The Project
Where do we stand?
It is becoming increasingly urgent to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from waterborne transportation which is currently mainly based on the usage of diesel engines
In fact, in 2019, shipping represented around 3% of all EU greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and 13% of the transport sector emissions in Europe. Within the European Union, the introduction of shipping into the EU Emission Trading System (ETS) since 2023 has provided a further incentive to reduce GHG emissions. In addition, the introduction of the “FuelEU Maritime Regulations” will further encourage industry players to shift to renewable and low-carbon fuels.
M²ARE Project
M²ARE is an ambitious project that aims to decrease the use of fossil fuels in the maritime sector using renewable sources to produce ”Maritime Methanol”.
Maritime Methanol is a low-cost, renewable fuel coming from biogenic CO₂ and renewable H₂, representing a sustainable alternative to advance the decarbonization of the maritime sector. We can refer to different sources of bio-CO₂, for example biogas, bioethanol, biomass combustion, and others.
Reaching the goal
The project will develop an improved, next generation methanol synthesis process (“GEN2”) to produce a sustainable fuel with a CO₂ emission reduction by more than 80% compared to conventional maritime fuels on a well-to-wake basis
For that it is important to consider the right bio-CO₂ sources to evaluate their application in Maritime Methanol production. In fact, there can be a variety of other trace components in the bio-CO₂ and this is an important factor to be evaluated as it affects the associated CO₂ capture expenses.