Jax LNG and Tote Maritime recently completed what they say is the first fueling of a marine vessel in the US with a blend of liquefied natural gas and renewable LNG.
A joint venture between NorthStar Midstream and Pivotal LNG, a unit of BHE GT&S, operates the Jax LNG small-scale plant with a 120,000 gallon per day capacity in Jacksonville, Florida.
Jax LNG loaded the RLNG/LNG blend into North America’s first bunkering barge, Clean Jacksonville, to fuel the LNG-powered Isla Bella. Tote Maritime Puerto Rico put the container vessel into service in 2015.
Moreover, Element Markets supplied the renewable natural gas (RNG) used to produce RLNG via renewable thermal certificates (RTCs), according to a joint statement.
For this bunkering event, RTCs were matched to physical LNG loaded into Clean Jacksonville to create the blended product, the statement said.
“RLNG’s emissions profile as a maritime fuel is superior even to that of LNG, which already reduces greenhouse gas emissions by more than 25% over ultra-low sulfur diesel,” the statement said.
Produced from the decomposition of organic waste, RNG is compatible with existing natural gas infrastructure, providing a “practical and replicable source of energy that mitigates and repurposes carbon emissions.”
Jax LNG supplies two LNG-fueled container vessels, namely Isla Bella and Perla del Caribe, that Tote Maritime Puerto Rico uses to transport goods between Jacksonville and Puerto Rico.
Jax LNG and Tote have earlier this year completed their first ship-to-ship LNG bunkering of a foreign-flagged vessel in the Port of Jacksonville.
The port has become a true US LNG bunkering hub with Eagle LNG and Crowley but also Tote Maritime completing hundreds of operations in the port.