The Week in Alternative Fuels
Here are some of the key developments in alternative bunker fuels from the past week.
PHOTO: Stena Bulk's tanker Stena Impero will test a system that will capture its carbon dioxide emissions. Stena Bulk
Ammonia producer Yara has entered the HyPilot project to test Hystar’s proton exchange membrane electrolyser technology. Yara has set its sights on developing the world's first clean ammonia bunker and loading station, and this technology will help it produce green ammonia using hydrogen, and deliver it as fuel by its 2024 target.
Supply-side ammonia developments like these can help answer some of the questions posed by shipowners looking at which alternative fuel to bet on. And this might be good news for South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), which has planned to launch ammonia-powered container ships by 2025. In two months, it has received its third approval in principle for ammonia-fuelled prototypes, this time for an 86,000-cbm ammonia-fuelled ammonia carrier.
On the topic of bunking green fuel, Maersk and Mitsui have planned to kick off methanol bunkering in Singapore by 2023. The shipping conglomerates will join classification society ABS in studying how to design methanol bunker vessels, as well as storage and safe handling of methanol.
Carbon capture and storage has also been a hot topic this week, as more companies are exploring onboard systems to meet decarbonisation goals.
Stena Bulk and Alfa Laval have partnered to test a carbon capture system on tankers at minimal costs, while Samskip has announced its intention to install carbon capture systems on two of its biofuel-powered container ships in the coming year.
The announcements follow a report from the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping that has highlighted how onboard carbon capture is more suitable for large tankers than container vessels.
By Konica Bhatt
Here is our selection of five top alternative fuels stories from this week:
Yara enters Hystar’s pilot project to explore ammonia production
Yara Clean Ammonia, a unit of fertiliser company Yara International, has joined a trial project to test a new way of producing the green ammonia through a technology being developed by fellow Norwegian tech company Hystar.
The project, which is called the HyPilot project, will test the Hystar’s proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser technology under “field conditions” and check its commercial viability in the long run. It has been commissioned to the second half of 2023.
PEM electrolysers split water into hydrogen and oxygen electrochemically. These electrolysers have increasingly been explored lately as the technology can produce hydrogen fuel using renewable electricity. The hydrogen made from this method can be used in the production of green ammonia.
Yara intends to use the knowledge acquired from this pilot project to produce green ammonia.
Green ammonia is viewed as a viable future source of energy for the shipping industry, and a flurry of recent projects bear testament to that.
Yara has been developing what could become one of the world's first ammonia bunker and loading stations. It partnered with Norwegian bunker firm Azane Fuel Solutions on the project. Azane has ordered several of these stations and the idea is roll them out all over Scandinavia. Last month these stations got an approval by classification society DNV.
Earlier this month, Singapore-based shipping company AET teamed up with Thai gas company PTT to develop and build two Aframaxes that can run on green ammonia.
Finnish shipping company Meriaura, technology firm Wärtsilä and green ammonia start-up Green NortH2 Energy have teamed up to build a cargo vessel that can run on green ammonia.
German energy firm Uniper and Dutch terminal operator Vesta Terminals signed a deal to explore ways to refurbish and expand an existing storage facility in Netherlands’ Vlissingen to handle 960,000 mt of green ammonia by 2026.
DSME's very large ammonia-fuelled carrier design gets a BV nod
Classification society Bureau Veritas has awarded an Approval in Principle (AiP) to South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) for its 86,000 cbm ammonia-fuelled ammonia carrier prototype.
The vessel is 230 m in length, 36.6 m in width, and 22.5 m in height. It will have four prismatic-type cargo tanks with a combined carrying capacity of 86,000 cbm.
DSME is now “one step closer” to decabonisation with the basic certification for ammonia propulsion vessels, says executive VP Oh-ik Kwon, adding that “it will be easier to apply to general ship types in the future.”
The company plans to commercialise ammonia-powered container ships by 2025 and has received three AiPs since September.
Classification society Lloyd’s Register awarded AiPs for its ammonia-fuelled 23,000 TEU ultra-large container and ammonia dual-fuel 300,000 dwt very large crude carrier designs, both of which will be developed in partnership with Man Energy.
Last month, it also signed a deal with classification society Korean Register to develop new propulsion systems capable of handling green fuels including ammonia and hydrogen.
Maersk and Mitsui plan first methanol bunkering in Singapore for next year
Maersk Oil Trading has teamed up with Japan's Mitsui to explore how they can kick off methanol bunkering in Singapore.
The two shipping and trading conglomerates will study bunker logistics in Singapore, which is by far the world's biggest bunker port today.
Singapore's port authority wants to cement that position and has recently entered into several partnerships to lay the groundwork for bunkering of methanol, ammonia and other low- and zero-carbon fuels of the future.
Maersk and Mitsui say green methanol is a promising alternative fuel for vessels to consume towards upcoming emissions reduction targets. They have set early 2023 as the target for the first ship-to-ship methanol bunkering operation.
Together with the classification society American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), they will study how methanol bunker vessels can be designed, how methanol can be stored and operational procedures for the safe handling of methanol.
ABS will perform an operational risk assessment of methanol bunkering.
The project will help safely deliver green methanol to A.P Moller - Maersk's upcoming methanol-powered fleet, says Maersk Oil Trading head Mikkel Kannegard.
Just today, A.P Moller - Maersk announced the order of an additional six methanol-powered container ships, which will bring its total methanol-powered fleet to 19 when they are all delivered.
Mitsui also looks forward to establishing a platform for bunkering of methanol as an alternative to conventional bunker fuels in Singapore, its executive vice president Yoshio Kometani says.
Samskip to install carbon capture system on container ships
Rotterdam-based logistics company Samskip will install carbon capture and filtering systems on two of its biofuel-powered container ships next year.
The systems, provided by Rotterdam-based Value Maritime, will be installed on the Samskip Innovator and Samskip Endeavour. These vessels carry containers between the UK and the Netherlands.
A gas cleaning unit will be installed behind the funnels of the ships. The units will be powered by 10 MW carbon dioxide batteries located in ISO tank containers on deck.
These batteries can be charged with and store carbon dioxide onboard the vessels, before being discharged in port, and eventually used by carbon dioxide buyers such as greenhouses. The discharged batteries can then be returned to the vessels for more carbon dioxide capturing.
Value Maritime says its gas cleaning unit and batteries allow vessels running on conventional oil-based fuels to capture 30% of their carbon dioxide emissions.
Samskip's two vessels already run on 100% biofuel, claiming this alone can reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by 90%.
By using the carbon capture systems on top of running on biofuel, Samskip expects to be able to capture the remaining carbon dioxide being emitted and offer carbon-neutral short sea shipping.
The company also plans to build two zero-emission ‘SeaShuttle’ ships that will be powered by 3.2MW hydrogen fuel cells.
Stena Bulk launches project to test carbon capture system on tankers
Swedish tanker operator Stena Bulk has teamed up with a consortium of shipping organisations and companies to test onboard carbon capture in a three-phase project spread over two years.
The project, termed REMARCCABLE (Realising Maritime Carbon Capture to demonstrate the Ability to Lower Emissions), will test the carbon capture system onboard one of Stena Bulk’s medium-range tankers.
The project aims to capture a minimum of 30% carbon dioxide emissions during normal as well as deep-sea operations. It also aims to find ways to minimise the cost of capturing carbon dioxide onboard - which is regarded as one of the main barriers to the technology's wider uptake.
Other parties involved in the project include the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD), the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), Alfa Laval, the American Bureau of Shipping, Deltamarin, and TNO.
“By participating in this initiative and collaborating with our consortium partners, we hope to step closer to making carbon capture a reality for the global fleet,” Erik Hånell, president and chief executive of Stena Bulk, said.
The technology has gained traction in the industry as several companies have increased efforts to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
Rotterdam-based logistics company Samskip recently announced it will install carbon capture and filtering systems on two of its biofuel-powered container ships by next year.
