MAN Energy Solutions and China Classification Society (CCS) signed a sub-agreement in line with the Strategic Framework Agreement (SFA) the two parties previously agreed in September 2023 in Beijing. The SFA, on ‘Decarbonization and Digitalization in the maritime industry’, is scheduled to last for five years. The new sub-agreement—the third... Read more →

A team at Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) has compared the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) and methanol pathways for the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) derived from renewable energy sources. The results, published in an open-access paper in the journal Fuel, show a very high carbon efficiency of the FT pathway... Read more →

Westport Fuel Systems announced a proof-of-concept project with a leading global supplier of power solutions for marine applications to test Westport’s High Pressure Direct Injection (HPDI) fuel system utilizing methanol for marine applications. The project, expected to start in the first quarter of 2024, will be fully funded by the... Read more →

Liquid Wind, together with partners Alfa Laval, Carbon Clean, Siemens Energy and Topsoe, launched the eFuel Design & Performance Center (DPC) in Hørsholm, Denmark. The DPC is intended to drive technological progress, strengthen production capacity and bring in-demand eFuels to market at scale. The shared eFuel DPC is the first... Read more →

Lake Charles Methanol II, LLC (LCM) plans to invest $3.24 billion to construct a new manufacturing plant that will produce low-carbon intensity methanol and other chemicals at the Port of Lake Charles, Louisiana. The company plans to use advanced auto thermal gas reforming technology and employ carbon capture and secure... Read more →

The partnership announced in March 2023 between BMW Motorrad Motorsport and NORDOEL has led to the development of a fuel aimed at reducing the environmental impact of racing. By integrating advanced technologies and sustainable production processes, a fuel has been developed that not only keeps engine performance but also significantly... Read more →

BASF process catalysts, a leading provider of innovative catalyst technology, announced a new collaboration with Envision Energy. The collaboration aims to develop further the conversion of green hydrogen and CO2 into e-methanol through an advanced, dynamic process design. Backed by their respective expertise, the two companies aim to optimize the... Read more →

Jan De Nul Group and ABC Engines (Anglo Belgian Corporation) announced their partnership for hybrid marine engines. Both companies signed the order for four 7,200 kW engines and one 1,800 kW engine that can run on (bio)diesel, HVO and methanol. These engines will ensure propulsion of the newest Jan De... Read more →

The world’s first large methanol-enabled container vessel has been named “Ane Mærsk” at a ceremony in the shipyard of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HD HHI) in Ulsan, South Korea. The vessel is named after Ane Mærsk Mc-Kinney Uggla, the Chair of the A.P. Moller Foundation and A.P. Moller Holding. Ane’s... Read more →

Ocean Network Express Pte. Ltd. (ONE) has signed Ship Building Contracts with Jiangnan Shipyard and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding for a total construction of twelve 13,000 TEU methanol dual-fuel container ships. Each shipyard will build six vessels; all are scheduled to be delivered from 2027. This significant milestone represents ONE’s inaugural fleet... Read more →

Fairway Methanol LLC, a US-based 50-50 joint venture between Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Celanese Corporation, a global specialty materials and chemical company, has begun the production of methanol by using carbon dioxide captured from Celanese’s Clear Lake, Texas site. Fairway Methanol is expected to capture 180,000 metric tons of... Read more →

Researchers from Ghent University in Belgium have assessed the applicability of five different pressure-based knock metrics for use with methanol fuel in heavy-duty engines. Their findings, published in a paper in Fuel, highlight the need for dedicated, fuel-specific, knock threshold values. The heavy-duty industry typically uses a high cetane fuel... Read more →

The latest stats from DNV’s Alternative Fuels Insight (AFI) platform found that a total of 298 ships with alternative fuel propulsion were ordered in 2023—an 8% increase year on year. The year also saw methanol go mainstream, with a sharp increase in orders (138, 10.8% of all roders), edging it... Read more →

A.P. Moller-Maersk (Maersk) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the City of Yokohama and Mitsubishi Gas Chemical (MGC) focused on the development of green methanol bunkering infrastructure in Yokohama. Maersk’s 16,000 TEU green methanol-powered container vessels will be delivered beginning in 2024. Maersk is targeting net-zero emissions by 2040... Read more →

Oxylus Energy, the Yale-based start-up formerly known as Carbon Loop, has successfully passed key benchmark tests for the deployment and commercialization of its proprietary catalyst and electrolyzer technology in a 5cm2 cell. This is a critical platform for design iterations, as it offers significant predictability for performance at the size... Read more →

Ulstein Verft AS, the Norwegian yard, has ordered 2 × 3 × MAN 12V175D-MEV methanol-ready engines in connection with the building of two CSOV (Commissioning Service Operation Vessels) for Bernhard Schulte Offshore (BS Offshore), the offshore unit of international shipping corporation, Schulte Group. The vessels are designed to support the... Read more →

MAN Energy Solutions will collaboarate with Alfa Laval, the Swedish industrial concern, to develop a methanol fuel-supply solution for MAN four-stroke engines and its fuel-injection technology. As a result, the first four-stroke engine types will be capable of retrofit to methanol operation from 2025. Methanol is a low-flashpoint fuel that... Read more →

COSCO Heavy Industry Shanghai Co. Ltd. has signed a contract with MAN Energy Solutions for the methanol retrofit of four main engines from COSCO Line’s ‘Camellia’ and ‘Virgo’ -class vessels—13,800 and 20,000 teu respectively. Currently equipped with single-fuel MAN B&W; 11S90ME-C10.5 engines, the vessels will be retrofitted to dual-fuel MAN... Read more →

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Caterpillar Inc. have entered into a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) to investigate using methanol as an alternative fuel source for four-stroke internal combustion marine engines. The collaboration supports efforts to decarbonize the marine industry, a hard-to-electrify transportation sector. Methanol... Read more →

Japan’s Tsuneishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. has ordered 3 × MAN B&W; 7G50ME-C9.6-LGIM (-Liquid Gas Injection Methanol) main engines in connection with the building of 3 × 81,200 dwt bulk carriers for Danish shipping company, J. Lauritzen. Each engine will feature MAN Energy Solutions’ proprietary EGRBP (Exhaust Gas Recirculation ByPass) emissions-reduction... Read more →

HIF USA, affiliate of HIF Global, the world’s leading eFuels company, and the Japanese energy company Idemitsu Kosan, signed a letter of intent to negotiate a sale and purchase agreement for eMethanol from the HIF Matagorda eFuels facility currently in development in Texas (earlier post), and to study the joint... Read more →

MAN Energy Solutions announced that a dual-fuel version of its MAN 175D high-speed engine, capable of operating on methanol, will be available by the end of 2026. The new variant, designated MAN 175DF-M, will be available both as newbuild and retrofit variants. MAN Energy Solutions states that the 175DF-M will... Read more →

China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES), the Shanghai-listed shipping giant and daughter company of China Merchants Heavy Industry (CMHI), has ordered a MAN B&W; 7G80ME-LGIM (-Liquid Gas Injection Methanol) main engine in connection with the construction of a VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier), marking the first such dual-fuel methanol order for... Read more →

An offtake agreement between A.P. Moller - Maersk and Chinese developer Goldwind, a global leader in clean energy, reaches into the next decade and marks the first large scale green methanol offtake agreement for the global shipping industry. This deal is a milestone for Maersk as it enables it to... Read more →

SunGas Renewables announced it has been selected by Australian green hydrogen and methanol project developer, ABEL Energy, to supply green methanol for a new $1.4-billion facility in Northern Tasmania, Australia. Johnson Matthey, a leading methanol synthesis technology and catalyst supplier, was also selected to supply key technologies for the project.... Read more →

Blue World Technologies and AGCO Power have developed a range extender concept and prototype for an electric Fendt e100 Vario tractor based on Blue World’s HT PEM fuel cell platform enabling long operation time using liquid methanol as fuel. Field demonstration of an early concept electric Fendt tractor with a... Read more →

Airbus will renew the entire fleet of chartered vessels that transport aircraft subassemblies between production facilities in Europe and the United States with three modern, low-emission roll-on/roll-off vessels, supported by wind-assisted propulsion. Airbus has commissioned shipowner Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA) to build, own and operate these new, highly efficient vessels... Read more →

thyssenkrupp Uhde has been awarded a contract by ENOWA, NEOM’s energy and water company, for engineering services and the supply, design and procurement of equipment for a new CO2-to-methanol and methanol-to-gasoline demonstration plant at ENOWA’s Hydrogen Innovation and Development Center (HIDC) in Saudi Arabia. The plant is a joint development... Read more →

Carbon Recycling International (CRI) and Jiangsu Sailboat successfully started up a CO2-to-methanol plant, CRI’s second in China. The Jiangsu Sailboat Methanol plant operates with CRI’s proprietary Emissions-to-Liquids (ETL) technology, transforming waste carbon dioxide and hydrogen gases into sustainable, commercial-grade methanol. (Earlier post.) The facility is built to recycle 150,000 tonnes... Read more →

In the presence of the Egyptian Prime Minister, C2X signed a comprehensive Framework Agreement (FWA) with its Egyptian sponsors and partners with the goal of enabling and accelerating large scale production of green methanol in Egypt. C2X aims to build, own, and operate assets to produce green methanol at scale... Read more →

China Merchants Heavy Industry (CMHI) has ordered six MAN small-bore, seven-cylinder 21/31DF-M, methanol-burning GenSets in connection with the construction of 2 × 9,300 ceu (car equivalent units) PCTCs (pure car and truck carriers) for China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES). The business represents the first order for the new methanol-powered, MAN... Read more →

OCI Global, the world’s largest producer of green methanol, plans to double its green methanol production capacity to approximately 400,000 metric tons per year in response to the growing demand for green methanol from numerous high emissions industries, including road transport, shipping and industrial. The scale-up plans include entering into... Read more →

A.P. Moller - Maersk (Maersk) and Equinor signed an agreement securing supply of green methanol for Maersk’s new methanol-enabled feeder vessel (earlier post) during its initial months of operation from September 2023 and into the first half of 2024. The naming ceremony for the Danish-flagged 172-meter-long ship will be held... Read more →

At the IAA Summit in Munich, HIF Global, together with Porsche AG, Volkswagen Group Innovation and MAN Energy Solutions, announced the development and installation of a Direct Air Capture (DAC) unit at the HIF Haru Oni Demonstration facility in southern Chile in 2024. (Earlier post.) HIF’s Haru Oni is the... Read more →

Svitzer, a leading global towage provider and part of A.P. Moller-Maersk, has launched the second phase of its project to design the world’s first methanol hybrid fuel cell (MHFC) tug. Svitzer has conducted technical studies to establish the feasibility of this type of vessel accommodating the real-world operational requirements of... Read more →

Montauk Renewables—a renewable energy company specializing in the management, recovery and conversion of biogas into RNG—and its subsidiary Montauk Energy Holdings signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with EE North America, a North American subsidiary of Denmark–based European Energy, to deliver all biogenic CO2 volumes from all its Texas facilities... Read more →

Wärtsilä will supply methanol-fueled auxiliary engines for the French shipping company CMA CGM. The engines have been ordered for six 15,000 TEU container vessels which are being built at the Dalian Shipbuilding yard in China. The order was booked by Wärtsilä in Q2 2023. The six container vessels will be... Read more →

SunGas Renewables Inc. announced the formation of Beaver Lake Renewable Energy, LLC (BLRE), which will construct a new green methanol production facility in Central Louisiana. A wholly-owned subsidiary of SunGas Renewables, BLRE is expected to generate from the facility nearly 400,000 metric tons of green methanol per year for marine... Read more →

Enerkem, a producer of bio-methanol from mixed waste at commercial scale, and Dimeta, a joint venture between the two of the largest off-grid energy suppliers, are initiating feasibility studies for the development of two large-scale projects that will convert waste into renewable and recycled carbon dimethyl ether (DME). DME is... Read more →

SFC Energy AG, a supplier of hydrogen and methanol fuel cells for stationary and mobile hybrid power solutions, has launched the manufacturing of hydrogen and methanol fuel cells at its New Delhi/Gurgaon site in India. Together with long-standing Indian partner FCTecNrgy Pvt Ltd (FCT), the production facility was built and... Read more →

MAN Energy Solutions will begin developing methanol retrofit solutions for medium-speed marine engines as part of a research association including WTZ Roßlau gGmbh and TU-Darmstadt. The three-year research project, ‘CliNeR-ECo’, is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) with initial work having already commenced... Read more →

MAN Energy Solutions has signed a Conversion Commitment Agreement with Seaspan Corporation (Seaspan), a global leader in containership ownership and management in collaboration with Hapag-Lloyd, one of the leading global liner shipping companies. Under the terms of the agreement, MAN PrimeServ, MAN Energy Solutions’ after-sales division, will deliver 15 engine... Read more →

KOTUG Canada selected Türkiye’s Sanmar Shipyards to build two RAsalvor 4400-DFM dual fuel methanol escort tugs—Robert Allan Ltd. design—to service the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMEP). These tugs will escort tankers from the harbor limits of the Port of Vancouver to the open Pacific Ocean through the commercial shipping lanes... Read more →

bp ventures has committed $10 million, leading the Series B investment round, in WasteFuel, a California-based biofuels company that will use proven, scalable technologies to convert bio-based municipal and agricultural waste into lower carbon fuels, such as biomethanol. Globally, solid waste production totals about 2 billion metric tons annually and... Read more →

Technology group Wärtsilä has been contracted by Swedish ferry operator Stena Line to carry out and convert some of its vessels to operate with methanol fuel. The conversions will include the fuel supply system and engine modifications, as well as integrating the new installations with the ships’ existing systems. The... Read more →

Element 1 Corporation (e1) and NEXA Capital Partners LLC (NEXA) formed a new joint venture named Hydrogen Aviation Development Company (HADC or the JV). HADC is a special purpose energy company that will commercialize e1’s proprietary methanol-to-hydrogen generation technology for fuel cell applications within the aerospace sector including: Grid independent... Read more →

As a first in the shipping industry, A.P. Moller - Maersk (Maersk) will retrofit an existing container ship to a dual-fuel methanol powered vessel. The first engine retrofit in the industry is scheduled to be conducted medio 2024 and it is the intent to replicate on sister vessels when going... Read more →

MAN Energy Solutions has introduced its latest engine, an auxiliary MAN 35/44DF CD type. Developed in cooperation with STX Engine and solely for production by MAN licensees, the new engine is particularly aimed at container and LNG carrier applications. The GenSet was developed with the clear aim of cutting down... Read more →

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 →