भारतसरकार/ GOVERNMENT OF INDIAप न, पोतप रवहनऔरजलमागमं ालय
MINISTRY OF PORTS, SHIPPING AND WATERWAYS

नौवहनमहा नदे शालय, मबंु ई
DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF SHIPPING, MUMBAI
File No: 13-20011/5/2020-ENGG
ENGG - DGS (C.N.4076)
Dated: 29.08.2022
DGS Circular No. 18 of 2022
Subject: Use of Biofuel and its Blend as fuel on board Indian Flagged Ships

A. Purpose and Application
Application:
1. This guidance is to be used by Ship
Ship-owners
owners and Bunker Suppliers for a consistentand smooth implementation towards usage of Biofuel blend on board Indian ships.
2. This circular is applicable to:
2.1

All sea going Indian Ships registered under MS Act 1958, irrespective ofwhether the ship has coastal trade or certified under RSV (Ref. DGS OrderNo. 18 of 2013) or ICV (Ref. DGS Order No. 1 of 2014).

2.2

All bunker suppliers registered with Government of Ind
India
ia in accordance withAnnex VI, Regulation 18 of MARPOL

B. Requirements related to Supply of Bio
Bio-Fuel:
3. The biofuel used as blend or in place of existing fossil fuels shall be manufactured orimported in accordance with stated National Policy on Biofuels 20182018, as amended.

4. Bunker supplier is to submit the Proof of Sustainability (PoS) for Biofuels, Bio
Bio-liquids
and Biomass Fuels and emission savings percentage (carbon emission factor) as per
relevant ISO standards (e.g. ISO 14040, ISO 14044, etc.) or under the R
Renewable
Energy Directive (EU) 2018/2001 (RED II) or other equivalent national/international
standards to the ship owner.”
5. The bunker supplier shall also issue a certificate indicating the carbon content ofbiofuel blend in t-CO2/t/t-Fuel calculated:a) On weight percentage of bio
bio-fuelfuel component and fossil fuel component and,andb) Taking Cf of zero for the component of bio
bio-fuel,fuel, if a proof of sustainability isprovided as above andand,c) Using Cf of the fossil fuel component in accordance with MEPC.308(73) (2018 Guidelines on the Method of Calculation of the Attained
EEDI for New ships).
6. Other than mandatory requirements mentioned in “Merchant Shipping Notice No.3 of2014” towards compliance for Registration as a Bunker supplier following additional
requirements too be considered:
6.1 In order to ensure that the quality of bunkers delivered to ships meets therelevant specifications, suppliers shall source from appropriate renewablesources to produce bunkers meeting the relevant specifications. The end
product shoulduld be homogeneous and stable.

6.2 The sample sent for testing should be taken in accordance withguidelines for obtaining a representative sample (bottom, middle and top_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9वी मंिजल, बीटा ब डींग, आई थंक टे नो कै पस, कांजरू गाँव रोड, कंजरू माग(पवू ), मंबई – 400042
9th Floor, BETA Building, I-Think
Think Techno Campus, Kanjur Village Road,d, Kanjurmarg (E), Mumbai-400042
Mumbaiफोन/Tel.: 91-22-25752040/1/2/3,फै स/Fax.: 91-22-25752029/35ई-मेल/E-mail :dgship-dgs@nic.inवेबसाईट/Website:
Website: www.dgshipping.gov.in

of the tank). The final blend or B100, whichever is the case, shall betested from any test facility accredited to the National Accreditation
Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL). In the event ofany deviation, in the fuel quality supplied, the Bunker supplier and not
the product supplier, shall be responsible and liable for the violation.
6.3 The suppliers shall ensure that the product confirms to relevant
specifications and statutory limits and the final blend should be tested
against the relevant standards (as mentioned in MEPC.1/ Circ.875) andthe test results should be documented in accordance to applicablestandards (e.g. ASTM D7467 for B6- B20, ASTM D6751 for B100).
6.4

6.5

6.6

6.7

6.8

6.9

In order to maintain quality control throughout the supply chain, suppliers
should have a documentation to help identify product origins back to themanufacturing source and the various links in the chain to enable traceability,
especially if problems arise to help pinpoint the source of the problem and takeremedial action.
Supplier shall ensure that, there are appropriate storage & handling facilities tomaintain product integrity so as to ensure that the end product is stable andblend components remain mutually compatible to avoid precipitation of solids.
The supplier is responsible for providing the required representative samples ofthe product delivered to ships to be taken at the ship's manifold and therequired documentation including the bunker delivery note (BDN) and safety
data sheets (SDS).
The Product Name, as entered onto the bunker delivery note, should be of
sufficient detail to identify whether, and to what extent, a biofuel is blended into
the product as supplied.
Supplier shall provide declaration to user and maintain records that the productis in accordance with the ‘National Bio-fuel Policy’. Supplier shall provide adeclaration that the blend does not contain extraneous, potentially deleterious,
materials in accordance to regulation 18.3 of MARPOL Annex VI.

Bunker Supplier to issue a separate sample test analysis report with various
other elements present (refer paragraph 8) along with BDN report beyond theMARPOL requirements.
7. Existing approved Bunker suppliers can supply biofuels or its blends to ships and noseparate approval is required. The Certification mechanism is to be addressed in theQuality manual to be verified at next audit.
8. No biofuel or its blends shall be supplied without following test results showing
kinematic viscosity, water content by volume, Sulphur content by mass, and flash
point as specified in ISO 8217:2017. If the biofuel blend or B100 has crossed 6months but within its shelf life since it is manufactured or blended, additional tests
such as %FAME by Fame-Scan, Calorific Value by determination (e.g., ASTMD2450) for gross and net calorific value, Copper strip corrosion (e.g. ASTM D130) togauge the corrosiveness of the fuel due to high FAME content, Steel strip corrosion(e.g. ASTM D665a) to gauge the corrosiveness of the fuel due to high FAME content
and Sediment Wax Precipitation Point are recommended. A copy of test report witheach consignment supplied shall be given to the ship.

C) The Certification Procedures:

9. A Vessel Specific Risk Analysis are to be carried out for use of bio-fuel blend. Any
redundancy requirements on board as per risk analysis are to be taken care for theoperational safety and emergency contingency measures:
9.1

Storage and Use: The significant presence of FAME requires additional fuelmanagement focus on addressing the propensity of FAME to retain water,
and accelerate oxidation, microbial growth, filtration problems. To minimise
the above stated risks long term storage should be avoided during the trial
phase. Settling and service tanks should be regularly drained of water. Tank
and fuel system materials (any tank coatings used that may not becompatible to such as FAME) should be assessed for suitability of storageand handling of this fuel. It is advisable to ensure the tanks to be loaded with
the Bio-diesel are emptied, and cleaned of any excess sludge.
9.2
Purifiers and Filters: When first put into use the purifiers and filters aremonitored as to any degree if initial sludge deposits from the cleaning effectof the fuel.
9.3
Oily Water Separators and Oil Content Meters: The OEM shall be consultedand confirmation sought with regards to the compatibility of Oily filtering
Equipment including the 15ppm bilge alarm (Marpol Annex 1 Reg.14) forhandling B30 blends as an interim measure till IMO establishes requirement
for approval of oily water filtering equipment and oil content meter alarm foruse with biofuel blend.
9.4
Manufacturers of engines and fuel oil handling equipment e.g. purifiers are to
be consulted for suitability of use and specific recommendation if any is to befollowed. Biofuel blend may degrade hoses, gaskets, seals, elastomers,
glues and plastics after prolonged exposure and may affect storage tankmaterials. All such materials/equipment used in the fuel system shall beidentified in consultation with OEM and are inspected at intervals specified by
OEM and renewed as recommended by OEM.
10. Shipboard operational procedure is to be provided which may be part of the SMS
manual and shall include procedure for procurement, availability test result, storageof biofuel blend, frequency of cleaning of fuel filters, inspection of storage tanks,
monitoring of transfer lines and associated piping & fittings and any otherrequirements specified by the manufacturers of engines/equipment. The procedure
shall also include logging/monitoring of all relevant engine parameters, maintenance,and checks in consultation with equipment manufacturer.
11. Record of any incident pertaining to use of biofuel blend on board is to be maintained
and reported to the Administration.
12. The crew is to be familiarised with the shipboard procedures regarding the use of
biofuel blend including contingency measures and records maintained.
13. Bunker sourced from outside Indiamust comply with paragraph 5, 6 (as relevant) & 8above.
14. Noting that steps have be taken at IMO to allow use of Biofuel blends as a matter ofurgency as part of the initial strategy on GHG reductions and considering varioustrials conducted on Indian ships have shown encouraging results, the Administration
has considered allowing the usage of Bio-fuel blends as follows:14.1

Fuel oil (blends of hydrocarbons derived from petroleum refining), which is a
blend of not more than 30% by volume of biofuel, is allowed to be used on
board Indian vessels, subject to no change is made to NOx affecting
components or settings/operating values outside those as given by thatengine’s approved Technical File.
14.2 Fuel oil which are derived from methods other than petroleum refining or fueloil which is a blend of more than 30% by volume of biofuel and which requirechanges to its NOx affecting components or settings/operating values outside
those as given by that engine’s approved technical file, shall be consideredcase by case basis. However, the fuel oil which is a blend of more than 30%
by volume of biofuel and which does not require changes to its NOx affecting
components or settings/operating values outside those as given by thatengine’s approved technical file, such blends may be allowed to be used on
board subject to the demonstration by the ship owner to the administrationthat the resulting NOx emissions are still within the required limits. The
proposal for use of such Biofuel blends in both the above cases shall besubmitted for further consideration by Administration.
15. No Biofuel blend is to be used for emergency equipment like lifeboat engine,emergency generator engine, and emergency fire pump engine.
16. Collection and reporting of fuel oil data is to be done as per DGS Engineering
Circular 02 of 2018. However, blend ratio of the biofuel blend is to be included in thereport.

D) Responsibilities of Recognized Organizations:
17. The following documents are to be submitted by the owner for verification by an ROto Administration:a)
Proposal for use of biofuel blend prior use on board.
b)
Risk Analysis and redundancy arrangement on board.

c)
Operational procedure as per the Certification Procedures above.
18. Certification: For certification purpose, use of fuel oil (blends of hydrocarbons
derived from petroleum refining) which is a blend of not more than 30% by
volume of biofuel and which do not require changes to its NOx criticalcomponents or settings/operating values outside those as given by thatengine’s approved Technical File, will be considered falling under regulation
18.3.1 of MARPOL Annex VI and there is no change in IAPP certificate orsupplement necessary.
19. The RO shall submit its recommendation to the Competent Authority within 7-days ofreceipt of request from Ship Owners.
E) Responsibility of Directorate General of Shipping:

20.The Competent Authority shall issue a Certificate under Regulation 4 (Equivalents)
within 7 days of receipt of recommendation from Recognized Organization and upload
the same on IMO GISIS Module.
21. The Standard format of the equivalent certificate is attached as Annexures-1 of thiscircular.

22. A copy of the Certificate is to be placed on board and made available to authorities
as may be required.
This Circular is issued with the approval of Chief Surveyor cum Additional DG(Engineering).

(Kiran Chempakassery Sasidharan)
E&SS-cum-DDG (Tech)
To,All stakeholders through DGS Website.

Annexure-1
Format of Certificate
Issued under the authority of the Government of India by...................................................................................................................................................

Particulars of ship
Name of ship..............................................................................................................................
Distinctive number or letters.......................................................................................................
Port of registry............................................................................................................................
Gross tonnage............................................................................................................................
IMO Number..............................................................................................................................
The ship has been allowed to use following bio-fuel blend under the provisions of Regulation 4 ofMarpol Annex VI for the application of Regulation 18.3 of MARPOL Annex VI.

Type of Fuel

Bio-FuelBlend

Percentageof blend

Manufacturing method

Limitation