World's first commercial-scale e-methanol plant opens in Denmark
The world's first commercial-scale e-methanol plant began operations in Denmark on Tuesday, with shipping giant Maersk set to buy part of the production as a low-emission fuel for its fleet of container ships.
The shipping sector is under pressure to find new sources of fuel after most countries gave their backing to measures to help meet the International Maritime Organisation's targets towards eliminating carbon emissions by 2050.
Zero-emission shipping fuels, such as green ammonia and e-methanol, which are produced using renewable energy, have tended to be more expensive than conventional fuel largely because they are not produced at scale.
'We expect we will have a price parity with fossil methanol around 2035,' Knud Erik Andersen, CEO of Denmark's European Energy, told Reuters.
Located in Kasso in southern Denmark, the new plant, which has cost an estimated €150m (R3bn), will produce 42,000 metric tons, or 53 million litres, of e-methanol per year, said its joint owners Denmark's European Energy and Japan's Mitsui.
Maersk will be a major customer of the Kasso plant. It operates 13 dual-fuel methanol container vessels that can be powered with fuel oil and with e-methanol and has ordered another 13 vessels.
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