Methanol derived from biomass has emerged as the focal point of discussion within the international shipping sector, being hailed as the "green coal" of choice. Since 2021, biomass methanol, commonly referred to as "green methanol," has garnered significant attention in the industry, with prominent international shipping companies like Maersk and Duffy actively seeking it from various sources worldwide.

Carbon-emitting international shipping

The international maritime shipping industry has for many years been fuelled by fossil-based light diesel and heavy fuel oil, with an annual consumption of around 200 million tonnes. 2.5% of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions (CO2-equivalent) are emitted annually, but this value is expected to rise to 4% or even 8% by 2030 and beyond. In response, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) published a carbon neutral strategy in 2018 - to reduce global shipping's carbon emissions by 50 per cent from 2008 levels by 2050.

Significant carbon allowance charges

In February 2023, the European Parliament's Environment Committee approved legislation for an EU carbon trading system (ETS). The compromise text in the maritime section stipulates that owners of merchant ships travelling in and out of Europe using traditional maritime fuels (diesel, heavy fuel oil) will be required to pay a "carbon allowance" fee from 2024 onwards. The transition period is divided into 2023, 2024 and 2025, and the proportion of zero-carbon fuels must be increased each year, i.e. by 40 per cent, 70 per cent and 100 per cent. If zero-carbon fuels are not used, there will be a carbon tax of 90 euros per tonne of conventional fossil fuels.

Since the giants of the international shipping industry are almost entirely concentrated in Europe, which happens to be the most important destination for China's foreign trade imports and exports, the China Ocean Shipping Group (COSCO) estimates that the loss of carbon tax will amount to 4 billion euros per year if the current light diesel fuel is not changed.

Since then, major international maritime groups have set out to find an alternative to marine diesel: a new fuel - methanol and natural gas - that can be applied to existing diesel engines, is easy to store and transport, and has readily available production and filling facilities.

Conventional coal-to-methanol technology, by itself, emits 5.5t of CO2 per tonne, which does not meet the criteria for a zero-carbon fuel. If we rely on biomass, we can go down the biosynthetic "green methanol" route, for example, by using waste biomass to produce methane and then converting it to methanol. As the waste biomass is collected and utilised instead of naturally decaying and decomposing, it avoids methane, which has a greenhouse effect equivalent of 25 times that of carbon dioxide, from entering the atmosphere, i.e., it creates "green methanol" with negative carbon emissions.

There are two main ways to produce methanol from biomass, one is to use straw and other biomass gasification agents to generate CO and a small amount of H2, and then introduce green hydrogen to adjust the ratio of CO and H2 to produce methanol; the other is to gasify biomass into carbon dioxide, and then with the production of methanol from green hydrogen. Therefore, how to gasify straw and other biomass to prepare methane and methanol has become the key to the development of "green energy".

Biomass Resourcing Pre-Treatment Systems

The main source of biomass resources comes from agricultural and forestry waste, including straw, rice husk, tree branches, and more. To effectively convert biomass into methane and methanol through gasification, it is essential that the impurity rate of soil content in the biomass is 5% or less.

Harden Technologies conducts tests using different types of agricultural and forestry waste, such as dry yellow straw, waste bamboo, and tree branches, which have varying levels of water content and humidity. The equipment is continuously improved and optimized with the aim of achieving finer crushing, faster processing, and more accurate material selection. This enables the development of a biomass resource processing system that is compatible with various types of biomass raw materials.

This is a cost-free blending of environmental protection equipment that is "modular, integrated, and automated." By utilizing resource processing technology such as crushing, screening, and iron removal, this system achieves a final output particle size of under 30mm. It has a production capacity ranging from 100,000 to 150,000 tonnes per year, ensuring that biomass fuels contain less than 5% impurity rate of soil content.