The maiden voyage of Danish shipping giant Maersk’s first ever dual-fuel methanol-ready ship will be powered by green methanol made from steam reformed biomethane — because the green hydrogen-derived methanol supply chain is not yet developed enough to see the vessel through the journey.
Maersk has inked a deal with Dutch green fuels and fertiliser producer OCI to supply green methanol for the voyage, which will be made from biomethane, or landfill gas, derived from organic matter in municipal solid waste.
This biomethane, certified to an International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) standard for biomass, is then heated up into a syngas (a combination of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbn dioxide) and synthesised into methanol, CH3OH — the same process used to produce standard ammonia from natural gas.