The Week in Alternative Fuels 23 February 2024
Methanol and ammonia are fast becoming fan favourites among the possible bunker fuel alternatives in the future. Onboard carbon capture has gained a new ally in efforts to reduce vessel emissions.
PHOTO: A concentrated solar power plant in Port Augusta, Australia. Getty Images
Switching to greener fuels or implementing onboard emission reduction technologies, shipping companies can do a number of things to reduce vessel emissions in the future. This week, some shipping companies showed interest in green fuels with zero-emission potential, while another said it wants to invest in onboard emission reduction technology.
Chinese shipbuilding firm Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore and Greek container shipping firm Danaos are looking at methanol.
Classification society American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) greenlit Yantai’s dual-fuel methanol heavy-duty offshore wind turbine installation vessel concept. These kinds of vessels are primarily used to install offshore wind turbines and operates in certain areas. The engine will be capable of running on conventional fuels along with methanol, Yantai said.
Danaos Shipping ordered two more methanol-ready container ships from Chinese shipbuilder Yangzijiang Shipbuilding. Danaos Shipping now has 12 methanol-ready vessels on order. But it’s not yet time to celebrate, as methanol-ready means that the vessels will not be capable of running on methanol upon delivery, but they will have the option to be retrofitted for methanol propulsion in the future. This implies they will likely run on fossil marine fuels from day one.
There are around 1.4 trillion reasons why shipping's shift to green fuel will be costly. While the shipping industry mulls over how to address this cost burden, one Norwegian container shipping firm has opted to share the burden with its charterers. MPC Container Ships (MPCC) has partnered with several charterers to retrofit its vessels with methanol-capable dual-fuel engines. MPCC and its charterers have agreed to share methanol retrofit costs and extend time charter agreements for vessels undergoing retrofits.
Mabanaft, meanwhile, has conceptualised a green methanol production plant to supply fuel to future methanol-capable ships. The Hamburg-based energy firm has partnered with Australian energy company Vast to build a 7,500 mt/year green methanol plant in Port Augusta, South Australia. Electricity generated from Vast’s concentrated solar thermal power energy systems will power a 10 MW electrolyser, Mabanaft confirmed.
Looking beyond methanol, NYK Bulk & Project Carriers (NBP) is considering ammonia as its future fuel of choice. The bulk carrier arm of Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) Line plans to build 10-15 ammonia-capable bulk carriers by the end of this decade. It will explore the possibility of sourcing green ammonia from Chilean company Enaex's proposed 18,000 mt/year green ammonia plant in Mejillones, Chile as fuel for these vessels.
Apart from zero-emission potential fuels, maritime stakeholders are also promoting carbon capture as an eventual means to reduce the sector's carbon footprint. Classification societies DNV and ABS have highlighted onboard carbon capture as an option "beyond fuels" to combat maritime emissions.
Singapore-based shipbuilder Seatrium seems to have taken this suggestion seriously. It plans to retrofit Wärtsilä’s ready-to-use carbon capture and storage (CCS) system on Norwegian shipping company Solvang’s fossil fuel-powered LPG carrier. Wärtsilä claims that 70% of a vessel’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions can be captured using its CCS system, adding that this rate may reach 80% with a by a solvent tailored specifically for marine engines.
By Konica Bhatt
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