Engineers launch boat project at Aqueduct Marina near Nantwich

Engineers at Aqueduct Marina near Nantwich have started a new project that could help shape the development of the next generation of boat engines.

The RIVER project, of which a new workboat is a major part, comprises of nine partners from five EU states and five associated partners.

It aims to bring together knowledge and experience in the capture, storage, treatment of CO2 and waterways.

The project is being led by French research establishment YNCREA HAUTS DE FRANCE based in Lille with Canal and River Trust adapting one of its new workboats.

The new boat will have a test rig that will enable the project’s engineers to evaluate the effectiveness of technology in real-world scenarios.

Work has already started on the construction of a new Canal and Rivers Trust workboat that will act as a test-bed for oxy-fuel combustion technology.

The project aims to develop internal combustion engines to virtually eliminate CO2 emissions.

This is done by recovering exhaust energy to improve fuel efficiency and to combine this with carbon capture technology that stores the expelled CO2 as compressed gas in containers.

Aqueduct has a long track record of building and restoring CRT workboats.

Robert Parton, Aqueduct’s Managing Director, said: “It is excellent that CRT are involved in this European environmental collaboration, and we are naturally delight here at Aqueduct Marina to be building this boat.

“We look forward with interest to seeing how the theory works on the water.”

At the end of the project, Aqueduct’s engineers will remove the central section of this 65ft boat and reduce it to the more usual 55ft.

Once reconfigured it will then join the Trust’s fleet of maintenance boats.