The Week in Alternative Fuels
Here are some key developments in alternative bunker fuels from the past week.
PHOTO: A working diagram of liquid hydrogen fuel cells in ships. Ballard Power Systems
In an important step towards expediting shipping decarbonisation, the European Parliament voted in favour of FuelEU Maritime. This will require ships to cut their onboard greenhouse gas emission intensity by 2% from 2025, 20% from 2035 and 80% from 2050, compared to 2020 levels.
Also mandated in the proposal is the use of at least 2% hydrogen-based fuels - which the ports of Gothenburg and Rotterdam are trying to encourage. The two ports have signed an agreement to set up a green corridor, which they think will incentivise owners with ships in these areas to invest in engines running on low- and zero-carbon fuels.
German engine maker MAN Energy Solutions (MAN ES) is developing retrofittable alternative-fuel engines to make the shift easier. It has outlined a plan whereby two-thirds of dual-fuel ship engine orders will be methanol and ammonia by 2032.
MAN ES is also a partner in a Danish liquid hydrogen demonstration project under which Canadian fuel cell supplier Ballard Power Systems has tested liquid hydrogen-powered fuel cells for vessels.
Another company that is focusing on hydrogen is Bahamas-based Veer.Voyage. It has conceptualised a zero-carbon 160-twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) container ship. The vessel has sails that can bring it up to decent speeds in themselves without any fuel consumed. Additional auxiliary engine power will come from a battery and proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells.
By Konica Bhatt
Please get in touch with comments or additional info to news@engine.online
Here is our selection of five top alternative fuels stories from this week:
European Parliament toughens maritime GHG reduction targets
In a plenary session today, Members of the European Parliament approved tougher greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets under the FuelEU Maritime initiative.
The maritime sector will have to cut the greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of the energy used on board ships by 2% as of 2025, 20% as of 2035, and 80% as of 2050 compared to 2020 levels.
The European Commission had proposed the same reduction by 2025, but less stringent reductions of 13% by 2035, and 75% by 2050.
These targets will apply to ships above 5,000 gross tonnes (GT), to all energy used onboard ships in or between EU ports, and to 50% of the energy used on voyages where the departure or arrival port is outside of the EU.
The proposal also mandates companies that operate three or more ships above 5,000 GT to use at least 2% renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBOs or hydrogen-based fuels), and for container ships and passenger ships docked at EU ports for more than two hours to use on-shore power.
According to the EU's renewable energy directive, biofuels must achieve a minimum 65% reduction in GHG emissions, whereas RFNBOs and recycled carbon fuels have a minimum emission-saving threshold of 70%.
The final text of the FuelEU Maritime proposal will now be negotiated between the European Commission, European Parliament, and EU member states.
After North Sea Port, Port of Gothenburg signs green shipping corridor deal with Port of Rotterdam
According to the deal, Sweden's Gothenburg and the Netherlands' Rotterdam seek to accelerate decarbonisation efforts and boost alternative fuel uptake.
Rotterdam hosted the world's first barge-to-ship methanol bunker operation in May 2021, while Gothenburg expects e-methanol to be supplied by 2024.
Gothenburg and Rotterdam will connect their green corridor to a wider network of deep-sea corridors, including the European Green Corridors Network that was launched by a range of ports in coordination with the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Center for Zero-Carbon Shipping in March.
Last week, the Port of Gothenburg and the Belgian North Sea Port announced that they will establish a green corridor between them to spur uptake of alternative fuels from ocean-going vessels by 2025.
Also, this year, Rotterdam and the Port Authority of Singapore announced plans for a green corridor that could become the world's biggest.
Shipping classification society American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has been promoting green shipping corridors. As ABS chief Christopher Wiernicki puts it, "green corridors will contribute to the development of clean energy transition strategies that will highlight shipping as a value enabler."
MAN ES says a third of dual-fuel ship engine orders will be methanol in 'a few years'
German engine manufacturer MAN Energy Solutions (MAN ES) is expanding its presence in the methanol engine market thanks to another order from Danish shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk.
MAN ES just received another engine order for Maersk's upcoming methanol-fuelled fleet. It will deliver two-stroke dual-fuel engines that are designed to run on methanol and conventional fuels for six 17,000 twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) container ships for delivery by 2025.
Maersk has also chosen MAN ES as the engine maker for its methanol-fuelled vessels under construction. These include 12 16,000 TEU container ships for delivery by 2024 and a 2,100 TEU feeder vessel that is set to become the first in operation by 2023.
South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries will build all the vessels and integrate the engines.
MAN ES claims that its dual-fuel engine provides up to 100% carbon-neutral propulsion when fuelled by green methanol.
Operators can blend green methanol with methanol produced from residual industry gases or from natural gas to create a drop-in fuel, until, eventually, lower carbon methanol becomes the main fuel.
Currently, MAN ES has 78 methanol engines on order, but Thomas Hansen, head of promotion and customer support at MAN ES predicts that within the next decade, methanol will make up about 30% of all dual-fuel engine orders.
He also projects that around 30% of its total orders will be for ammonia engines by 2032.
MAN ES' director of new technology two-stroke promotion, Kjeld Aabo, says conventional methanol engines can reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by 30-50%, with only a 10% increase in the installation costs as they can be used with existing infrastructure with minor retrofits.
Although the majority of methanol used today is still produced conventionally from natural gas, Aabo sees great potential for it to become a carbon-neutral resource for the maritime energy transition.
Ballard tests liquid hydrogen-powered fuel cells for vessels
It says liquid hydrogen has distinct space, weight and range advantage over gaseous hydrogen, resulting in less impact on payload capacity for vessels.
Canadian fuel cell supplier Ballard Power System and some industry partners have successfully completed a series of performance and functionality demonstrations of a 200-kW fuel cell module using liquid hydrogen.
Ballard’s 200-kW fuel cell uses liquid hydrogen stored onboard vessels as fuel. The fuel cells generate electricity that is used to charge onboard batteries and power the ship’s electric engine and onboard equipment.
A hydrogen fuel cell typically emits no emissions, other than oxygen and water.
The company claims the power output from the fuel cells can be customised according to customer requirements. The fuel cells are modular in design and require less space onboard, Ballard says.
The series of test runs were conducted at US-based industry machinery firm Chart Industries’ test facilities in New Prague and Minnesota.
These test runs are part of a Danish liquid hydrogen demonstration project that Ballard is part of. German engine manufacturer MAN Energy Solutions’ subsidiary MAN Cryo is also a partner.
INTERVIEW: Green, lean and mean – Veer.Voyage CEO on clean-energy flagship vessel
Veer.Voyage has received ABS approval for a concept design of a container vessel that is mainly propelled forward by the wind from sails. In an interview with Engine, the Bahamas-based naval architect's chief executive Danielle Doggett discusses the specifications of the futuristic container ship.
As a “means of combating global carbon dioxide emissions by providing efficient and affordable zero-carbon shipping”, Veer.Voyage has conceptualised a 160-twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) with primary sail propulsion and an auxiliary hydrogen-electric hybrid engine.
Just by using the sails, the ship can reach speeds of up to 18 knots (33 km/h) without any fuel consumed.
The ship's auxiliary engine is powered by a battery and a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell. The fuel cell provides the average power required to propel the ship while batteries will provide peak-shaving and electrical balance.
In addition, the ships will be equipped with a containerised hydrogen energy system. This is a modular system that allows fully-loaded green hydrogen containers to be loaded on board.
Approximately 7,500 kg of compressed hydrogen can be carried in 18 TEU containers, allowing the ship to travel 1,200 nautical miles if fully loaded.
Veer.Voyage is currently in advanced talks with shipyards and undergoing a hazard identification process, chief executive Danielle Doggett says. She expects two Veer.Voyage ships to enter into commercial operations by 2024, and build another six ships.
The company has other plans, too. It looks to develop a larger vessel and other freight ship concepts. On the supply side, it seeks to establish an offshore green hydrogen production facility to produce green hydrogen - to power fuel cells - instead of ammonia or methanol as bunker fuels for internal combustion engines.
Earlier this year, HAV Hydrogen, a Norwegian hydrogen systems firm, introduced a deck-based containerised hydrogen energy system for ships to accelerate the use of hydrogen as a bunker fuel.
Kristian Osnes, managing director at HAV Hydrogen, said the deck-based system would allow shipowners to install a retrofit option at significantly lower costs and risks than conventional retrofit hydrogen-storage installations below deck.
HAV’s containerised energy system is based on 200kW hydrogen fuel cell modules and can be set up with 1,000 kW output from a standard 20-foot-long shipping container.
