Chapter 2 - Alternative fuels for shipping
Unlike cars and trains, ships – especially large cargo ships – aren’t easily electrified. Most large ships rely on heavy fuel oil, which is cheap but environmentally contentious. To meet the goals of the European Green Deal, the waterborne transport sector must look for alternative ways to decarbonise – including alternative fuels. Alternative fuels developed from sustainable sources and renewable energy have the potential to help the shipping industry decrease greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants. The bad news is that it is difficult to find cost-effective, widely available alternatives to the fossil fuels used by waterborne transport. But this is starting to change, thanks in large part to initiatives such as Horizon 2020 project HySeas III. The project is turning electricity generated by the winds, waves and tides that define Scotland’s Orkney Islands into hydrogen which can then be used in newly developed marine fuel cells providing electric power for engines on board zero-emission vessels and ferries. Another alternative fuel with big potential for shipping is bio-liquefied natural gas, or bio-LNG. The FirstBio2Shipping project is developing an industrial plant capable of converting biogas into renewable, low-carbon fuel that will be made available to waterborne transport.
From trash to treasure
Also recycling waste into a valuable commodity is the FReSMe project, this time with CO2. The project created an innovative process for capturing emissions from steel plants, recycling the CO2 into liquid methanol fuel that can be used to power cargo ships. The POSEIDON project is also developing new technologies and solutions to valorise CO2 from waste streams to produce synthetic methanol and deliver it across the shipping value chain. Following testing, the project hopes to roll its system out at key EU ports. While decarbonising waterborne transport may be challenging, it is not impossible. By giving shipping an alternative to heavy fuel oil, each of these projects is helping decrease the industry’s dependence on fossil fuels and clearing a path towards an emission-free future.