The "Green Fleet" project of the Marina, a concrete initiative in favor of the environment, takes another important step towards the diffusion of the use of bio-derived fuels, together with the Great Green Fleet of the US Navy.
The Italian Navy, the first and only nation in Europe to have launched a "Green Diesel" experimentation program in the naval sector, collaborates with the US Navy under an agreement signed in 2014 to share the results on the research and use of alternative fuels.
As part of the agreement, an exercise will take place in a few days, for the first time, during which ships of the Italian Navy and the US Navy - the Carrier Strike Group Eisenhower - will use the Green Diesel, with a share of bio-derived synthetic diesel produced in Italy.
Il Green Diesel is a marine fuel that contains up to 50% of synthetic component of renewable origin, complying with strict NATO specifications. The synthetic share (HRF-76, Hydrogenated Renewable Fuel) is produced in the ENI bio-refinery in Porto Marghera with the EcofiningTM technology, which allows to obtain a fuel with chemical-physical characteristics very similar to fossil diesel, non-hygroscopic and highly stable, unlike other biologically derived fuels .
The Navy has already successfully conducted extensive testing of the Green Diesel, without having to make changes to the on-board systems, which began in January 2014 with ship Foscari, the first European ship to use it and continued in the 2015 on ship Duilio, Cavour, the submarine Gazzana of the ship Mistral. The same fuel was also used during two major anti-pollution drills by Navy patrol vessels, in 2014 and 2015.
The 25 May, in Taranto, was delivered to the refueling ship Etna synthetic fuel that was first blended directly in an on-board depot, to make the Green Diesel. The fuel will be used during the exercise with the US Navy on June 16 when a refueling at sea of Green Diesel between ships sailing in the central Mediterranean.
With the project Green Fleet the Navy lays the foundations for the large-scale use of fuels derived from renewable sources, complementary to the food market and not in competition with it.
The use of Green Diesel it will allow, in addition to a lower energy dependence on oil, to reduce the total aggregate emissions of carbon dioxide and atmospheric pollutants from ships by up to 26%, helping to achieve the commitments made by Italy and the European Union on the containment of emissions. 'air pollutants and greenhouse gases.
Green Fleet it does not only mean using biofuel but it collects a set of procedures, systems and predispositions, such as LEDs for lighting, special paints for hulls, economic propulsion assets, cleaning the propellers, some already in place that, together, they will make it possible to reduce consumption and save hundreds of tons of fuel a year, as well as contributing to the achievement of the commitments undertaken by Italy and the European Union in the international field on the containment of atmospheric pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions.
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