In 2023, the Laura Maersk was the world’s first container vessel to sail on methanol. Now, Maersk is the using the vessel to test a new fuel blend consisting of a mix of ninety per cent e-methanol and ten per cent ethanol.
To achieve the company’s climate targets, Maersk feels it is necessary to explore multiple technological and fuel pathways. The 2100-TEU Laura Maersk allows the company to test on a small scale the alternative fuels that can, at a later point, also apply for the dual-fuel vessels in the fleet.
As Peter Normark Sorensen, Senior Fuel Transition Manager at Maersk, explains: ‘Laura Maersk is our methanol vessel that has bunkered methanol for the last three years. It has been burning the methanol with no issues, but today we are trying something completely new by adding ethanol. We have added ten per cent today, to the methanol that is delivered to the vessel, called an E10.’
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Testing ethanol performance
The goal is to understand how ethanol performs in the existing dual-fuel engines and whether it can become part of the company’s future fuel mix. Key parameters that are being tested include ignition, combustion, lubricity, and emissions.
‘The reason for blending it is to enlarge the availability and the sourcing pool for these dual-fuel vessels,’ adds Sorensen. ‘But we have a number of things we would like to test. For instance, are there any differences between the standard methanol and the E10 in say ignition quality? In the way the fuels are burning? Are there any differences or similarities in terms of corrosion, lubricity? And not the least, are the emissions different between the two fuels? For instance, the NOx emissions are one of the things that are crucial here.’
The E10 delivered to Laura Maersk is expected to be consumed over the next 1-1.5 months. Sorensen: ‘And then we will have the understanding of how we can proceed to the next stage of these tests.’
Picture: Container ship Laura Maersk during its first passage through the Kiel Canal (photo by Jens Dohrn, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0).
Also read: New methanol dual-fuel container ship joins Maersk fleet
