Uthörn, Germany’s first methanol-powered research vessel

Germany’s first methanol-fuelled seagoing research vessel was named during a ceremony on 1 November at Fassmer Shipyards in Berne.

Christened Uthörn by the German Federal Minister of Education and Research Bettina Stark-Watzinger, the 35-m vessel is being built for the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI). After a two-year construction phase, the €15.0M (US$14.9M) research vessel is scheduled for handover to the AWI this December.

Two modified MWM Type TBD 232 V12 diesel engines with a total output of 600 kW generate electricity for the ship’s two electric motors. Used for coastal research and teaching, Uthörn has a beam of 8.5 m and draught of 2.5 m, a large working deck with dry and wet laboratories, two derrick booms for trawling nets and water samplers, a multi-frequency echosounder for detecting and identifying schools of fish, and an anti-roll tank, which can stabilise the ship during operations in the German Bight.

Together with Bremerhaven-based partners from research and industry, the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research has readied a proposal for a synthetic methanol production facility in Bremerhaven, which could be approved by the end of the year. In a pilot project, renewable electricity from a wind turbine will be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen via electrolysis. In the next step, this ’green’ hydrogen and CO2 from a nearby sewage treatment plant could be used to synthesise green methanol, which, when burnt, only releases the amount of CO2 that was captured during its production.