'One of the problems in obtaining micro-emulsified fuel is to make it stable, said Mec System's owner and CEO Ernesto Marelli.

'This type of technique has been in use since 1980 in power plants ashore but has never yet been marinised reliably. We now believe the Mec System has overcome all the technical problems, and we have proven that it works and provides benefits working with the four stroke engines typically used on board passenger ships.'

In the new system, the Turbotransducer processes combustion fluids through inverted flow coaxial cavitation chambers activated by magnetomechanic structures designed to specific mechanical criteria.

Fuels, waste or even sludge compounds and water are combined to build a single fuel.

Fluids flowing through the Turbotransducer are instantaneously combined and reach the engine as a stable and very homogenous micro-emulsion due to the very high atomisation and fluid acceleration achieved in the Turbotransducer.

Tests on board ships as well as the work bench ashore have been carried out by Mec System, RINA, Wartsila and other partners within a pan-European R&D project aimed at identifying technologies and reference standards for low emission passenger ships.

One of the targets of the project was existing ships, addressing the concept that a technology which can be retrofitted has the potential of emission reduction worldwide in the short term since it can, in principle, be applied to all existing ships while a technology only applicable to newbuildings will produce significant results only in the medium to long term.

MJ Information No: 20839