ABS’ chairman and president Christopher J Wiernicki reiterated the importance of LNG to the maritime industry’s larger decarbonisation goals at a recent speech to US Coast Guard (USCG) leaders at the Liquefied Gas and Alternative Fuels Senior Executive Forum
“We have to balance what we’re facing today, which is how do we handle energy security relative to the short-term energy security challenge and the longer-term energy transition? LNG is going to play a leading role in this. However, for such a key fuel for the energy transition, it is important to recognise it is itself a fuel in transition. And we will need it to not only evolve but to address and mitigate the risks inherent in its operation today if we are to reach our 2050 objectives,” said Mr Wiernicki.
He outlined how an LNG vessel has a decade longer in its operational lifespan than an identical traditionally fuelled vessel, but noted methane slip represents a significant challenge and after-treatment technologies are still in development.
Enginebuilders have to find ways to reduce the pollutants escaping from the engineroom. MAN is looking at ways to reduce methane slip by improving the internal engine architecture and improving the combustion process to ensure unburnt methane is not touched.
However, the great potential of LNG to contribute to decarbonisation objectives in the long term is through bioLNG and carbon capture. BioLNG – produced from processing organic waste – has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80% compared with marine diesel, provided methane leakage in the production process and on-board methane slip are minimised.
Mr Wiernicki said, “Another challenge LNG has to contend with is the carbon content at its core. Here too we can expect to see significant developments. Liquefied biomethane, or bioLNG, a carbon-neutral fuel produced from sustainable biomass resources, has the potential to meet a significant portion of future shipping energy demand. Not only can bioLNG be used as a drop-in fuel in existing LNG-fuelled engines but it can also be transported, stored and bunkered in ports using existing LNG infrastructure.”
“But this is just the beginning of LNG’s potential to further contribute to the energy transition. The feedstock of blue hydrogen is methane after steam reforming, when the CO2 produced in the process is captured. While we are scaling up global production of zero-carbon green hydrogen, blue hydrogen and by extension LNG will have a critical role in filling the gap.”
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