TNO08 Green Maritime Methanol 3.0

Goal of the project

The goal of the Green Maritime Methanol project is to identify and remove barriers that stand in the way of methanol implementation. For Green Maritime Methanol 3.0 the following objectives have been defined: • Develop solutions for current safety issues when applying methanol. • Broaden the knowledge on single methanol fuel solutions for powertrains on-board of ships. • Understand the design barriers for different ship types by developing new ship design pilots, based on results of GMM 1.0, GMM 2.0, and current methanol newbuilding projects (e.g. Maersk, Proman, Van Oord and Acta Marine). • Understand the most important barriers (technology, economics and policy) towards investment decisions aimed at large scale adoption of MeOH in shipping.

Motivation

The maritime sector is facing a major challenge. While a globally growing economy leads to more demand for transport of goods, the goals from the Paris climate agreement and the subsequent agreement in IMO require a 70% reduction of CO2-emissions from maritime transport by 2050 compared to 2008. Several parties are working on the development of new fuel types for shipping, such as methanol, hydrogen, various biofuels and battery electric. There is great uncertainty about the best option for the short and longer term, and what the best options are for different ship segments.

Within the Green Maritime Methanol 1 and 2 projects, sector wide consortia of respectively 30 and 37 partners, have investigated the feasibility of application of methanol as a marine fuel. The following topics for applying methanol as an energy carrier for shipping have been elaborated in these projects:

  • Solutions for current safety issues when applying methanol:
  • Safe storage and handling of methanol on board
  • Bunkering safety and operations
  • Corrosion issues
  • Development of powertrain options:
  • Investigation of different options for applying methanol in a ship engine
  • Application of methanol in real-life pilot projects:
  • Basic ship design for three vessel types (inland and seagoing vessels) based on the specific technical layout and operational profile for different vessel types
  • Business Case for applying methanol for these different vessels
  • Supply chain, value chain and policies
  • Overall market potential of application of methanol
  • Investigation of different production and supply chain routes
  • Effect of different production routes on emissions
  • Outcomes and insights regarding (imported) methanol costs and guidance as to how the analysis can be expanded to the directly associated topics of carbon feedstock availability and the translation from methanol cost drivers to methanol price drivers.
  • The greenhouse gas emission reduction challenge for the maritime industry and the role renewable methanol can play in meeting this challenge and the drivers and barriers of renewable methanol.

 

The outcomes of the studies have been presented in several project deliverables and summarized in overall findings reports. The consortium concluded that applying methanol as a shipping fuel is deemed to be feasible from a technical and operational perspective, and that there are several options for sustainable production of methanol from sources such as biomass, municipal waste and through a synthetic production from hydrogen and a sustainable carbon source. From the different methanol ship designs that were performed as part of the project, it was concluded that there are significant differences in the redesign costs of different vessel types. Important factors are the current layout and available space TNO Public 4 TNO Public TNO 2023 onboard and the preferred fuelling solution (either switch to methanol as single fuel option or as a dual fuel).

Stakeholders in the consortium appreciated the multidisciplinary approach and expressed their interest in following up on the project. The consortium has identified four topics for further development:

  • There are some remaining safety and ship design issues that need to be tackled. This includes solution for venting during the bunker and ventilation during operations on board and corrosion concerns for the storage tanks.
  • Additional knowledge will be built up on methanol to DME solutions.
  • More real-life experience is needed with application of methanol in operational circumstances for different vessel types. Therefore, additional pilot design projects will be performed.
  • There are still uncertainties concerning the availability and pricing of sustainable methanol. Additional research is needed in analysing different supply chains

 

and the perceived risks of using methanol. research’s focus should be on these uncertainties. Because policies and legislation are very important in the steps towards implementation, policy makers are invited to take part of the research rather than be only confronted with the results.

Valorisation

The research will build upon results of the first Green Maritime Methanol projects, and expand upon the valorisation tools used in this project: 1. Publications: The research organisations involved will share the results of this project on the basis of publications, such as publications in reports, position papers, publication in scientific journals, newsletters and continuous news updates via social media; 2. Knowledge transfer to young logistics professionals takes place on the basis of student and PHD research. Knowledge transfer of innovative concepts in shipping by young professionals is seen as an important way in which innovation in the sector can seep into the long term. In the project student research is carried out. In addition, results will be processed in (guest) lectures. 3. As part of WP4, results will actively be shared in numerous national and international bodies through members of the consortia that are involved there. 4. Actively including all (industry) partners within the knowledge application:

  1. Knowledge sharing via workshops to provide all partners with obtained results, including technical system design and the overall business case.
  2. Furthermore exchange of knowledge and ideas between different industry stakeholders will be organised. The industry entrepreneurs involved in the project are explicitly put forward in this activity. Experience from previous TKI projects shows that companies are best convinced by proven experience of sector peers.
  3. The involved parties see this application as a first step to implement methanol as a new energy carrier in shipping. This facilitates forming a community for follow-up steps, such as real life pilot projects.

 

Project duration

Start and end date: 1-8-2023 / 31-7-2025