The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) has developed a new technique to create a fingerprint for Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) biofuels. This fingerprint can determine the origins of the fuel’s feedstock. The shipping industry is increasingly turning to biofuels like FAME to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, concerns have been raised about the authenticity and sustainability of these biofuels. There have been cases of mislabeling biofuels as being made from recycled oils and fats, when they may actually be produced from cheaper and less sustainable virgin oils.
Existing international certification schemes play a crucial role in certifying sustainable biofuels. However, their reliance on retrospective audits may limit their ability to detect fraudulent practices in real-time. To address these concerns, GCMD’s FAME fingerprinting method can be used to detect fraud in marine fuel supply chains. This method is based on the unique fatty acid profile of FAME, which is specific to its feedstock. By comparing this fingerprint to a database of known fatty acid profiles, the feedstock origin can be identified.
FAME fingerprinting, along with specific chemical by-products, has shown promise in differentiating between FAME produced from the same parent feedstock, such as palm-oil derivatives. GCMD and VPS have co-developed an analytical method based on EN 14103, as there is currently no established method for this process. The fingerprinting process, which can be conducted using a gas chromatograph with flame-ionisation detection, takes approximately an hour. This turnaround time is comparable to current marine fuel quality testing in supply chains and can be implemented in parallel.
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