Fuel Type Guidance
What is meant by “Fuel type”?
When starting a new assessment several options are possible for detailing the Target fuel that is assessed, a “fuel type”, “stored form” and “delivery method”, these are optional.
However, regarding the “fuel type” the following needs to be taken into consideration. If a fuel is available in the port, it is often offered from different sources, grey, blue, bio or green. This is important information for the users of these fuels but makes it difficult for a port to indicate what type of fuel is available. Often, the availability and use of a fuel starts with the grey variant. And depending on availability and price, that will shift to the blue, bio or green variants. Of course, the ambition is to make that process as fast as possible. How can we indicate the status of that process in the PRL tool?
The reason for inclusion in the PRL-tool is in order to demonstrate that fuels with a certain positive carbon intensity (bio, blue and green) are available for bunkering in the port.
How do I use "Fuel Type"?
It is a choice to indicate “Fuel type” when carrying out the assessment and not mandatory.
In the PRL methodology the difference between the different sources of the fuel will be expressed only in a few assessment items of the questionnaire eg in the domain market such as influence on fuel availability and its strategies/measures though also for communication (Governance),
In the application the possibility of copying assessments is included. It may therefore be a choice to do a general assessment, copy it and make it specific to a particular “Fuel type”.
By copying the assessment list and only changing relevant assessment items it is easy to make an overview for the different sourced fuel types .
In the PRL methodology the difference between the different sources of the fuel will be expressed only in a few assessment items of the questionnaire, By copying the assessment list and only changing relevant assessment items it is easy to make an overview for the different sourced fuel types.
How should I Interpret the different colours with “Fuel type”?
Note: Information on definitions for Grey, Blue, Green, and Bio are PRL-tool definitions and may be different from other sources.
- Grey energy: Energy produced from fossil fuels which may not significantly reduce well-to-wake carbon dioxide emissions
- Blue fuels: Fuels based on hydrogen made from fossil energy sources with carbon capture and storage (>90% capture rate) across the production process e.g. blue NH3, blue H2.
- Green (E-fuels or RFNBOs) fuels: E-fuels or electrofuels are based on hydrogen produced by electrolysis primarily using renewable and nuclear electricity (e.g., e-H2, e-NH3, e-methane, e-methanol). These are sometimes referred to as renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBO), green, or synthetic fuels. The carbon content of these fuels can be obtained from either biogenic or captured carbon sources.
- Bio-fuels: Second/third generation biofuels made from advanced biomass feedstocks (e.g. waste, algae) that do not compete with food/feed for land use. The sustainable feedstock are waste streams of a biogenic origin such as manure, agricultural waste and food waste, which can be converted into bio-methane and further upgraded to bio-methanol.
What Sources Were used to Define "Fuel Types"?
Review of Existing Practices on Marine Fuel Sustainability Aspects/ Certification and Thirdparty Verification Issues Final Report; Report for: International Maritime Organization (IMO); Future Fuels and Technology Project; 25/01/2025
Fuel Pathway Maturity Map; Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Center