Indian Register of Shipping (IRClass) has undertaken successful sea trials for two vessels towards use of biofuels in concurrence with the Indian flag administration.

The two vessels, Ambuja Mukund and Ambuja Vaibhav, are owned by Ambuja Cements Ltd, which is a part of the global conglomerate Lafarge Holcim, a leader in building solutions.

In a bid to move towards reducing Greenhouse Gases (GHGs), the trials were carried out and the emission levels for CO2 and NOx at both ballast and loaded voyages were monitored during the trial period.

The results of the trials were found to be satisfactory. The biodiesel blend (B20) was in compliance with Marpol Annex VI (Reg.14) sulphur content requirements and met SOLAS (Ch. II-2/Reg.4.2.1) in terms of flash point requirements.

No increase of NOx was observed with biodiesel blend as compared to LSHSD, rather the emission level was found to be less.