Americas News
Methanol Bunker Infrastructure is Holding Back its Development
Much of global methanol production goes to industry leaving little left over for shipping, a methanol industry executive has said.
Interviewed by price reporting agency Platts, Methanex's Stuart McCall said that lack of fuelling infrastructure was holding back the fuel's emergence as an alternative bunker fuel.
"The total methanol market at the moment is significantly smaller than the size of the bunker fuel market, so 100% methanol shipping is not feasible in the short term," McCall was quoted as saying.
But despite these drawbacks, McCall, who is in charge of business development at the Canadian methanol producer, feels the alternative bunker fuel has a lot to offer shipping.
"Methanol offers an immediate, in-sector CO2 reduction of up to 15% when compared to conventional marine fuels.
"It also offers a pathway to the use of renewable methanol which would deliver on the IMO's carbon goals for 2050 on a life cycle basis with up to 95% reduction in CO2."
An additional benefit is that ships' engines do not need much re-engineering to handle the fuel.
Overall, McCall said that methanol's development would depend on how much the regulatory framework supported the growth of green fuels.
