OCI Global is fuelling the first-ever green methanol-powered container ship in a new partnership with A.P. Moller-Maers and the CEO of its Methanol/HyFuels business has described the company’s excitement at this new phase in the methanol sector.
Maersk’s first dual-fuelled container ship leaves South Korea for its maiden voyage this summer, sailing along one of the world’s busiest shipping routes to Northern Europe via the Suez Canal, bunkering at several major ports along its journey.
OCI will provide ISCC certified green biomethanol to power the maiden voyage, which is seen as an important milestone in the expansion of its renewable and low-carbon fuels business, a key pillar of OCI’s sustainable growth strategy.
Read more: OCI Global fuelling first ever green methanol-powered container vessel
Through its OCI HyFuels brand, OCI is already the largest green methanol producer globally. It has led the development of green methanol application in vehicle fuels, now placing up to 200000 tonnes per annum (tpa) equivalent and is growing its suite of low-carbon and green methanol products, including biomethanol, e-methanol, recycled carbon fuel (RCF) methanol, renewable natural gas, ethanol and bio-MTBE.
In anticipation of expected demand for renewable and low-carbon ammonia and methanol, OCI has announced several major projects to significantly increase sustainable production of its two core products.
These include GasifHy, the gasification project at its existing European methanol facility to shift it to green methanol production; a 1.1 mtpa blue ammonia plant in Texas, US, scheduled to start production in 2025; and its Egypt Green ammonia facility through Fertiglobe (a strategic partnership between OCI and ADNOC), where the first tonnes of green ammonia from electrolysis were produced earlier this year.
And Bashir Lebada, CEO of OCI Methanol/HyFuels, was effusive about the potential for methanol fuels in the marine and maritime sector.
“We are excited about ths new phase of our methanol business. Marine has been the main buzz around methanol for several years, so to secure the first real green sale and voyage is testament to our team’s hard work and further reinforces OCI HyFuels as the only large-scale green methanol solution for road and bunker,” he said.
Imp for 355436015
“We welcome our partnership with Maersk and their leadership in decarbonising the maritime sector; their early focus on methanol and conviction to order vessels has led us to where we are today.”
“This also highlights our distribution system and last-mile capabilities where we will continue to leverage our road fuel logistics and fuel blending system, and add to our green bunker barge fleet as demand grows.”
The latter area of opportunity – bunkering and last-mile operations – is a particular area of focus for OCI.
As the maritime industry navigates increased regulation to accelerate decarbonisation, such as the FuelEU Maritime initiative, OCI anticipates incrementa global demand for methanol at four million tpa in the next five years, based on current orders from the marine sector.
OCI says it is focused on being the ‘last-mile operator of choice’ at strategic bunkering ports, leveraging partnerships with relevant authorities and certification bodies, terminal infrastructure partners, and bunker barge operators.
In February, OCI announced its project with Unibarge to retrofit the first methanol-powered bunker barge, to be deployed at the Port of Rotterdam. As part of the maiden voyage with Maersk, OCI is obtaining the approvals and permits required to commercially bunker methanol in several ports on the ship’s journey, including Port of Rotterdam – positioning OCI as the first commercial bunker operator of methanol in these regions.
e-methanol, SAF and PtL: The future of CO2 utilisation
The route to decarbonisation and the energy transition has sometimes been described as defossilisation. Liquid fuels are incredibly useful energy vectors dueto their high energy density and ease of handling. Gasoline, diesel, aviation kerosene and heavy fuel oil have become the fuels of choice for cars, trucks, planes, and shipping.
The challenge is to substitute these refined products that are derived from crude oil with sustainable, convenient and cost-effective alternatives.
Liquid fuels of a non-fossil origin are one such solution. Methanol and e-methanol are seen as viable alternatives for fuelling trucks, buses and marine applications, for example.
e-methanol burns with almost no particulate emissions and since it contains no sulfur, the emissions are free of sulfur dioxide. The use of e-methanol for road and maritime applications would reduce pollutant gas emissions. Methanol, like diesel and heavy fuel oil, does produce CO2 emissions during combustion. However, since e-methanol is made from captured CO2 the emissions are carbon neutral: e-methanol is not a fossil fuel…
If you’re a gasworld subscriber, continue reading all aboute-methanol, Synthetic aviation fuel (SAF), hydrogen, electrolysis and CCUS in this exclusive feature, here:
https://www.gasworld.com/story/e-methanol-saf-and-ptl-the-future-of-co2-utilisation/2121108.article/