Trial at sea: A yacht powered by cooking oil tests biodiesel's range

This is the second sweetest sound a fisherman can hear

The hum of a diesel engine ready to propel a yacht 100 miles offshore

to find some of the most elusive and powerful fish in the sea

Recently, the owners of the Mack Attack put these engines to the test

They emptied the fuel tank of its petroleum diesel and filled it with RD-99

a biodiesel refined from cooking oil and animal fats. The results of the SEA trial show that from idle to wide-open throttle

the biodiesel's performance is on par with petroleum-based fuel. So we were really excited to see that

There was no fall-off on any power anywhere, acceleration, maneuverability with the boat

They purchased the RD-99 for $5.57 a gallon. Petroleum diesel's nationwide average is $3.74

The marine industry hopes that nearly $2 gap will narrow to 20 cents

It's a plant-based fuel, so that CO2 had been captured from the environment

You're not adding to the total CO2 exposed into the environment. When you're burning fossil fuels, you're digging up fuel that's basically been sequestered for thousands of years

And when you're burning it, you're releasing new CO2 into the environment. So you're basically adding to the problem with traditional diesel fossil fuels

where HVO, you're basically recycling the CO2. They're actually a much cleaner burning product, less particulate

So in theory a lot of the preventative maintenance things like filters and injectors and things like that they actually should be better under these products than under traditional ultra sulfur diesel

The problem, in addition to cost, is supply. In 2024, the United States had a production capacity of about 2.1 billion barrels of biodiesel a year

That's for everyone, not just boats. The marine industry alone uses about 87 billion gallons of fuel annually

Viking Yachts, the top producer of sport fishing vessels, is working to help marinas and boat owners adopt this fuel

The industry is hoping for funding and subsidies from the federal government to increase production and bring down the price

With there being greater scrutiny and concern about emissions and things like that

we've been trying to find ways that we can address those issues but also accommodate our operational needs

Like we need to go far, we need to go fast. That is just the basic principle of recreational boating

Mariners have the added challenge of making space and getting permits for the holding tanks

The Department of Energy sees these types of fuels as the predominant energy source for commercial fishing boats, ferries, and high-use non-commercial vessels by 2050

We would love to see Department of Energy, Transportation, collaboratively work together and find ways of ramping up refinery capacity

working on distribution, getting these fuel products out into areas like this, incentivizing fleets

because once we start getting fleets like the UPS the Amazons the FedEx of the world starting to use these products as well and their gas and diesel trucks you know we will start to get the benefits of that distribution network

These boats are massive and require extraordinary power. This 90-foot Viking weighs 192,000 pounds

The boat is powered by twin 2,600-horsepower MTUs for a total of about 5,200 horsepower

And to feed these engines, they've got a 3,800-gallon gas tank. During the cruise offshore, she uses more than 150 gallons of fuel per hour

When they find the fish, they hear the sweetest sound. A sport fish that can weigh anywhere between 60 and over 1,000 pounds, pulling line from a reel with ease

Because of the sheer size of these vessels and the distance they travel

combustion engines are currently the only form of propulsion powerful enough to get them there and back again

The battery applications that would need to be used to power a source like this to go 100 miles offshore

would basically be the size of the engines at this point in time

And it's just not an option right now. And the weight and everything. And then you'd need to have the engines on top of that. Yeah

So right now it's just, you know, the technology just isn't there right now

We have performance criteria in terms of speed range that can only be met right now through these high liquid fuels and that only comes with the internal combustion engine at least for the next three decades The RD is what called a drop

That means you open the gas cap, fill it up, and voila, the boat is more environmentally friendly

There's no new parts, no special maintenance. What we love about these drop-in sustainable

marine fuels is that you can have an immediate effect on not only new boats, but the legacy

fleet as well. So you could have a 30-year-old diesel-powered boat that's in a marina that's

a smoker. You start to bring in sustainable marine fuels, and that boat is almost instantly

retrofitted. You at Viking sell yachts that are $5 to $10 million, sometimes even more than that

Your owners can spend easily $1 million a year maintaining them. So when people hear that

why should a company like yours and your clients get a government subsidy to help you with this

We all want to do our part to minimize our impact on that environment

Because if that environment is degraded, if the resources aren't there, if the fish aren't well-managed and sustainable

then we're not going to be selling boats for people to go fishing. So I think inherently, you know, our industry has a very keen interest on working towards this

Inherently, we want to do our part to keep the environment healthy and sustainable for the long term

I'm Ray Bogan for Straight Arrow News. For more reporting, download the SAN app