Höegh Autoliners has joined the First Movers Coalition (FMC) to send a strong market demand signal for the emerging technologies essential for a net-zero transition. Höegh Autoliners has committed to running at least 5% of its deep-sea operations on either green ammonia or green methanol by 2030. Led by the... Read more →

Freudenberg has received Type Approval by the international classification society RINA for its methanol-powered fuel cell system for ocean-going shipping. Converting commercial ships on the high seas to CO2-neutral drive systems is a huge challenge. One important factor is the range requirement of the individual ship types. This must be... Read more →

Alfa Laval is the driving force in a marine fuel cell development project exploring the potential of high-temperature proton exchange membrane (HT-PEM) fuel cells using methanol as fuel as a source of marine auxiliary power. Funded by Danish EUDP (Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program), the project is a joint... Read more →

Swiss marine power company WinGD and Korean engine builder HSD Engine have initiated a Joint Development Project (JDP) to advance the development of WinGD’s methanol-fueled big-bore engines. The aim is to deliver an engine capable of running on carbon-neutral green methanol by 2024, providing shipowners with a power solution enabling... Read more →

Blue World Technologies announced that the Bill Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) entered as an investor in Blue World Technologies alongside Vaekstfonden (The Sovereign Investment Fund of Denmark), DEUTZ AG, and existing investors who invested back in December 2021 to complete the company’s €37-million series B round. In connection with... Read more →

Following the announcement of six strategic green methanol partnerships across the globe earlier this year, A.P. Moller - Maersk (Maersk) has added a seventh methanol partnership with Chinese bioenergy enterprise Debo on the quest to boost global production capacity. The parties have signed a Letter of Intent covering Debo’s plans... Read more →

Waste-to-biogas company Anaergia Inc. will supply European Energy A/S with up to 60,000 tonnes per year of liquefied biogenic CO2 for a period of 10 years. Biogenic carbon dioxide is carbon dioxide that is released during the decomposition of organic matter such as food waste. All Anaergia plants use organic... Read more →

In this year’s largest methanol order to date, the Alfa Laval FCM (Fuel Conditioning Module) Methanol will be the low-flashpoint fuel supply system (LFSS) on six dual-fuel container vessels. The system was chosen for both its real-life performance and its high design flexibility. Alfa Laval will provide the methanol LFSS... Read more →

UK-based Expleo, a global engineering, technology and consultancy service provider, has developed a closed-loop fuel solution for global shipping that delivers a 92% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe) in the model vessel. Expleo modeled its system-of-systems solution on the multi-tasking Bibby Wavemaster 1, a vessel used to service offshore... Read more →

MAN Energy Solutions has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Stena Teknik—Stena’s inhouse R&D division—and Proman—the world’s second largest methanol producer—regarding cooperation on a project to retrofit MAN 48/60 engines to make them capable of dual-fuel diesel and methanol operation. The MAN 48/60 (Bore: 480 mm – Stroke: 600... Read more →

The EU is investing more than €1.8 billion in 17 large-scale innovative clean-tech projects with a third round of awards under the Innovation Fund. Grants will be disbursed from the Innovation Fund to help bring technologies to the market in energy-intensive industries, hydrogen, renewable energy, carbon capture and storage infrastructure,... Read more →

The EU-funded HyMethShip project developed a system that innovatively combined a membrane reactor, a CO2 capture system, a storage system for CO2 and methanol as well as a hydrogen-fueled combustion engine to power ships. The top part of the graphic shows onshore methanol production. The bottom part shows how hydrogen... Read more →

Sundsvall Energi will partner with Liquid Wind to be the host and provide carbon dioxide for the second commercial-scale—100,000 t—electrofuel facility in Sweden. Biogenic carbon dioxide from the Sundsvall energy facility will be captured and combined with renewable hydrogen to generate green electrofuel, eMethanol. The fuel is intended for the... Read more →

ExxonMobil has developed a unique process technology to enable the manufacture of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from renewable methanol. This expands upon ExxonMobil’s suite of technology solutions that are engineered to manufacture SAF from other biofeeds. SAF produced from renewable methanol can play an important role in helping the aviation... Read more →

Advent Technologies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Laskaridis Shipping Company Ltd., a ship management company based in Athens, Greece, with a fleet of 90 vessels, which includes 55 midsized or large dry bulk vessels. Under the terms of the MoU, Laskaridis and Advent will jointly conduct a pilot... Read more →

Element 1 Corporation (e1NA), Zhejiang Methanol Hydrogen Technology (ZMHT) and Zhejiang Element 1 (e1China) have formed a joint venture company—Zhejiang Hydrogen One Energy Technology Co., Ltd.— to drive methanol-based hydrogen generation technology and commercialize e1NA’s technology throughout Greater China. The new JV will have rights to sell e1NA’s S-Series product... Read more →

Geely recently launched its Methanol Hybrid Emgrand (earlier post) in the Chinese market. The methanol hybrid is based on Geely’s fourth-generation B-segment Modular Architecture (BMA) Emgrand sedan. Geely also offers a non-hybrid methanol-fueled version of the Emgrand. Previous generation methanol vehicles faced difficulties with cold starts but with Geely Auto’s... Read more →

Researchers at the Clemson Nanomaterials Institute (CNI) and their collaborators from the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (SSSIHL) in India discovered a novel way to combine curcumin—the substance in turmeric—and gold nanoparticles to create an electrode that requires 100 times less energy to convert ethanol or methanol into... Read more →

Methanol—a bio-based platform molecule that can be used directly as a fuel or fuel additive, and can also be used to produce bulk chemicals and drop-in fuels—is currently mainly produced from methane and coal via an indirect syngas route. Now, a team of researchers in China reports a novel approach... Read more →

Landsvirkjun, The National Power Company of Iceland, and German investment company PCC SE have agreed to explore the possibility of capturing and utilizing carbon emissions from PCC’s silicon metal plant in northeast Iceland. Carbon emissions will be utilized to produce green methanol that can, for example, replace fossil fuel in... Read more →

Metsä Fibre, part of Metsä Group, and Veolia recently signed a long-term partnership agreement on the refining of crude methanol generated in pulp production at the Äänekoski bioproduct mill into commercial biomethanol. As part of this cooperation, Veolia will build a crude methanol refinery in connection with Metsä Fibre’s Äänekoski... Read more →

Researchers at the University of Surrey (UK) are developing a process to capture carbon dioxide directly from the air and then use dynamic catalysis to create methanol—a valuable chemical that, made this way, could be carbon-negative. Its value could offset the cost of direct air capture. The carbon negative chemicals... Read more →

In support of the Danish initiative to promote the production and development of green e-methanol (earlier post), Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding) is partnering with Circle K Denmark, Aalborg University, and Fonden Green Hub Denmark to collaborate on a 15-month test and demonstration trial for green e-methanol fuel and... Read more →

The Danish developer of renewable energy European Energy and Denmark’s largest inland port, Port of Aalborg, signed a letter of intent that secures European Energy an option for a 25-hectare area at the Eastern Port in Aalborg, which is planned to be the location for a new electrolysis plant with... Read more →

Geely is testing the world’s first methanol hybrid sedan in sub -40 °C (-40 ˚F) Arctic conditions in the frigid northern Chinese province of Heilongjiang. Geely’s latest Methanol Hybrid Emgrand is based on Geely Auto’s fourth-generation B-Segment Modular Architecture (BMA) Emgrand sedan. The new Emgrand runs on 100% clean methanol... Read more →

Wärtsilä has developed a dedicated fuel supply system for methanol—MethanolPac—as interest grows in the methanol pathway to decarbonize shpping. Combined with the recently introduced Wärtsilä 32 Methanol engine and the company’s well-proven retrofit and system integration capabilities, MethanolPac enables Wärtsilä to deliver methanol-capable fuel and power systems across a wide... Read more →

Methanol reformers convert easy-to-transport methanol into hydrogen. However, conventional reformers have a number of drawbacks such as catalyst attrition. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Microengineering and Microsystems IMM are working on an innovative methanol reformer for mobile applications to overcome these challenges. Transporting hydrogen can be a complex process.... Read more →

To boost the global production capacity of green methanol, A.P. Moller - Maersk (Maersk) is entering strategic partnerships with six leading companies with the intent of sourcing at least 730,000 tonnes/year by end of 2025. The six companies are CIMC ENRIC, European Energy, Green Technology Bank, Orsted, Proman, and WasteFuel.... Read more →

European Energy, a Danish developer and operator of green energy projects, has ordered a 50 MW electrolyzer from Siemens Energy for use in developing the first large-scale commercial e-Methanol production facility. The plan is that the plant will be built in Kassø, located west of Aabenraa in the South of... Read more →

Researchers from Lehigh University, in collaboration with colleagues from the East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST), have developed an induced activation strategy to enhance the performance of the ternary Cu/Zu/AL2O3 catalyst towards the methanol steam reforming (MSR) reaction (used as a model reaction). Cu/Zu/AL2O3 is an important industrial... Read more →

Ørsted and Liquid Wind AB have reached an agreement under which Ørsted will acquire a 45% ownership share of Liquid Wind AB’s FlagshipONE e-methanol project. (Earlier post.) FlagshipONE is a late-stage development project and could become the world’s first large-scale sustainable e-methanol project. Liquid Wind AB plans to establish a... Read more →

25 The technology group Wärtsilä has received its first order for newbuild methanol-fueled engines. A new Offshore Wind Installation Vessel (WIV) being built for Dutch contracting company Van Oord at Yantai CIMC Raffles shipyard in China will be powered by five Wärtsilä 32 engines capable of operating with methanol. A... Read more →

Vertimass and European Energy have completed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to integrate technologies for capturing carbon dioxide and converting it into hydrocarbon products around the world. This combination takes advantage of European Energy’s expertise in capturing carbon dioxide from waste sources (carbon dioxide produced from anaerobic digestion, power production,... Read more →

Vaekstfonden, the Danish Growth Fund, and the German engine manufacturer DEUTZ AG, are investing €15 million in methanol fuel cell company Blue World Technologies. The aim is to bring the company’s green fuel cell products and solutions to the global market. The Blue World Technologies fuel cells are based on... Read more →

Rolls-Royce is focusing on methanol as a fuel for climate-friendly shipping; Rolls-Royce business unit Power Systems is currently developing mtu engines for use with methanol. The new high-speed four-stroke engines, which are based on proven mtu technologies, are planned to be available to customers as soon as possible for use... Read more →

Maritime classification society the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has granted Alfa Laval the first marine approval for operating boilers on methanol. Alfa Laval received an approval in principle (AIP) on 4 November 2021, based on extensive solution testing at the Alfa Laval Test & Training Center. Marine boilers generate... Read more →

Maersk has introduced the design of its eight groundbreaking and industry-leading 16,000 TEU container vessels powered by carbon-neutral methanol. Unique to the industry, this design allows a 20% improved energy efficiency per transported container, when comparing to the industry average for vessels in this size. The entire series is expected... Read more →

A broader maritime consortium in which Boskalis, a leading global dredging and offshore contractor and maritime services provider, is participating has been awarded a €24-million grant to conduct research into accelerating the use of methanol as a low-carbon fuel within the shipping industry. Methanol can enable significant reductions in CO2... Read more →

Element 1 Corporation has entered into a global agreement with NEXA Capital Partners LLC to accelerate the adoption of its methanol-to-hydrogen generators (earlier post) for fuel cell applications in aerospace and particularly electric vertical aircraft (EVA). Element 1 and NEXA are combining their expertise, along with NEXA’s capital market access,... Read more →

Swedish Climate Leap, “Klimatklivet”, is investing €15 million in power-to-fuel Liquid Wind’s facility, FlagshipONE, producing eMethanol. (Earlier post.) The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency works on behalf of the Swedish government, conducting and coordinating Sweden's environmental work within Sweden, the EU and internationally. The aim of their initiative Climate Leap is... Read more →

Swiss engine designer WinGD, a leading developer of two-stroke low-speed gas and diesel engines used for propulsion power in merchant shipping, said that its engines will be able to run on methanol and ammonia from 2024 and 2025 respectively. WinGD’s multi-fuel solutions will be based on its well-established diesel-fueled X... Read more →

A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk) has launched its Green Finance Framework designed to allow the company to issue a variety of sustainable financing instruments which may include bonds, loans, project finance and other instruments. By establishing the new Green Finance Framework, Maersk intends to align its funding strategy with its... Read more →

Svitzer, A.P. Moller - Maersk’s towage operator, has signed an agreement with Robert Allan Ltd, leading naval architect company, to design the first fuel cell tug for harbor operations running on green methanol. The project builds on close cooperation between Svitzer and Maersk with the aim to explore the combination... Read more →

Geely Holding Group’s commercial vehicle brand, Farizon Auto, unveiled its next-generation smart new energy semi-truck, the Homtruck, with production and first deliveries planned for early 2024. The Homtruck focuses on efficiency, driver and pedestrian safety, and offers breakthroughs in sustainable powertrains. The Homtruck’s architecture can carry a number of powertrain... Read more →

Chinese petrochemicals corporation Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemicals Co. ltd has signed an agreement with Icelandic technology company Carbon Recycling International (CRI) to design a chemical plant based on CRI’s Emissions to Liquids (ETL) technology. (Earlier post.) The plant will recycle approximately 150,000 metric tons of CO2 and 20,000 metric tons of... Read more →

Carbon Recycling International (CRI) and Johnson Matthey (JM) have agreed on a long-term exclusive catalyst supply agreement for the use of JM’s KATALCO methanol catalysts in CRI’s Emissions-To-Liquids (ETL) CO2-to-methanol plants. This combined offering helps meet the urgent need to remove carbon emissions in hard-to-decarbonize sectors of the economy. Conventional... Read more →

Topsoe has begun production at a demonstration plant designed to validate its electrified technology for cost-competitive production of sustainable methanol from biogas as well as other sustainable products. The global annual production of methanol is around 110 million tons. With close to 1.4 ton CO2 being emitted per produced ton... Read more →

Three weeks after the announcement of an e-methanol sourcing agreement in Europe (earlier post), A.P. Moller – Maersk has invested in California-based WasteFuel, a start-up focused on turning waste into sustainable aviation fuel, green bio-methanol, and renewable natural gas. This investment is made through Maersk Growth, the corporate venture arm... Read more →

In the first quarter of 2024, A.P. Moller - Maersk will introduce the first in a series of eight large ocean-going container vessels capable of being operated on carbon-neutral methanol. The vessels will be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and have a nominal capacity of approx. 16,000 containers (Twenty... Read more →

Maersk has identified its partners to produce green fuel for its first vessel to operate on carbon-neutral methanol (earlier post): REintegrate, a subsidiary of the Danish renewable energy company European Energy. REintegrate and European Energy will establish a new Danish facility to produce the approx. 10,000 tonnes of carbon neutral... Read more →