The Week in Alternative Fuels
Here are some of the key developments in alternative bunker fuels from the past week.
PHOTO: Model of energy-saving device on a propeller. NYK Line
As Europe looks to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels partly through upping its renewables ambitions, alternative fuels have come to the fore.
This week, the European Union announced a massive allocation of €1.8 billion ($1.8 billion) to fund 17 clean energy projects spanning hydrogen, biofuels and carbon capture infrastructure. One of the grantees sets out build the world’s first commercial-scale biofuel production facility in Norway.
Biofuel has emerged as a significant interim solution to curb emissions in shipping as it requires little to no modification to engines or fuel supply systems. Although biofuel could play a short-term role, it falls short of completely eliminating emissions from shipping.
It is widely believed that hydrogen derivatives such as ammonia will play a vital future role in filling the future supply gap. However, with its current production growth pace it could be that ammonia will fail to catch up with future shipping demand.
Nuclear power developer Core Power believes that cheap and clean electricity is the only way to make ammonia production viable. Its concept design for offshore floating ammonia production facilities would be powered by nuclear energy. It argues that abundant access to seawater and atmospheric nitrogen as inputs to the production plant could eventually bring down the price of the ammonia it will produce 300-350/mt.
Japanese shipping company Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line) has been scaling up investments in building its zero-emission fleet. This week NYK Line and partners received an Approval in Principle (AIP) for the design of ammonia fuelled tugboat. The tugboat could be the world’s first ammonia-fuelled tugboat when it is inducted in 2024.
Despite shipping companies investing to develop ammonia-powered fleet, only a few projects have been seen to focus on building ammonia fuel supply systems. Classification society Lloyd’s Register has now granted design approval to an ammonia fuel system developed by Chinese marine technology firm SunRui. The design was approved after multiple risk assessments including potential hazards related to bunker fuel storage, supply, ammonia vapour processing and layout.
Here are the top five stories in alternative fuels this week:
EU to invest €1.8 billion in 17 renewable energy projects
The European Union (EU) has announced an investment of more than €1.8 billion ($1.8 billion) in 17 large-scale clean energy projects including hydrogen, biofuels and carbon capture infrastructure.
These projects show great potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and can save 136 million mt of carbon dioxide equivalent in their first decade of operation, the EU said.
The projects are located in Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden.
The selection includes three projects for production, distribution and use of green hydrogen, and two for biofuels.
In the Netherlands, one project will produce green hydrogen through an electrolyser powered by electricity from offshore wind. Shell’s upcoming Holland Hydrogen 1 plant in Rotterdam is set to be Europe’s biggest with a 200-megawatt electrolyser when it is up and running.
In the biofuel segment, the EU has selected one project in Norway to build the world's first commercial-scale production facility for biofuel as drop-in fuel. This facility will recycle forestry waste into biofuels and biochar
Other projects span sectors such as offshore wind, manufacturing of photovoltaic (PV) modules, and carbon capture and storage.
These projects will be funded from the Innovation Fund, which has been created to incentivise investments in low-carbon technologies. The fund will draw more than €38 billion ($38 billion) in funding from EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) allowances until 2030.
Another 20 projects were deemed promising in this application round, but not sufficiently mature to be worked on immediately. They have been pre-selected for development assistance from the European Investment Bank.
The EU will select another batch of large-scale renewable energy projects this autumn, which will partly be funded by a €3 billion ($3 billion) allocation to support EU countries with their shift away from Russian fossil fuels.
Atomic ammonia power plant can make ammonia viable for shipping – Core Power
UK-based nuclear power developer Core Power thinks floating offshore platforms powered by nuclear energy can mass-produce ammonia at a low cost for the green shipping corridors proposed at COP26 last year.
Lack of scalability and deliverability has so far held back ammonia production for the shipping industry, representatives from Core Power told a webinar organised by the company today.
Their answer to overcome these challenges: a floating offshore nuclear power plant combined with an ammonia production plant.
The offshore floating power facility would house an atomic reactor and a power conversion system.
Core Power’s director of analytics Rory Megginson said saltwater would be pumped out of the sea and desalinated using reverse osmosis, with resultant freshwater fed into electrolyser cells to split the water into hydrogen and oxygen. Nitrogen will be captured from atmospheric air.
Producing green ammonia is very energy intensive and requires reliable access to low-cost renewable electricity. Nuclear power can generate sufficient heat and electricity, which can be transferred to a nearby offshore ammonia production plant, he added.
The green ammonia produced can supply ships sailing in so-called “green corridors” between certain ports, and near major shipping hubs such as Houston, Rotterdam and Singapore, said Core Power’s director of business development Tobi Menzies.
Menzies claims ammonia can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 90% on a Houston to Rotterdam voyage.
The price of green ammonia could fall to $300-350/mt in the future. But ultra-cheap clean electricity and capital expenditures (CAPEX) are required to narrow the price gap between ammonia and conventional fuels, he added.
Each of the envisioned atomic-powered floating facilities would initially incur a CAPEX of approximately $4-5 billion, Core Power’s chief executive Mikal Bøe said. But the unit will be more or less self-reliant and can generate green electricity for at least 20 years, operating day in and day out, he added.
A carbon tax of $150/mt that is advocated by several environmental groups is unlikely to reduce the price gap between conventional and green fuels sufficiently on its own, claims Core Power.
Menzies argues cheap and clean electricity is the only way to make ammonia production viable.
The biggest drawback of ammonia is its low energy content. A large container vessel typically requires around 8,400 mt of heavy fuel oil to complete a voyage from the Far East to northwest Europe, whereas 18,100 mt of ammonia will be required to complete the same voyage.
Core Power and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have received initial funding from the US government to study regulations for operating these floating power facilities.
NYK Line inches closer to launch world’s first ammonia-fuelled tugboat
Japanese shipping company Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line) and its partners have received approval in principle (AIP) from classification society ClassNK for the design of an ammonia-fuelled tugboat.
NYK claims it has cracked the code on the design layout, wherein ammonia fuel-related equipment will be installed safely in a designated space onboard the tugboat.
The vessel will be tested and later deployed in the Port of Yokohama, with a launch date in 2024.
Lloyd’s Register approves design of SunRui ammonia fuel supply system
The design was approved after multiple risk assessments including potential hazards related to bunker fuel storage, supply, ammonia vapour processing and layout.
Shipping classification society Lloyd’s Register has granted Approval in Principle (AIP) to the ammonia fuel supply system (AFSS) developed by Chinese marine technology firm SunRui Marine Environment Engineering.
SunRui claims the ammonia fuel supply system is compatible with MAN Energy Solutions and Winterthur Gas & Diesel's (WinGD) two-stroke ammonia engine. MAN is expected to launch its first ammonia-powered engine by 2024.
Earlier this year, Japanese container shipping firm Ocean Network Express (ONE) placed an order of 10 ammonia- and methanol-ready containerships.
SunRui has previously developed fuel supply systems for LNG and methanol-powered vessels.
Maersk leaves ICS board to pursue different stance on climate change
Container shipping giant A.P. Moller - Maersk has withdrawn from the board of International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) to pursue a different climate strategy.
Maersk aims to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, a decade earlier than the ICS's target. Differing views on this timeline have contributed towards Maersk's call to pull out of the ICS board, a representative of the industry body said in an email.
Maersk had been part of the ICS board for a long time, but its executive and board member Henriette Hallberg Thygesen stepped down following an annual revision of Maersk's trade association memberships.
ICS represents around 80% of the world's shipping fleet. It is a coalition of the world’s national shipowner associations, and therefore views it as important to ensure that all its members become a part of its energy transition journey, irrespective of their size and financial backing.
“It has to be a just transition and for that we want to give time to all to understand the new technology related to zero-emission vessels, understand the safety standards related to alternative fuels like hydrogen and ammonia. This will require reskilling at every stage,” the ICS representative said.
To achieve the decarbonisation goal together, it is important to allow time towards 2050, the representative added.
Meanwhile, the ICS maintains that it and other members of the shipping industry are “heading towards the same objective of decarbonisation.”
Maersk will still be a member of the Danish Shipping, which is an ICS member, the representative said.
Earlier this month, a study by the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping showed that only 33 of 94 major shipping companies across the world have committed to achieve net zero emission targets by 2050.
