China Merchants Heavy Industry has ordered 2 × MAN B&W 7S60ME-LGIM (Liquid Gas Injection Methanol) engines in connection with the construction of 2 × 9,300 ceu (car equivalent units) Pure Car and Truck Carriers (PCTCs) for China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES). The order represents a number of firsts, including the... Read more →

Honeywell has introduced its new, UOP eFining technology, a ready-now solution for producing low-carbon sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). HIF Global, the world’s leading eFuels company, intends to deploy the new technology to produce eSAF at its second US eFuels facility— its first eSAF facility in the US. eFuels, also known... Read more →

Singapore—based Berge Bulk, one of the world’s leading independent dry bulk shipping companies, and ABS signed a joint project agreement to conduct a detailed feasibility study for the conversion of methanol-fueled propulsion system and aim to kickstart in Q1 2024. The two companies will collaborate on a broad range of... Read more →

Proman Stena Bulk, the joint venture between tanker company Stena Bulk and methanol producer Proman, successfully completed the first barge-to-ship methanol bunkering on the US Gulf Coast. The JV tankers Stena Pro Marine and Stena Prosperous were refueled with methanol via barge while discharging petroleum products at a terminal in... Read more →

At a ceremony in South Korea in March, HHI-EMD—a MAN Energy Solutions two-stroke licensee—marked the manufacture of the world’s largest methanol-powered two-stroke engine, a MAN B&W G95ME-LGIM type. Simultaneously, the engine’s manufacture pushed the company past the 200 million brake-horsepower milestone for low-speed, two-stroke engines. With its 95 cm cylinder... Read more →

Svitzer, a leading global marine operations and towage operator, and Caterpillar Marine signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to adopt solutions that enable Svitzer to utilize methanol in their fleet. The implementation of dual-fuel methanol engines focuses on new tugs as well as conversions of existing Cat-powered tugs, which comprise... Read more →

Neste has signed an agreement to charter two new lower-emission product tankers from Terntank. The tankers will transport a wide variety of liquid cargoes including renewable raw materials such as waste and residue oils and fats to Neste’s refineries. At the refineries, products such as renewable diesel and sustainable aviation... Read more →

MAN Energy Solutions’ MAN 49/60DF dual-fuel engine has received its Type Approval after a five-day program on the testbed at company HQ in Augsburg, Germany. The Type Approval Test (TAT) was witnessed by inspectors representing the ABS, BV, CCS, DNV, LR and RINA classification societies, who signed the test protocol... Read more →

WinGD will supply 10X92DF-M methanol-fuelled engines to four 16,000 TEU container vessels to be built for COSCO SHIPPING Lines at COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Yangzhou) Co. Ltd. These vessels will be delivered from 2025 and will feature WinGD’s first X92DF-M engines in China. The methanol engines will be delivered from... Read more →

Classification society RINA has granted an Approval in Principle (AiP) certificate to MAN Energy Solutions for its methanol-ready MAN L/V 32/44CR engine. The AiP covers an upgrade concept for the four-stroke engine for conversion to dual-fuel running on methanol to provide greater flexibility to shipowners. This AiP is based on... Read more →

Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co. and HJ Shipbuilding & Construction Co. (HJSC) have respectively ordered seven and two MAN B&W G80ME-LGIM dual-fuel engines in connection with the construction of 9 × 9,000 TEU container vessels for HMM Co., the major South Korean integrated-logistics company. The engines, which are capable of... Read more →

Methanex Corporation and Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) announced that the dual-fuel methanol carrier Cajun Sun successfully completed the first net-zero voyage fueled by bio-methanol. The voyage is an example of how Methanex and MOL are collaborating to demonstrate the viability of methanol as a marine fuel with a pathway to... Read more →

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) officially launched China’s first methanol-to-hydrogen and hydrogen refueling service station in Dalian, China. An upgrade from the previous fueling station offering oil, gas, hydrogen, electric charging services, the integrated complex can produce 1,000 kilograms of hydrogen a day, with a purity of 99.999%. Sinopec’s... Read more →

Liquid Wind (earlier post) is applying for an environmental permit for its second commercial-scale green electrofuel facility—FlagshipTWO—in Sundsvall, about 380 km north of Stockholm. The construction is planned to start in 2024 and the facility will be operational in the beginning of 2026. Planned production capacity is 130,000 tons of... Read more →

Following the start of series production of fuel cells in December 2022, the Danish fuel cell developer and manufacturer Blue World Technologies is now launching the CellPack Stationary, a methanol fuel cell-based power generator. The CellPack Stationary is specially developed for the telecommunication industry, an industry that every year installs... Read more →

The consortium of Abu Dhabi-based Masdar, TotalEnergies, Siemens Energy and Marubeni announced that the Masdar-led initiative focused on green hydrogen to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is actively working with licensors to certify a new production pathway for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from methanol. This novel pathway will provide one... Read more →

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have created a new system—the least costly to date—that efficiently captures CO2 and converts it into methanol. The new PNNL carbon capture and conversion system brings the cost to capture CO2 down to about $39 per metric ton. The... Read more →

Chartwell Marine has won a £320k Innovate UK Smart Grant. The grant will enable Chartwell and consortium partners—Boat Electric & Electronics and Engineered Marine Systems—to develop and test the feasibility of a market-first methanol-fuelled vessel design, with applications in the offshore wind, commercial workboat and leisure sectors. Methanol fuel presents... Read more →

Advent Technologies Holdings will collaborate with Alfa Laval, a global provider of heat transfer, separation, and fluid handling products, on a project to explore applications of Advent’s methanol-powered high-temperature proton exchange membrane (HT-PEM) fuel cells in the marine industry. Funded by the Danish Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program (EUDP),... Read more →

Tecnimont Private Limited, Indian subsidiary of Maire Tecnimont Group, has signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NTPC, India’s largest power generation company. The objective of the MOU is jointly to evaluate and explore the possibility to develop commercial-scale green methanol production facilities at NTPC projects in India. The... Read more →

The technology group Wärtsilä will supply its hybrid propulsion system for four new heavy lift vessels being built at the Wuhu Shipyard in China. The vessels have been contracted by SAL Heavy Lift GmbH, a German heavy lift and project cargo specialist and part of the Harren Group, in cooperation... Read more →

Iberdrola Australia and Australia-based hydrogen developer ABEL Energy will build a green hydrogen and green methanol production plant at Bell Bay in northern Tasmania (Australia). The project, called Bell Bay Powerfuels, is backed by the Australian government and will involve an investment of €1.1 billion. The Bell Bay Powerfuels Project... Read more →

Blue World Technologies has started the series production of its methanol fuel cells, marked with the official inauguration of the 8,500 m2 Blue Aalborg Factory. The fuel cell factory, which initially has an annual production capacity of 250,000 individual fuel cells, is located in an industrial area at the Port... Read more →

Ørsted’s Board of Directors has taken final investment decision (FID) on the 50,000 tonnes/year FlagshipONE e-methanol project. (Earlier post.) FlagshipONE will be Ørsted’s first commercial-scale Power-to-X facility and is an important step towards Ørsted’s ambition of taking a leading position in renewable hydrogen and green fuels. Reinforcing the commitment to... Read more →

The Danish fuel cell manufacturer Blue World Technologies is developing a methanol fuel cell-powered auxiliary power unit (APU) to replace conventional diesel generators for power supply on board ships. Blue World Technologies is a developer and manufacturer of high-temperature proton exchange membrane (HT PEM) fuel cells and will start series... Read more →

At its Dakar debut in January 2022, the Audi RS Q e-tron (earlier post) series hybrid set standards in efficiency and competitiveness of e-mobility in motorsport. In the next step, the three desert prototypes with electric drive and energy converter will run in the 2023 Dakar Rally with an innovative... Read more →

As part of the strategy to decarbonize its customers’ supply chains, A.P. Moller - Maersk (Maersk) has entered a green methanol partnership with US-based project developer Carbon Sink LLC. This is Maersk’s 8th such agreement in the efforts to accelerate global production of green methanol. The parties have signed a... Read more →

Hyundai’s shipbuilding division (HHI-SBD) has ordered 6 × MAN B&W G95ME-C10.5-LGIM dual-fuel main engines in connection with the construction of 6 × 17,000 teu container vessels for A.P. Moller – Maersk, the Danish integrated logistics company. Hyundai’s engine machinery division (HHI-EMD) will build the engines in Korea, which will be... Read more →

OWI Science for Fuels GmbH, TU Bergakademie Freiberg and RWTH Aachen University are investigating Methanol-to-gasoline (MtG) production for opportunities to optimize the process to produce ideal MtG fuels. MtG already meets the specifications of the EN 228 fuel standard for gasoline and is also expected to meet demanding future quality... Read more →

A.P. Moller - Maersk has ordered a further six large ocean-going vessels that can sail on green methanol. The six vessels will be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and have a nominal capacity of approx. 17,000 containers (Twenty Foot Equivalent - TEU). They will replace existing capacity in the... Read more →

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 →