Spanish engineering group introduces sustainable bunker tanker design

Sener, a Spanish engineering and technology group, has unveiled the conceptual design of a bunker tanker capable of supplying a range of both conventional marine fuels and sustainable biofuels whilst also taking on board and storing captured carbon dioxide from vessels.

The tanker design envisages the supply of heavy fuel oil, very low sulphur fuel oil, marine gas oil, and biofuels. The design also offers a range of techno-economic options to meet the differing requirements of owners, such as cost, ease of installation, and safety. Different propulsion alternatives are available, and the design also includes scrubber and carbon capture options.

The ship’s emission reduction and management system comprises a carbon capture and storage system, a selective catalytic reduction unit, a system to handle nitrogen oxides, and a sulphur gas cleaning installation. The tanker can also store carbon dioxide captured and transferred from other ships nearby.

Director of Sener’s Naval Business Unit, Roberto Fernández Pascual, said: "Decarbonising the naval sector is a very important objective for the economy as a whole, beyond the impact on the maritime industry. At Sener, we believe that research and development on innovative technologies that will help us achieve this efficiently is essential if we are to satisfy the IMO and EU demands in this regard. Fleet analysis is a tool to optimise technical and economic resources to help shipowners and shippers in this transition."