The Week in Alternative Fuels

Here are some of the key developments in alternative bunker fuels from the past week.

PHOTO: H2Carrier's floating prototype P2Xfloater. H2Carrier

This week, green ammonia took centre stage with new developments. A lot of attention is being paid to this zero-carbon fuel candidate by the shipping industry. This has prompted governments, producers, terminal operators, engine makers and other players to pay heed and plan for a future demand upswing.

Among them is Norway-based H2Carrier, which has developed a prototype for a large-scale floating green hydrogen and ammonia production plant. In an interview with Engine this week, H2Carrier's chief executive discussed how green ammonia can be produced cost-effectively and eventually compete on price with conventional bunker fuels.

German energy firm Uniper and Dutch terminal operator Vesta Terminals signed a deal to revamp an ammonia storage facility at the Netherlands’ port of Vlissingen. They aim to increase the facility's capacity by 960,000 mt by 2026 with this makeover.

Multiple Japanese energy giants have teamed up with Woodside Energy to study and fine-tune details around an ammonia supply chain project. The supply chain would run between Japan and Australia, giving Australia a boost to its ammonia exports.

Methanol also figured prominently in this week's alternative fuels headlines. MOVE Logistics has endorsed methanol as a future fuel by ordering a methanol-ready vessel for its New Zealand voyages, while Patrick Ryan of the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has called it a promising alternative.

ABS has been involved in a range of marine methanol projects and just recently approved the design of a methanol-powered Newcastlemax bulk carrier.

By Konica Bhatt

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Uniper and Vesta to explore Vlissingen ammonia storage

The duo intends to refurbish and expand an existing storage facility in Netherlands’ Vlissingen to handle 960,000 mt of green ammonia by 2026.

German energy firm Uniper and Dutch terminal operator Vesta Terminals have signed a memorandum of understanding to evaluate whether they can convert a storage facility in Vlissingen to hold ammonia. They say this could help boost green ammonia and hydrogen supply in northwest European markets.

Uniper says the project would complement its Wilhelmshaven import terminal project in Germany, where its is building an LNG and green ammonia import terminal. The terminal will be equipped with an “ammonia cracker” to convert ammonia to hydrogen.

Vesta's terminal in Vlissingen currently has a refrigerated storage capacity of 60,000 cbm for ammonia. It says this can be increased to 1.96 million cbm/year as the terminal is set to be connected to a Dutch hydrogen pipeline in the future.

Ammonia stored at the terminal could be later supplied by small barges and rail tank cars.

The nearby port of Rotterdam recently announced a hydrogen import target of 4.6 million mt/year by 2030, and that ammonia producer OCI will expand its ammonia import terminal to triple throughput capacity by 2023 and create a hub for ammonia bunkering.

Woodside Energy onboards Japanese partners for ammonia supply chain study

Australian energy company Woodside Energy has partnered with Japanese energy giants to study.

Last year, Woodside led a feasibility study to examine potential of producing ammonia from natural gas in Australia.

In the second phase of the project, partnering companies will analyse the feasibility of setting up an ammonia supply chain.

Ammonia is considered a promising lower-emission - and potentially zero-carbon - fuel for energy-intensive thermal power plants and marine engines, Woodside said.

Japan’s latest strategic energy plan identifies ammonia-fuelled power generation as a key component for decarbonising energy sources and achieving the country's carbon-neutral target by 2050.

The partners in the study include Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC), conglomerate Marubeni, power & electric service providers Hokuriku Electric, Tohoku Electric, and Hokkaido Electric, and nuclear power generator Kansai Electric.

ABS approves methanol-fuelled Newcastlemax bulk carrier design

The dual-fuel 210,000 dwt vessel has been developed by two Chinese firms CSSC Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding and China Ship Design & Research Center (CSDC).

The duo says the vessel’s methanol tank has enough capacity to meet endurance requirements on methanol only.

“Methanol as marine fuel is a promising fuel with the potential to support the industry’s journey to low- and zero-carbon operations,” ABS senior vice president for global engineering and technology Patrick Ryan says.

The classification society is involved in multiple methanol-related projects.

It has also developed a methanol-fuelled bulk carrier with Singapore-based shipping company SDTR Marine (SDTR) and Chinese ship design institute Shanghai Merchant Ship Design & Research Institute (SDARI).

MOVE Logistics orders methanol-ready vessel for New Zealand voyages

New Zealand-based logistics company MOVE has ordered a methanol-ready ro-ro vessel, supported by $10 million in funding from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.

MOVE's ro-ro vessel will carry vehicles between 13 ports in New Zealand. It will initially operate between Nelson and New Plymouth. It will have a methanol fuel tank and appropriate pipework installed.

“This ensures the new vessel is ready for the swap-in of carbon-friendly methanol powered engines as they become available,” MOVE says.

MAN Energy Solutions and Wartsila have already developed ship engines capable of burning methanol. MAN says the engine technology has been proven with over 40 of its two-stroke methanol engines sold since 2016, and 120,000 running hours on methanol.

Wartsila received its first methanol engine order from Van Oord this year. Five engines will be fitted on Van Oord’s offshore wind installation vessel newbuild by early next year.

WinGD will be testing a methanol-fuelled engine with Alfa Laval next year, expecting to launch it to the market by 2024. Rolls-Royce is working to develop one with a targeted launch date in 2026.

EXCLUSIVE: H2Carrier chief executive on pioneering a floating green marine fuels facility

H2Carrier chief executive Mårten Lunde explains how green ammonia can be produced cost-effectively on floating units and compete with grey ammonia and other energy forms in an interview with Engine.

Norway-based H2Carrier has developed what could become the world’s first large-scale floating green hydrogen and ammonia facility. A concept design of the facility was recently approved by classification society DNV.

The facility is actually a very large gas carrier (VLGC) converted to a floating production, storage and offloading unit (FPSO) with a scalable production capacity of 100,000-230,000 mt/year.

The FPSO will produce green ammonia from hydrogen and nitrogen through the well-matured Haber-Bosch process. Green hydrogen will be produced through electrolysis of desalinated seawater with renewable energy. Nitrogen will be captured directly from the air and synthesised in an ammonia generator onboard.

“We expect to export the majority of the production, while bunkering options will be made available once demand picks up from the maritime sector," Lunde says.

His company plans to “build, own, and operate” a fleet of the FPSOs, which are called P2XFloater. It is currently working on projects in the UK and Norway, but will eventually seek to expand to new markets worldwide.

Given the highly corrosive nature of ammonia, it will be stored using ammonia-compliant low-carbon steel on the FPSO, says Lunde. Safety guidelines and risk assessments are already in place, and crew and workers will be trained to handle ammonia.

As for the cost-effectiveness of green ammonia produced by these facilities compared to conventional fuels, Lunde explained that green ammonia's cost will depend on the electricity price as well ammonia production capacity utilisation. But costs are currently projected to be substantially lower for green than grey ammonia due to “exceptionally high gas prices”.

While green hydrogen and ammonia production is forecast to rise rapidly as the world transitions to renewable energy over the coming decades, about 95% of the hydrogen produced in the world today is so-called "grey", according to estimates by the US Department of Energy. This means it is produced from steam methane reforming of carbon-containing natural gas.

As a next step, H2Carrier announced this month it will conduct a study on the FPSO with Norwegian engineering firm KANFA and with Statkraft, Europe’s largest renewable energy generator. They will study challenges related to offshore electrolysers operation and ammonia production with variable load handling.