The purpose of this second paper is to briefly discuss one of the main routes to achieve decarbonization: the use of alternative fuels which can be defined as advanced fuels that are derived from sources other than petroleum or from renewable energy.
Nowadays, there is a variety of alternative fuel types available for the shipping industry, such as hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, ethanol, liquefied natural gas (LNG), liquefied biogas (LBG), hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), batteries, etc. In addition, it is important to remark that the shipping sector will choose the future fuels by evaluating the following factors: environmental impact, technical performance, safety, cost, availability and infrastructure. We will now take a look at some of the most interesting options of alternative fuels, analyzing their main characteristics, advantages and disadvantages and mentioning recent examples in the industry.
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