Environmental assessment of marine fuels: liquefied natural gas, liquefied biogas, methanol and bio-methanol
Journal article, 2014

The combined effort of reducing the emissions of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and greenhouse gases to comply with future regulations and reduce impact on climate change will require a significant change in ship propulsion. One alternative is to change fuels. In this study we compare the life cycle environmental performance of liquefied natural gas (LNG), liquefied biogas (LBG), methanol and bio-methanol. We also highlight a number of important aspects to consider when selecting marine fuels. A transition to use of LNG or methanol produced from natural gas would significantly improve the overall environmental performance. However, the impact on climate change is of the same order of magnitude as with use of heavy fuel oil. It is only the use of LBG and bio-methanol that has the potential to reduce the climate impact. The analysis did not show any significant differences in environmental performance between methane and methanol when produced from the same raw materials, but the performance of the methanol engines are yet to be validated.

Marine fuels

Methanol

Liquefied biogas

LCA

Liquefied natural gas

Author

Selma Brynolf

Chalmers, Shipping and Marine Technology, Division of Maritime Operations

Erik Fridell

Chalmers, Shipping and Marine Technology, Division of Maritime Operations

Karin Andersson

Chalmers, Shipping and Marine Technology, Division of Maritime Operations

Journal of Cleaner Production

0959-6526 (ISSN)

Vol. 74 86-95

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Areas of Advance

Transport

Energy

Subject Categories

Other Environmental Engineering

Energy Systems

Marine Engineering

DOI

10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.03.052

More information

Created

10/7/2017