Nordic coalition plans to dramatically ramp up e-methanol production by 2030
Swedish circular carbon energy firm Liquid Wind intends to develop 10 e-methanol plants in the Nordics by 2027 and a total of 80 plants by 2030.
PHOTO: Concept image of Liquid Wind's modular e-methanol facility. Liquid Wind
The e-methanol production facilities - called Core eMethanol Plants (CMP) – will be modular ready-to-build units, each with a nominal production capacity of 100,000 mt/year.
Liquid Wind has teamed up with multiple partners including Swedish engineering company Alfa Laval, Danish tech company Topsoe, German engineer Siemens Energy and London-based Carbon Clean for this project.
Ultimately, the partners aim to build 80 such modular plants in the Nordic region by 2030, which would result in 8 million mt/year of e-methanol for the shipping sector.
“These units will contribute significantly to the global eMethanol market and future reduction in emissions in hard-to-abate industries such as global shipping,” Liquid Wind said.
This approach is expected to minimise the “time, cost, and risk of developing and executing” new plants to scale up e-methanol production, Liquid Wind explained.
E-methanol, or synthetic methanol, is produced using 100% biogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) and green hydrogen. The biogenic CO2 is typically captured through either bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) or through direct air capture (DAC). This fuel is virtually free of greenhouse gases and can cut a vessel's CO2 emissions by 95% compared to conventional marine fuels on a well-to-wake basis.
A total of 80 plants are estimated to reduce around 14 million mt/year of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Carbon Clean will supply a modular CO2 capture unit to harvest biogenic CO2 for fuel production.
Carbon Clean has provided carbon capture equipment capable of capturing 70,000 mt/year of biogenic CO2 to Danish wind energy giant Ørsted. This equipment will be installed at Ørsted’s FlagshipONE e-methanol production facility, which it acquired from Liquid Wind last year.
Ørsted's FlagshipONE project in northern Sweden will produce 50,000 mt/year of e-methanol as a marine fuel by 2025.
Moreover, Liquid Wind is already building two additional e-methanol plants to meet the growing methanol bunkering demand. Its FlagshipTWO plant will produce 100,000 mt/year of green e-methanol starting from 2025 and FlagshipTHREE will produce another 100,000 mt/year of green e-methanol from 2026.
By Konica Bhatt
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