specifically for the marine industry, but for road transport. NEN 7427-1 has been developed specifically for the marine industry.
NEN 7427-1 was developed by the ‘alternatieve brandstoffen zeescheepvaart’ working group, consisting of Dutch and Belgian representatives of petroleum producers, biodiesel producers, shipping companies and other interested parties. Both the Netherlands and Belgium are global players thanks to their international ports. The working group is currently also working on a standard for FAME distillation residues (the residual products of the FAME production process). This will be NEN 7427-2. This standard is expected to go through a public consultation round late this year or early next year.
Tags: marine biofuel, Netherlands
Category: Fuels
