Lots of plans to produce Gren Methanol using captured CO2 as base exists around the world. Not ONLY for ships fuel, but that is a potentially big market:
Proman Stena Bulk confirms successful launching of first methanol-powered vessel. Not sure if that will be green or blue methanol. Depends on availability I presume:
Probably not, nor does the Engineers, i would think.
Since GHG emission is accounted for at the producer, not user, end, neither does the ship owners, managers and charterers. (As long as the price is the same)
Methanol is CH3OH regardless of the source. The “green” aspect is because it recycles carbon from the atmosphere rather than liberating carbon that has been sequestered below ground for millions of years.
The diesel engine could care less as long as it is one designed (or heavily modified) to operate using methanol for fuel.
Most of the 80 mill. tons of Methanol produced in the world use natural gas as feedstock. There are still some older plants that use coal gas though.
It is widely used in plastic production, among others.
Tanker loads of the stuff is transported around the world.
Methanol is also made from wood chips as a biproduct in pulp production (Wood Spiritus) and is used in much the same way. If the energy source used in the production process comes from renewable sources it qualifies as Green Methanol.
An interesting development is a process to make methanol directly from CO2 in a green production cycle:
If successfully scaled up from laboratory research to large scale industrial level it MAY become possible to utilize CO2 captured from burning fossil fuels as the feedstock, instead of burrowing it deep under ground in an expensive cycle that produce nothing usable. (Except a livable planet earth, that is)
Years ago Brazil was supplying methanol to a great number of the vehicles in country. Someone asked a government official why methanol when the country was a major oil producer? The guy said we get a lot of our methanol from sugar cane waste which cost very little. It makes economic sense to sell our oil to people who choose to pay more to make fuel to burn in vehicles.
