The Week in Alternative Fuels
Here are some of the key developments in alternative bunker fuels from the past week.
PHOTO: Concept design for the two 500 container-capacity hydrogen carriers. Gen2 Energy
The Port of Rotterdam plans to build an import facility in Maasvlakte, a location it says is easily accessible for vessels calling to discharge green ammonia or blue ammonia.
A Chinese ammonia-powered bulk carrier design was approved by classification society Lloyd's Register.
Green hydrogen tech developer Aqua Aerem has partnered with Japanese gas company Osaka Gas to develop green hydrogen production in Australia's Northern Territory for domestic consumption and export.
Norwegian green hydrogen supply chain developer Gen2 Energy has commissioned ship designer Sirius Design & Integration to design world’s biggest hydrogen carriers.
Singapore-based shipping firm Pacific International Lines has tested a bio-VLSFO blend on voyage between Singapore to Pakistan. PIL thinks biofuel could supplement LNG as a readily available transitional fuel option for vessels.
A 12,000 cbm-capacity LNG bunker tanker has been launched in Singapore and will be chartered to Pavilion Energy for LNG supply in the port.
Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping and Chile’s Ministry of Energy have agreed to set up a network of green corridors to transport goods in and out of the South American country.
Here are the top five stories in alternative fuels this week:
Rotterdam plans to develop import terminal for green fuels by 2026
Dutch terminal operator Vopak and other operators Gasunie and HES International will join in to develop the import terminal - ACE Terminal - for green ammonia as a hydrogen carrier.
The proposed terminal designs include a space allocated to an installation facility that will convert ammonia to hydrogen. The facility will eventually be connected to Gasunie's hydrogen network that will serve the northwest European market.
Work to design the terminal is expected to commence this quarter.
Aqua Aerem and Osaka Gas to develop $11 billion hydrogen project in Australia
The 10GW Desert Bloom Hydrogen project will have a nameplate capacity to produce 410,000 mt/year of green hydrogen when production units are fully up and running.
Aqua Aerem has patented an air-to-water technology, which it says can produce commercial volumes of green hydrogen without depleting water sources.
The project is based on an off-grid system and will use a series of 2MW Hydrogen Producing Units (HPU) to capture water from air. The HPUs will also produce heat, electricity and green hydrogen.
Sanguine managing director David Green predicts green hydrogen can be produced at $0.002/mt within five years because it the HPUs will generate revenue from the start and does not require large upfront investments.
Gen2 Energy sets out to build world’s biggest hydrogen container carriers
Norwegian green hydrogen supply chain developer Gen2 Energy has commissioned ship designer Sirius Design & Integration to design two hydrogen carriers.
The vessels will have capacity to carry 500 40-foot containers, which it claims is a world-first for shipment of hydrogen. Their propulsion systems will also be fuelled by hydrogen and designed for low emissions, the firms say.
Gen2 is building a hub in northern Norway’s Mosjoen to scale up green hydrogen production for bunkering and industrial consumption. Some of these volumes will be exported to other northern European countries and this is where the hydrogen carriers come in.
PIL conducts bio-VLSFO trial on Singapore to Pakistan voyage
The biofuel trial is being conducted on PIL’s container vessel Kota Megah, which called at Singapore yesterday.
PIL will use the trial to explore how much vessel emissions can be reduced by from a technical and commercial stand point.
The biofuel is a blend of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) and VLSFO, and will be tested on the Kota Megah on PIL’s China-Pakistan route.
Chile green shipping corridor outlined
Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping (the Center) and Chile’s Ministry of Energy have agreed to set up a network of green corridors to transport goods in and out of the South American country.
The Center will lead a pre-feasibility study with the Chilean government and other stakeholders throughout the value chain, and eventually roll out the selected green corridors over the coming years.
“We need large-scale projects like green corridors to take the decarbonization of the maritime industry from theory to actual demonstration of production, supply and use of alternative fuels in the ports. Only this way will we align on standards and obtain the experience and knowledge we need to scale solutions fast enough to meet the end target of net-zero in 2050,” the Center’s chief executive Bo Cerup-Simonsen said.
