A Total Fuel Life-Cycle Analysis of Energy Use and Emissions from Marine Vessels

This work evaluates the total fuel life-cycle energy use and emissions associated with marine transportation using a newly developed model, called the Total Energy & Emissions Analysis for Marine Systems (TEAMS) model. TEAMS captures “well-to-hull” emissions—that is, emissions along the entire fuel pathway, including extraction, processing, distribution, and use in vessels. TEAMS is able to conduct this analysis for six fuel pathways: (1) petroleum to residual oil; (2) petroleum to conventional diesel; (3) petroleum to low-sulfur diesel; (4) natural gas to compressed natural gas; (5) natural gas to Fischer-Tropsch diesel; and, (6) soybeans to biodiesel. Results include total fuel life-cycle energy use and emissions of the following pollutants: greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane), volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and sulfur oxides. This paper demonstrates TEAMS and provides example modeling results for three case studies using alternative fuels: a passenger ferry, a tanker vessel, and a container ship. A more complete version of this paper is expected to be published in the January 2007 issue of the Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association.