Future marine fuels

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Shipping’s $64bn fuel question - Splash247

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Ships are increasingly transitioning to fuels such as methanol, ammonia, or liquefied natural gas. At the same time, requirements are continuously tightened for the maritime industry to reduce and, not least, document the emissions of harmful gases and particles. The particular challenge of documenting ship emissions is the main focus of Danish company Green Instruments, which has now, in collaboration with customers, developed a visionary type of measuring equipment that can help the shipping companies.
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/new-future-proof-equipment-helps-shipping-companies-measure-harmful-emissions/

Green Instruments - Monitoring - Measurement Equipment

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Big-Name CEOs take a look at the multi-fuel future as risk of ‘backing the wrong horse’ | Bunker news | Shipping Telegraph

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New Fuels, New Challenges | Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide

“In Asia, market dynamics indicate a rising demand for LNG as a bunker fuel, with prices reaching a seven-month high by the end of September.
In Indonesia, a consortium is delving into the commercial feasibility of biomethane production from palm oil mill effluent, targeting primarily the energy-hungry Japanese market. This represents a multi-regional approach to sustainable fuel supply chains. The maritime industry is also closely monitoring the potential of ammonia and methanol as future marine fuels. Preliminary studies indicate their significant potential in reducing carbon emissions, but challenges remain. These include not only the high costs associated with their production and limited availability but also the need for new safety measures onboard ships”, Intermodal’s analyst said.

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Singapore put in stopgap rules for biofuel bunkering:

Biofuel Bunkering

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Shipping is learning that not all fuels are made equal - Splash247

University College London (UCL) estimates that every year of inaction this decade will add an extra $100bn to the cost of shipping’s decarbonisation.

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Methanol vs the rest:

Methanol and LNG fuel lobby groups square up - Splash247

“It won’t happen all at once – you don’t flip a switch and go from 400m tonnes of fuel oil to 400mt of any alt fuel overnight,” Dolan pointed out, going on to explain: “Right now there is grey Methanol (and grey LNG). The next step is blue, then green fuels in volumes enough make a contribution to decarbonisation. And with Methanol, you can blend grey, blue and green to dial in the desired carbon intensity and willingness to pay.”

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So as I see it people don’t want nuclear fuels because it might pose safety issues?

But methanol and ammonia are okay?

Those fuel vapors cause blindness and death.

And for anyone that thinks that these fuel systems will be made ‘safe’ just remember that current fuel systems are designed to be ‘leak free’ and take a look at your second engineer’s clothing.

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Oh, no … someone might go blind, let’s stop developing alternative fuels before someone gets hurt!
Messing with that stuff has already killed 4 people since 2020 and injured another 16 since 2019! Oh the humanity!

Care to redirect some of that fear into the real killer and maimer of seafarers - lifeboats?

Accident Search Results Page | Occupational Safety and Health Administration...

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Lifeboats today are no question the most dangerous thing on ships. This could quickly change if we start adapting methanol/ammonia into common fuel systems on hundreds or thousands of ships. Since methanol/ammonia use is limited now I’d be surprised if it caused a lot of injury/death yet. This will probably not be the case once it becomes mainstream.

I’d be more than happy to see nuclear power, or even some sort of hydrogen system.

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Most newer ships has free fall lifeboats so the problem with control wires that has been discussed here is a thing of the past. (Except on old ships, that is)

Ammonia is a way of storing Hydrogen in liquid form without the need for deep refrigeration:

Ammonia’s Role in a Net-Zero Hydrogen Economy

Ammonia can be used for Fuel Cells as well as in conventional marine engines:

Ammonia Fuel Cells | Fuel Cell Generators | GenCell

Nobody are talking about just putting new types of fuel on old ships without changing much, incl. the education and training of the personnel that is going to crew or service the ships of the future.

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I hope the ships of the future have a 5 year shelf life. Or really high quality resperators.

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China looks to dominate building of cleaner-fuel ships

In addition to the target for building such vessels, China also plans to speed up research and design of new types of ships powered by liquefied ammonia, hydrogen and even carbon dioxide. A unit of China State Shipbuilding Company has secured more than US$1 billion (S$1.3 billion) in contracts to build methanol container ships for A.P. Moller-Maersk, local media reported earlier this month.

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Not everybody think that Methanol is the Marine Fuel of the Future:

Powering the fleet with alcohol - Splash247

A last point which is potentially a huge one: a molecule of clean methanol is the exact same as a molecule of dirty methanol which is a very strong invitation for fraud. So it seems that even without looking at the CO2 reduction merits of methanol on a lifecycle basis, methanol cannot be the fuel of the future for shipping although there is no doubt methanol will be used to power some ships as in fact it is already used. Methanol will be a micro solution not a macro solution and the same goes for ammonia and hydrogen.

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Can e-fuel be the Fuel of the Future (not just Marine)?:

Infinium Plans To Develop Commercial eFuels Project in Northern Norway |...

The Irinium eFuels or Electrofuels are a new class of synthetic fuels made using renewable energy-derived green hydrogen power and waste carbon dioxide (CO2), not petroleum or resources needed to produce food.
Infinium Electrofuels can be dropped into existing trucks, planes, and ships, significantly reducing harmful carbon dioxide emissions compared to fossil-based fuel.

I.e. CO2 captured from industrial activity to reduce GHG emission is used as feedstock to produce e-fuels that power “zero emission” cars, trucks, air crafts and ship. A win-win solution. ( As long as renewable energy is used in the conversion process).

Infinium Ultra-low Carbon eFuels

Mo Industrial Park

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Lots of different projects are trying to come up with the best Marine fuel of the future.
Here is one of them:

Unveiling the power of Maritime Hydrogen with the HyTime Project

“Our success with the HyTime project has provided a valuable and informative blueprint for the scaleable potential of our PCBFC technology within the marine transportation sector. With significant efficiency advantages, including clear time and cost savings due to its innovative manufacturing process and low maintenance costs, PCBFC can transform marine transportation and spearhead the sector’s transition to net zero,” Tom Mason, co-founder and CEO of Bramble Energy said.

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Is LNG even a “stop gap” fuel for ships?:

Methane slip from gas-fuelled ships back in the spotlight - Splash247

The authors of the FUMES report claim it contains the most comprehensive dataset of real-world methane emissions from LNG-fuelled ships to date, including methane slip from engines and fugitive methane emissions from LNG cargo unloading operations. Methane slip is the proportion of LNG fuel, which consists mainly of methane, that escapes unburned from the engine. Real-world methane slip measured in the plumes of 18 ships using the most common type of LNG marine engine – the LPDF 4-stroke engine – averaged 6.4%, whereas EU regulations currently assume 3.1% methane slip and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) assumes 3.5%.

Two other future fuel reports – both with links to the gas industry – have also been published in recent days. UK consultancy Thetius was tasked by SEA-LNG, a lobby group for LNG as a ship fuel, to develop an alternative fuels barometer. The study claimed LNG and biofuels stand out as today’s alternatives, while methanol and electrical are viewed as capacity-constrained, hydrogen and ammonia are deemed capable future fuels, while nuclear is seen as a moonshot.

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Biofuel sales triple in Singapore - Splash247

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EUROPE: Launch of €17 million GAMMA e-fuels maritime project

A 60,000 DWT bulk carrier from TOPIC Fleet will be used as the case study in the GAMMA project.

Kjartan Due Nielsen, Innovation Manager at Icelandic engineering company Verkís, which is leading the GAMMA project, explained: ‘We will retrofit a bulk carrier with highly innovative technologies and during a demonstration campaign we will prove that it is possible to replace auxiliary generators with a new fuel system that runs on e-fuels.
‘After proof of concept in GAMMA the next step would be to replace the main engines of a ship for a full energy transition. All in all, the project is very visionary, and could be a green game changer for shipping in the future.’

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Vitol Bunkers takes delivery of first biofuel barge in Singapore | Hellenic...

The addition of this specialized IMO type 2 notation bunker tanker to the V-Bunkers fleet will uniquely make it possible to supply biofuel blends including B24, B30 and up to B100, depending on customer specifications,” the company said in a statement.
“Should there be demand, this vessel can also be re-configured in the future to supply methanol,” Mike Muller, head of Vitol Asia said.

Built in China, the Marine Future is 102.6 m in length and has the capacity to carry about 7,000 mt of biofuels, Vitol Bunkers said.