The future belongs to sustainable fuels. Green methanol is set to make container shipping more environmentally friendly. A Berlin start-up is working on making its production more efficient and cheaper.
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00:00 Container ships, essential for global trade.
00:04 So far they have been running on marine diesel,
00:07 and burning it in the engine emits large amounts of climate-damaging CO2 and other toxins.
00:13 The major shipping companies want to change this,
00:15 and a Berlin startup is working on a solution.
00:19 If you take green methanol, you can power, for example, container ships.
00:23 Methanol for marine engines produced in a climate-neutral way?
00:27 Can this work?
00:28 [MUSIC]
00:33 Marine diesel, a sticky mineral oil, a cheap fuel, and an oil industry waste product.
00:41 Merchant ships emit around 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
00:47 That's more than the whole of Japan at 2.9% in 2021, and emissions will continue to rise.
00:56 Around 11 billion tons of goods are shipped worldwide every year.
01:00 This figure will triple by 2050.
01:05 Maersk, the second largest shipping company in the world, is also one of the culprits.
01:10 But Maersk has a plan.
01:12 It wants to use the synthetic fuel methanol as an alternative to conventional oil.
01:18 We have a problem that needs to be solved.
01:19 Here is a good solution. Let's go with that.
01:22 The group has therefore already ordered 19 methanol-powered ships.
01:27 The first went into operation in the fall of 2023.
01:32 We know it can work because the engine technology is actually proven.
01:35 There is an engine out there that we can order.
01:37 And also from an operational and safety perspective, it's a very manageable fuel.
01:42 In order to obtain the CO2-neutral fuel required,
01:46 the shipping company is investing in the Berlin startup C1, which stands for Carbon One.
01:53 This is what the methanol from their research reactor looks like,
01:57 with a very small ecological footprint.
02:03 The traditional process requires very high pressure,
02:06 and compression is expensive and requires a very high temperature.
02:10 And that's the advantage of our process.
02:13 It's homogenous, meaning the catalyst is dissolved along with the solvent,
02:17 and the reactants are in the solvent.
02:19 We can lower the reaction temperature and pressure through the catalyst,
02:23 which saves a lot of money.
02:26 In the traditional production of methanol, natural gas, coal,
02:30 crude oil or biomass are also used in large quantities, with a high energy input.
02:38 That's different here.
02:39 They require significantly less energy and carbon atoms.
02:43 The process works without fossil resources.
02:48 Conventional methanol is produced in many refineries around the world.
02:52 But the production process has a poor carbon footprint and is too expensive.
03:01 The current process of producing methanol is not well-suited with renewable feedstocks.
03:08 And this is where C1 comes in.
03:10 We've invented this completely new production process.
03:13 We're taking it on a completely new technology curve.
03:16 It's a disruptive technology.
03:19 And the potential is to reduce the cost of green methanol substantially.
03:24 According to the chemists, this test facility is already producing the desired results.
03:30 The startup is currently building a large plant in a major German chemical park.
03:38 Methanol production for marine engines is set to begin by 2027.
03:46 So far, they have received 24 million euros for their project.
03:51 But will the new fuel also be affordable for the shipping companies?
03:55 We're also expecting that over the next couple of years,
03:58 that we will not be able to recoup the entire additional cost for the green fuels,
04:02 because the first couple of years, they're quite expensive.
04:06 But we do actually expect that we will also have to cover some of the cost ourselves.
04:11 And that's also only fair.
04:14 In a few years, the fuel could be refueling the new container ships.
04:20 If all goes well, the startup will be doing good business,
04:24 as its process for green methanol production is patented and unique worldwide.
04:30 (Music)
04:33 (upbeat music)