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Japan Today
14-05-2025
- Business
- Japan Today
World's first commercial-scale e-methanol plant opens in Denmark
FILE PHOTO: The Alette Maersk, a green methanol-powered ship, is seen docket at the Port of Los Angeles, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., August 27, 2024. REUTERS/Lisa Baertlein/File Photo By Isabelle Yr Carlsson 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 a majority of countries gave their backing to measures to help meet the International Maritime Organization's targets towards eliminating carbon emissions by 2050. So far 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 that 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 150 million euros ($167 million), will produce 42,000 metric tons, or 53 million litres, of e-methanol per year, its joint owners Denmark's European Energy and Japan's Mitsui said. 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 of the vessels. It said, the plant's annual production is enough to power one large 16,000 container vessel sailing between Asia and Europe. For the smaller Laura Maersk, the world's first dual-fuel container ship, with a capacity of more than 2,100 twenty-foot equivalent units, requires only 3,600 tons of fuel per year. The Laura Maersk was scheduled to fuel near Kasso on Tuesday. Traditional methanol is typically produced from natural gas and coal. The Kasso plant will make e-methanol using renewable energy and CO2 captured from biogas plants and waste incineration. Maersk said one of the biggest challenges of switching to sustainable fuel was cost, and it is researching green fuel technologies and more efficient shipping to make the process cheaper. European Energy CEO Andersen said the company has plans to expand the Kasso facility as well as a pipeline of similar plants in Europe, Australia, Brazil and the United States. In addition to its use in shipping, e-methanol can replace fossil methanol in plastic production, meaning it can supply other Danish companies. Drugmaker Novo Nordisk and toymaker Lego will use e-methanol from the plant for making injection pens and plastic elements, respectively. Excess heat generated from the e-methanol production will be used to heat 3,300 households in the local area. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Observer
13-05-2025
- Business
- Observer
Europe's biggest 'green' methanol plant opens
RODEKRO: Europe's largest "green" methanol plant opened in Denmark on Tuesday, boosting the continent's emissions reduction efforts — with customers ranging from shipping giant Maersk to toymaker Lego and pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk. Sitting next to northern Europe's biggest solar panel field and a large transformer station in the Danish countryside, the site will produce e-methanol, a synthetic fuel made from renewable energy and carbon dioxide. The site, called Kasso, is only the third e-methanol plant in operation in the world after locations in China and the United States, according to the French Bureau of E-fuels. "Our strategy is to scale up. The next plant will be three times bigger," said Jaime Casasus-Bribian, head of projects at Danish company European Energy, which co-owns the plant with Japanese firm Mitsui. The facility will produce up to 42,000 tonnes of e-methanol per year, the equivalent of 50 million litres. The e-methanol will serve as fuel for Maersk ships, raw material for Lego's colourful plastic bricks and a component for Novo Nordisk's insulin injection pens. While the plant is a milestone for Europe, it is small on a global scale. Maersk alone would need two million tonnes of green methanol each year by 2030 if it were to reduce its fleet's carbon footprint by just 10 per cent, according to its own estimates. Laura Maersk, the company's first container ship to sail on e-methanol, will fill up at the neighbouring Aabenraa port every quarter, enough to allow it to sail for one month. — AFP
Nahar Net
13-05-2025
- Business
- Nahar Net
Europe's biggest 'green' methanol plant opens in Denmark
by Naharnet Newsdesk 13 May 2025, 17:06 Europe's largest "green" methanol plant opened in Denmark on Tuesday, boosting the continent's emissions reduction efforts -- with customers ranging from shipping giant Maersk to toymaker Lego and pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk. Sitting next to northern Europe's biggest solar panel field and a large transformer station in the Danish countryside, the site will produce e-methanol, a synthetic fuel made from renewable energy and carbon dioxide. The site, called Kasso, is only the third e-methanol plant in operation in the world after locations in China and the United States, according to the French Bureau of E-fuels. "Our strategy is to scale up. The next plant will be three times bigger," said Jaime Casasus-Bribian, head of projects at Danish company European Energy, which co-owns the plant with Japanese firm Mitsui. The facility will produce up to 42,000 tons of e-methanol per year, the equivalent of 50 million liters. The e-methanol will serve as fuel for Maersk ships, raw material for Lego's colorful plastic bricks and a component for Novo Nordisk's insulin injection pens. While the plant is a milestone for Europe, it is small on a global scale. Maersk alone would need two million tons of green methanol each year by 2030 if it were to reduce its fleet's carbon footprint by just 10 percent, according to its own estimates. Laura Maersk, the company's first container ship to sail on e-methanol, will fill up at the neighboring Aabenraa port every quarter, enough to allow it to sail for one month. "This is an encouraging initiative in terms of the sector's potential development," Yann Lesestre, the author of an international report on e-fuels, told AFP. He said, however, that it was too small to be of major significance. "The feedback from the project will be interesting to verify the proper functioning of the technology on a commercial scale," he said. The project has received a 53-million-euro ($59-million) subsidy from a Danish green investment fund. - China world leader - According to Lesestre's report, the European e-methanol sector accounts for 19 percent of planned capacity worldwide, compared to 60 percent in China. The Jiangsu Sailboat site in China has been operational since 2023 and produces 100,000 tons annually. Denmark -- a pioneer in renewable energy, in particular wind power -- has touted its swift development of the project, opening the plant less than two years after receiving the construction permit. "It's a very, very important stepping stone in this whole transition of scaling up the production capacity," said Camilla Holbech, the head of renewable energies, green transition and international cooperation at the Green Power Denmark association. "Stepping into green fuels is very, very important because in that way we can decarbonize sectors that cannot a priori run on electricity," Holbech said, citing shipping as an example. The significant cost gap between this new industry and the fossil fuel industry explains the number of smaller-scale projects, she said. E-methanol production costs could rival those of fossil fuels by 2040 if there is massive investment, according to a report by Green Power Denmark. While the U.S. and Chinese e-methanol plants use recycled carbon, the Danish site uses biogenic carbon, which is carbon found in natural materials, such as trees, plants, and other forms of biomass. E-methanol is made by combining biogenic CO2 and green hydrogen, itself produced by electrolysis, which involves splitting water molecules using an electric current from renewable energy sources, in this case solar power.
Al Etihad
13-05-2025
- Business
- Al Etihad
World's first commercial-scale e-methanol plant opens in Denmark
13 May 2025 19:33 COPENHAGEN (REUTERS)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 shipping sector is under pressure to find new sources of fuel after a majority of countries gave their backing to measures to help meet the International Maritime Organization's targets towards eliminating carbon emissions by far, 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 that we will have a price parity with fossil methanol around 2035," Knud Erik Andersen, CEO of Denmark's European Energy, told in Kasso in southern Denmark, the new plant, which has cost an estimated 150 million euros ($167 million), will produce 42,000 metric tons, or 53 million litres, of e-methanol per year, its joint owners Denmark's European Energy and Japan's Mitsui 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 of the said, the plant's annual production is enough to power one large 16,000 container vessel sailing between Asia and the smaller Laura Maersk, the world's first dual-fuel container ship, with a capacity of more than 2,100 twenty-foot equivalent units, requires only 3,600 tons of fuel per Laura Maersk was scheduled to fuel near Kasso on methanol is typically produced from natural gas and coal. The Kasso plant will make e-methanol using renewable energy and CO2 captured from biogas plants and waste said one of the biggest challenges of switching to sustainable fuel was cost, and it is researching green fuel technologies and more efficient shipping to make the process Energy CEO Andersen said the company has plans to expand the Kasso facility as well as a pipeline of similar plants in Europe, Australia, Brazil and the United addition to its use in shipping, e-methanol can replace fossil methanol in plastic production, meaning it can supply other Danish companies. Drugmaker Novo Nordisk and toymaker Lego will use e-methanol from the plant for making injection pens and plastic elements, respectively.
Straits Times
13-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
World's first commercial-scale e-methanol plant opens in Denmark
FILE PHOTO: The Alette Maersk, a green methanol-powered ship, is seen docket at the Port of Los Angeles, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., August 27, 2024. REUTERS/Lisa Baertlein/File Photo COPENHAGEN - 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 a majority of countries gave their backing to measures to help meet the International Maritime Organization's targets towards eliminating carbon emissions by 2050. So far 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 that 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 150 million euros ($167 million), will produce 42,000 metric tons, or 53 million litres, of e-methanol per year, its joint owners Denmark's European Energy and Japan's Mitsui said. 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 of the vessels. It said, the plant's annual production is enough to power one large 16,000 container vessel sailing between Asia and Europe. For the smaller Laura Maersk, the world's first dual-fuel container ship, with a capacity of more than 2,100 twenty-foot equivalent units, requires only 3,600 tons of fuel per year. The Laura Maersk was scheduled to fuel near Kasso on Tuesday. Traditional methanol is typically produced from natural gas and coal. The Kasso plant will make e-methanol using renewable energy and CO2 captured from biogas plants and waste incineration. Maersk said one of the biggest challenges of switching to sustainable fuel was cost, and it is researching green fuel technologies and more efficient shipping to make the process cheaper. European Energy CEO Andersen said the company has plans to expand the Kasso facility as well as a pipeline of similar plants in Europe, Australia, Brazil and the United States. In addition to its use in shipping, e-methanol can replace fossil methanol in plastic production, meaning it can supply other Danish companies. Drugmaker Novo Nordisk and toymaker Lego will use e-methanol from the plant for making injection pens and plastic elements, respectively. Excess heat generated from the e-methanol production will be used to heat 3,300 households in the local area. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
