Application of Synthetic Renewable Methanol to Power the Future Propulsion

Abstract

As CO2 emissions from traffic must be reduced and fossil-based traffic fuels need to phase out, bio-based traffic fuels alone cannot meet the future demand due to their restricted availability. Another way to support fossil phase-out is to include synthetic fuels that are produced from circular carbon sources with renewable energy. Several different fuel types have been proposed, while, methanol only requires little processing from raw materials and could be used directly or as a dropin fuel for some of the current engine fleet. CO2 emissions arising from fuel production are significantly reduced for synthetic renewable methanol compared to the production of fossil gasoline. Methanol has numerous advantages over the currently used fossil fuels with high RON and flame speed in spark-ignition engines as well as high efficiency and low emissions in combustion ignition engines. Feasible options for engine development or upgrading for methanol have been presented separately in the past work but not considering the whole value chain. The results indicate that high concentration methanol blends will increase significantly tank-to-wheel efficiency, lower energy consumption and CO2 emissions, while their volumetric fuel consumption will increase compared to gasoline, due to the low calorific content of methanol. The work visualizes the impact on CO2 emissions for methanol-fueled transport applications and overall suitability for propulsion. For marine sector, successful demonstrations reveal high maturity of engine technology using methanol fuel. This work also highlights further development needs of synthetic renewable methanol to become a sustainable future transport fuel.

Alternative fuel options for low carbon maritime transportation: Pathways to 2050

“…The majority of feedstock for methanol production is NG and other feedstocks include coal, oil, biomass, wastes and even CO 2 (Riaz et al, 2013). Renewable methanol, chemically identical to conventional methanol, is mainly produced from second generation biomass, such as forest residues, agriculture residues, municipal solid waste and black liquor produced from the pulp and paper industry (Santasalo-Aarnio et al, 2020). It has the same production process as conventional methanol and is regarded to be carbon-neutral if renewable energy is used for the production processes (Svanberg et al, 2018).…”

Awareness increases acceptance and willingness to pay for low-carbon fuels amongst marine passengers

“…The main setback of using LNG, LBG, LBM or SNG is their gaseous state under standard conditions, which necessitates investments in compression equipment. Furthermore, a potential methane slip or system leakage could diminish any of the environmental benefits that LNG offers as methane has a significantly higher global warming potential than CO 2 [40] , [41] , [9] .…”

Selecting Appropriate Energy Source Options for an Arctic Research Ship

“…The energy density of LNG is lower than that of MDO and HFO [8], which significantly affects the ability to perform longer voyages if storage space is limited. H 2 energy content per litre is significantly lower than other fuels [30,101]. Too large required tank capacity generally [101] and for remote Polar operations specifically [69].…”

“…H 2 energy content per litre is significantly lower than other fuels [30,101]. Too large required tank capacity generally [101] and for remote Polar operations specifically [69].…”

“…Fossil fuels are usually involved in hydrogen production as alternative green production is expensive [30,101].…”