The Week in Alternative Fuels 19 January 2024
E-fuel bunker demand will exceed supply by 2030 - IEA
Hanwha Ocean aims for ammonia without pilot fuel
ICCT warns about unrestrained LNG-fuelled ship growth
PHOTO: Getty Images
Global capacity to produce renewable is set to reach 7,800 gigawatts (GW) by 2028, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said. This is, however, considerably short of the 11,000-GW target set by COP28 signatories. To meet COP28's ambition, the IEA recommends urgent policy action and investments to increase green energy production.
The energy watchdog also estimates e-fuel bunker demand to reach 1 billion litres/year by 2030, while e-fuel production capacity is only set to reach 0.5 billion litres/year by then. It warns that immediate action is needed to narrow this wide gap.
While the IEA called for investments to boost production of e-fuels like green ammonia and e-methanol, technological developments are also underway to enable ships to operate on e-fuels.
Norwegian marine technology firm Corvus Energy has integrated ammonia cracking technology into its fuel cell system. It explained that this will generate hydrogen onboard ships to power the fuel cells.
Ammonia cracking is a process where ammonia molecules are broken down into hydrogen and nitrogen molecules. It is typically done at temperatures of 850-950°C with a nickel catalyst. Corvus Energy has received funding from the EU to develop and commercialise this technology.
Ammonia as a fuel needs pilot fuel for ignition since ammonia's high auto-ignition temperature makes it difficult to burn readily or sustain combustion. As a result, ammonia's zero-emission potential is undermined by using fossil fuel as pilot fuel, which emits carbon dioxide. South Korea's Hanwha Ocean has unveiled a concept design for an ammonia gas turbine-powered gas carrier that does not need a pilot fuel to run.
Japan's Yanmar Power Technology’s maritime hydrogen fuel cell system got a class nod from Japanese classification society ClassNK. The hydrogen fuel cell system consists of eight high-pressure hydrogen tanks, gas valve units, batteries and a 300-kilowatt (kW) motor, Yanmar Power Tech said. Hydrogen fuel cells are becoming more popular in short-sea shipping because of hydrogen's zero-emission potential, but cannot powering large ocean-going vessels with current technologies.
With low- and zero-emission fuels and technologies not yet widely available, many shipping companies are turning to liquefied natural gas (LNG) as an intermediate solution to reduce vessels' carbon emissions.
The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) warns that these LNG-fuelled vessels can have high well-to-wake emissions. Using LNG as a bunker fuel could undermine international shipping's decarbonisation efforts, the ICCT said. The non-profit has urged the IMO and its member countries to take immediate action and develop more stringent policies by 2025, to effectively curb shipping's methane emissions.
By Konica Bhatt
Here is our selection of the top five alternative fuels stories from this week:
Need urgent policy action and investments to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 – IEA
Corvus Energy wins EU funding for combining ammonia cracking with fuel cell technology
Hanwha Ocean aims for ammonia-fuelled ship without pilot fuel
ClassNK greenlights Yanmar Power Technology’s hydrogen fuel cell system
Shipping industry needs stricter regulations to curb methane emissions – ICCT
