Methanol is a key solution for decarbonizing the shipping industry today
Shun Tak Maritime Network Green Shipping Group
Under the dual pressure of customer demand and supervision, the shipping industry is developing in the direction of low carbon. Leading shipowners have made significant progress in the right direction. At present, the solutions are diverse in terms of emission reduction potential, fuel density, usability and cost. Can a wide variety of options be technically and commercially viable in this $105 billion-a-year shipping market? The choice of shipowner is very important and cannot be sloppy.
Recently, Longspur Research released a research report showing that hydrogen fuel and methanol stand out among solutions and highlighting methanol as a key solution for decarbonizing the shipping industry today.
There are many possible ways to decarbonize shipping, including batteries or sails and fuel substitutions.
From the all-electric ship, it is undeniable that it has a variety of advantages, quiet, environmentally friendly, without any risk of emissions or oil spills, and low maintenance costs. However, using batteries on board is difficult and has many challenges:
l The range of battery pack size is limited, and the weight will increase rapidly, exceeding the maximum load capacity of the ship;
Endurance can be improved by using generators, however, speed is limited by the capacity of batteries to charge, and generators may become a source of emissions;
The marine environment is complex, the battery system with electronic components on board is easily corroded, and the battery needs to remain safe and reliable in a harsh environment;
Lithium-ion batteries are particularly susceptible to thermal runaway, overcharge, over-discharge, overtemperature, short circuit, extrusion and penetration can lead to catastrophic failures, such as: battery bag rupture, electrolyte leakage and difficult to extinguish fires;
Charging is affected due to being at the "end of the grid". As far as current battery technology is concerned, all electric ships are mainly used for shorter distances in port and coastal transport, so they account for a small proportion of the global maritime market.
Batteries are only suitable for short distances, suitable for ferry boats, etc., and ships equipped with sails are more auxiliary than propulsive, so the solution of the key long-distance routes falls on alternative fuels. The main competitors are hydrogen fuel, ammonia fuel, methanol and biomethane. Its main features and comparisons are as follows:
In terms of hydrogen fuel, current production technologies include two "blue" hydrogen fuels and "green" hydrogen fuels. Blue hydrogen fuel is expensive and cannot completely eliminate emissions by steam reforming LNG's methane. Green hydrogen fuel is mainly produced by electrolyzing water, and no carbon dioxide is produced in the process, but since hydrogen fuel is burned in the internal combustion engine and produces nitrogen oxides in the air, it may be possible to install a reprocessing device on the engine to remove it, but this is still an unproven technology for now. The biggest challenge in using hydrogen fuel for long-distance transport is that storage is difficult and requires heavy-duty cryogenic tanks, which are stored on board as liquids and take up valuable space.
In terms of ammonia fuel, it can be burned or used in fuel cells, and green hydrogen production can also be used, alleviating some of the problems of hydrogen fuel storage itself, but the problem of N2O emissions (nitrous oxide) and ammonia gas produced by ammonia fuel cannot be underestimated.
Image credit: Proman Stena Bulk
Returning to methanol fuel, reports from methanol's benefits, such as alternativeability, availability, energy density, and most importantly, the ability to drastically reduce emissions, making it immediately the focus of decarbonization of seaborne shipping.
Carbon dioxide emitted by the shipping industry and airborne pollutants such as sulphur oxide (SOx), nitrous oxide (NOx) and particulate matter are said to have generated emissions of more than 1 billion tonnes, which methanol can reduce by more than 60% due to its clean combustion properties. Nitrogen oxides decreased by 80%, sulfur oxides by 99%, particulate matter (PM) by 95%, and carbon dioxide by about 20%, which is only produced by natural gas as "gray" methanol. With the upgrading of technology, it is now possible to gradually evolve "gray" methanol into "blue" methanol and "green" methanol as follows:
Biomethanol is produced from sustainable biomass, such as forestry and agricultural waste, biogas from landfills, sewage, municipal solid waste (MSW) and black liquor from the pulp and paper industry. Green electric methanol is produced by electrolyzing green hydrogen from renewable sources in combination with carbon dioxide from carbon capture.
Currently, methanol is already in use in more than 120 ports, and more than 20 ships are already in use, making it the fourth largest shipping fuel in the world. Methanol is able to use existing infrastructure for storage and transportation, maintaining a liquid state at normal air temperatures and pressures. On a ship-to-ship or shore-to-shore basis, fuel transport is already possible. In addition, methanol is considered the safest alternative fuel and has a long history in shipping and some other applications. In addition to being easy to handle and transport, methanol is a transparent and biodegradable liquid that, when leaked in water, is rapidly diluted to non-toxic levels without impacting the environment or damaging marine ecosystems. In November 2020, the IMO approved methanol as a guideline for safe ship fuel, confirming the safety of methanol.
Methanol layout of major companies
First, industry giant Maersk's 8+4 methanol-powered container ships of 16,000 TEU. It is reported that the four newly ordered box ships will be delivered in 2025, after the eight vessels previously ordered on August 24, 2021 have already been delivered.
Next, Luo Luo also revealed plans to develop standards for high-speed methanol engines. Specifically, the company's powertrain division is currently working on MTU engines for methanol. A new high-speed four-stroke engine based on MTU technology is planned for use in merchant ships and yachts as soon as possible.
Similarly, Swiss energy company Proman partnered with Swedish shipping company Stena as early as last October to develop a solution that would allow ships to use methanol as a marine fuel. It is reported that the new solution will be used to power Stena's ships and third-party ships, which will help reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
In addition, German engine manufacturer MAN has made significant investments in methanol technology. Last November, the company revealed that it plans to upgrade its four-stroke engines to enable them to use green futuristic fuels, including methanol and ammonia fuels. And said that in 2022, the engine will be designed for methanol power. From 2024, solutions for the use of methanol in four-stroke engines will be available.
Late last year, methanol was used as an energy step toward zero emissions from Dutch shipping, and the MENENS Maritime Consortium received a €24 million (about $27 million) grant to conduct research to accelerate the use of methanol as a low-carbon fuel in the shipping industry. Sponsored by the Dutch Enterprise Agency, the research project aims to develop clean energy technologies with high flexibility and are used in a wide range of applications in the shipping industry, from yacht construction to offshore workboats and high-power dredgers.