bioMSAR™
Our exciting new bioMSAR™ product combines conventional MSAR® technology and fuel with renewable glycerine to produce an oil-in-water emulsified synthetic HFO with lower emissions, including 20-30% less carbon dioxide.
As with MSAR®, Quadrise’s proven proprietary technology is used to mix heavy residual oils and glycerine with small amounts of specialist chemicals and water (patent pending).
Why Glycerine?
Glycerine (chemical formula C3H8O3, also called glycerin, glycerol or sugar alcohol) is generally obtained from plant and animal sources. It is a renewable raw material that is a waste product in, for example, the production of bio-diesel.
It is a benign chemical that’s colourless, odourless, water soluble, non-flammable, non-volatile and bio-degradable. It is a viscous liquid that is sweet-tasting and non-toxic.
As a fuel, glycerine burns almost pollutant-free and is virtually CO2-neutral. It also has excellent lubricity. It is used today to power diesel engine generators that electrify the Formula-E racing championship and VW’s record-breaking ID R electric race car, with near-zero emissions.
As MSAR® is a stable water-based synthetic fuel oil, and glycerine is also water-soluble, the two fuels combine extremely well to offer a lower-CO2 solution, together with reduced emissions of SO2, NOx and particulates (PM, including black soot).
bioMSAR™ offers 20-30% reductions in CO2 emissions, which is similar to using LNG. Unlike bioMSAR™ however, LNG requires new expensive cryogenic storage and liquefaction systems, and if LNG is not used correctly there is a risk of methane slip which is 21 times worse than CO2 as a greenhouse gas.
Having completed successful laboratory and pilot-scale testing at our Quadrise Research Facility, QRF, during 2020, we are now working with industry partners to both test bioMSAR™ in diesel engine and combustion applications, and source commercial supplies of glycerine.
bioMSAR™ Aquafuel Testing
Summary
Preliminary testing of bioMSAR™ at Aquafuel Research Limited facilities has confirmed that bioMSAR™ is viable as a diesel engine fuel, the efficiency is higher than diesel and emissions results indicate 20-25% lower NOx.
“This initial testing demonstrates bioMSAR™ is a viable candidate for fossil fuel replacement in larger engines and results indicate a significant NOx reduction, of the order of 20-25%, and no loss of efficiency compared to diesel.”
Paul Day, CEO & Founder of Aquafuel.
Results
Efficiency of bioMSAR™ and diesel were calculated at 30kW and under these conditions bioMSAR™ showed increased efficiency compared to diesel. bioMSAR™ emissions results show lower NOx than diesel, with reductions in the range of 20-25%.
The lower NOx for bioMSAR™ over diesel at the higher load indicates further optimisation should be possible in terms of operating conditions.
Particulates were assessed visually with levels for both fuels assessed as light. It was expected that particulates may have been higher for bioMSAR™ compared with diesel during these initial tests, given the test engine is designed for diesel and light fuels, however the pre-atomisation of the hydrocarbon appears to be enabling good carbon burn out and the avoidance of black soot.
Future Work
A follow-on test programme will build on the strong and positive results seen so far and will incorporate optimisation at various loads, with further quantification of efficiency and emissions. This positive performance data will be incorporated into our future test plans on medium (4-stroke) and low speed (2-stroke) engines.
Please contact Quadrise for further information.
