MAKING fuel more efficient could help shipping meet its green targets, according to a company trying to boost the power of normal bunkers.

Dubai-based Fuelre4m makes a treatment technology that separate molecules in the fuel, breaking them into smaller drops that combust better in the engine.

It aims to release more power from the same fuel, so a ship can either use less for the same speed, or sail faster for the same fuel.

Fuelre4m director Rob Mortimer said fuel molecules come in different drop sizes and qualities, and not all their energy is released at the right time in the engine cycle. Unburned molecules lead to soot pollution and wasted power.

“What we’re doing is we’re working on the fuel before it goes into the engine to unlock the potential energy that is there, and make sure more of it is converting into piston-pushing power,” Mortimer told Lloyd’s List.

Recent lab testing by the National Technical University of Athens found the reformer cut fuel consumption by 3.5% to 6.7%, at fixed shaft load and speed.

Fuelre4m said its own ship tests had shown fuel savings of about 15%-20%, since an engine working at lower load at sea could produce the same power more efficiently.

“For everybody that says it’s too good to be true — we’ve now got the lab-based verification,” Mortimer said.

Fuel additives are common in shipping, but they are usually meant help with problems like stability and cleanliness, rather than improving efficiency directly.

Mortimer said other fuel additives on the market were used to emulsify water, making it easier to separate from fuel, or they added chemicals that attached to fuel molecules to improve combustion.

“We’re not doing any of that,” he said.

The cost of the Re4mx product depended on volume, but was typically about $44 per litre. For HFO, you need one part reformer to 600 parts fuel (1:600) or as little as 1:1,200. For MGO, you need between 1:800 and 1:1,600, depending on the treatment time available.

“A typical vessel will be using between 1,500 and 2,500 litres of our product a quarter, so it’s quite easy for us to keep up with the manufacturing,” Mortimer said.

Mortimer said the reformer would help companies save on fuel and emissions while they waited for clarity on future fuels and green regulations. He reckons such clarity is still about five years away.

“I think we’re already seeing the industry is now coming back and looking more at optimisation to meet compliance than it is moving towards new technologies, because it’s just very expensive, and nobody knows where it’s going to go,” he said.

Fuelre4m has been in business for two years, after testing its product for six years. It has 36 staff globally, and turnover in the low-double-digit millions, Mortimer said.