AD Ports Group and partners to explore e-methanol bunkering in the UAE

UAE-based port operator AD Ports Group has partnered with three other companies to explore the development of an e-methanol bunkering and export facility at the UAE’s Khalifa Port and Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi (KEZAD).

IMAGE: CMA CGM's methanol-ready vessel. AD Ports Group

Other collaborators of this project include UAE’s state-owned energy firm Masdar, Dutch liquid storage logistics company Advario and France-based shipping company CMA CGM.

This collaboration aims to develop critical infrastructure to boost e-methanol supply chain and “commercial e-methanol production with key off-takers, such as CMA CGM,” AD Ports Group said in a statement.

The project is expected to accelerate the port’s as well as the global shipping industry’s decarbonisation goals, the port operator said.

The agreement aligns with the Abu Dhabi Low Carbon Hydrogen Policy and the UAE’s National Hydrogen Strategy, which targets the scaling up of local hydrogen production to 1.4 million mt/year by 2031 and 15 million mt/year by 2050, according to the statement.

E-methanol, or synthetic methanol, is produced using 100% biogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) and green hydrogen. The biogenic CO2 is typically captured through either bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) or through direct air capture (DAC).

E-methanol produced by this method is virtually free of greenhouse gases and can cut a vessel's CO2 emissions by 95% compared to conventional marine fuels on a well-to-wake basis.

By Aparupa Mazumder

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