Andrea Lazzaro, Head of business development at WinGD. Image Credit: WinGD

• Ethanol earns IMO emission factors but no FuelEU Maritime credit
• Brazilian second-growth corn ethanol rated at 20.8 gCO2eq/MJ
• Only about 20% of world fleet exposed to European emissions rules
• Engine maker sees ethanol and green methanol used in combination

Ethanol has become the first biofuel to win approved greenhouse gas emission factors under the IMO's lifecycle guidelines, but ships burning it into European ports will still earn no credit for it under FuelEU Maritime.

That is the assessment of Andrea Lazzaro, head of business development at engine designer WinGD, which supplies the dual-fuel engines ordered for the first ethanol-fuelled deep-sea ships, writing in an article published this week.

The Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) approved emission factors for Brazilian "second growth" corn ethanol in its Lifecycle Analysis Guidelines for Marine Fuels in April, giving the fuel a rating of 20.8 gCO2eq/MJ, more than four times lower than VLSFO, according to Lazzaro.

Unlike the EU Emissions Trading System, however, FuelEU Maritime does not currently credit emissions reductions from any biofuel made from food crops or the byproducts of food production, he writes.

Fuel suppliers are petitioning against that treatment, arguing that modern production techniques mean ethanol does not compromise food production or security.

The split matters less than it might appear, on Lazzaro's reckoning, because only around 20% of the global merchant fleet is exposed to European emissions legislation.

For the ships that are, the practical effect is that ethanol delivers savings under the EU ETS but nothing under FuelEU Maritime until the issue is resolved.

The question has become commercial rather than theoretical since Shandong Shipping's order in May for the world's first ethanol-fuelled two-stroke engines, underwritten by a long-term charter to mining group Vale.

Lazzaro also sets out a case for using ethanol and green methanol in combination, given that WinGD engines can run on a blend of alcohol fuels.

Owners committed to green methanol but facing limited supply or high prices could burn ethanol through the same engine in the meantime, he argues, shifting the balance towards green methanol as carbon pricing tightens and compliance penalties start to outweigh the fuel's cost.

Green methanol can qualify as a zero or near-zero emissions (ZNZ) fuel below the 14 gCO2eq/MJ threshold in the IMO's draft Net Zero Framework, but is not widely available and is far more expensive than the alternatives, he writes.

Engines already installed to burn methanol can be prepared for ethanol with what Lazzaro calls a very simple modification, a point he illustrates with the 9,000 TEU Terma Maersk, the latest Maersk vessel to be fitted with WinGD's X-DF-M engine.

Earlier this year WinGD told Ship & Bunker that it saw ethanol as a potential "game-changer" for Shipping's energy transition on the basis of its cost and growing availability.

The full article can be read here.