Maersk strengthened efforts to accelerate global production of green methanol

Danish carrier A.P. Moller – Maersk has further strengthened its efforts to accelerate global production of green methanol having teamed up with US-based project developer Carbon Sink.

The world’s second-largest liner has signed a letter of intent that covers the development of green methanol production facilities by Carbon Sink in the US. The first facility will be co-located with the Red River Energy existing bioethanol plant in Rosholt, South Dakota and will have a production capacity of approximately 100,000 tonnes per year.

The production should start in 2027 and Maersk said it would purchase the full volume produced at the plant, with options for the output of subsequent Carbon Sink facilities at other locations.

Carbon Sink uses commercially available technology to produce green methanol by combining green hydrogen from electrolysis of water using additional renewable electricity and biogenic CO2. The CO2 for the first project will be waste CO2 captured from the Red River Energy bio-ethanol plant, recycling those emissions into green methanol.

Carbon Sink joins seven other strategic partners working to secure the fuel for the 19 dual-fuel e-methanol containerships Maersk currently has on order. In March, Maersk announced six partnerships with CIMC ENRIC, European Energy, Green Technology Bank, Orsted, Proman, and WasteFuel with the intent of sourcing at least 730,000 tonnes per year by the end of 2025. The seventh partnership with Debo Energy in China was added in August.

Maersk said it needs around 6m tonnes of green methanol per year to reach its 2030 fleet emissions milestone target. Earlier in November, the company revealed plans to produce up to 2m tonnes of green methanol a year in the ports of Andalusia and Galicia in Spain by 2030.