IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v15y2022i20p7468-d938836.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Estimates of the Decarbonization Potential of Alternative Fuels for Shipping as a Function of Vessel Type, Cargo, and Voyage

Author

Listed:
  • Li Chin Law

    (Cambridge Centre for Advanced Research and Education in Singapore (CARES), CREATE Tower, 1 Create Way, Singapore 138602, Singapore
    School of Chemical Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Nibong Tebal 14300, Penang, Malaysia)

  • Epaminondas Mastorakos

    (Cambridge Centre for Advanced Research and Education in Singapore (CARES), CREATE Tower, 1 Create Way, Singapore 138602, Singapore
    Engineering Department, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1TN, UK)

  • Stephen Evans

    (Cambridge Centre for Advanced Research and Education in Singapore (CARES), CREATE Tower, 1 Create Way, Singapore 138602, Singapore
    Engineering Department, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1TN, UK)

Abstract

Fuel transition can decarbonize shipping and help meet IMO 2050 goals. In this paper, HFO with CCS, LNG with CCS, bio-methanol, biodiesel, hydrogen, ammonia, and electricity were studied using empirical ship design models from a fleet-level perspective and at the Tank-To-Wake level, to assist operators, technology developers, and policy makers. The cargo attainment rate CAR (i.e., cargo that must be displaced due to the low-C propulsion system), the E S (i.e., TTW energy needed per ton*n.m.), the C S (economic cost per ton*n.m.), and the carbon intensity index CII (gCO 2 per ton*n.m.) were calculated so that the potential of the various alternatives can be compared quantitatively as a function of different criteria. The sensitivity of CAR towards ship type, fuel type, cargo type, and voyage distance were investigated. All ship types had similar CAR estimates, which implies that considerations concerning fuel transition apply equally to all ships (cargo, containership, tankers). Cargo type was the most sensitive factor that made a ship either weight or volume critical, indirectly impacting on the CAR of different fuels; for example, a hydrogen ship is weight-critical and has 2.3% higher CAR than the reference HFO ship at 20,000 nm. Voyage distance and fuel type could result in up to 48.51% and 11.75% of CAR reduction. In addition to CAR, the E S , C S , and CII for a typical mission were calculated and it was found that HFO and LNG with CCS gave about 20% higher E S and C S than HFO, and biodiesel had twice the cost, while ammonia, methanol, and hydrogen had 3–4 times the C S of HFO and electricity about 20 times, suggesting that decarbonisation of the world’s fleet will come at a large cost. As an example of including all factors in an effort to create a normalized scoring system, an equal weight was allocated to each index (CAR, E S , C S , and CII). Biodiesel achieved the highest score (80%) and was identified as the alternative with the highest potential for a deep-seagoing containership, followed by ammonia, hydrogen, bio-methanol, and CCS. Electricity has the lowest normalized score of 33%. A total of 100% CAR is achievable by all alternative fuels, but with compromises in voyage distance or with refuelling. For example, a battery containership carrying an equal amount of cargo as an HFO-fuelled containership can only complete 13% of the voyage distance or needs refuelling seven times to complete 10,000 n.m. The results can guide decarbonization strategies at the fleet level and can help optimise emissions as a function of specific missions.

Suggested Citation

  • Li Chin Law & Epaminondas Mastorakos & Stephen Evans, 2022. "Estimates of the Decarbonization Potential of Alternative Fuels for Shipping as a Function of Vessel Type, Cargo, and Voyage," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-26, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:20:p:7468-:d:938836
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/20/7468/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/20/7468/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Li Chin Law & Beatrice Foscoli & Epaminondas Mastorakos & Stephen Evans, 2021. "A Comparison of Alternative Fuels for Shipping in Terms of Lifecycle Energy and Cost," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-32, December.
    2. Korberg, A.D. & Brynolf, S. & Grahn, M. & Skov, I.R., 2021. "Techno-economic assessment of advanced fuels and propulsion systems in future fossil-free ships," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    3. Thomas Buckley Imhoff & Savvas Gkantonas & Epaminondas Mastorakos, 2021. "Analysing the Performance of Ammonia Powertrains in the Marine Environment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-41, November.
    4. Adland, Roar & Cariou, Pierre & Wolff, Francois-Charles, 2020. "Optimal ship speed and the cubic law revisited: Empirical evidence from an oil tanker fleet," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    5. Boris Stolz & Maximilian Held & Gil Georges & Konstantinos Boulouchos, 2022. "Techno-economic analysis of renewable fuels for ships carrying bulk cargo in Europe," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 7(2), pages 203-212, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hamid Reza Soltani Motlagh & Seyed Behbood Issa Zadeh & Claudia Lizette Garay-Rondero, 2023. "Towards International Maritime Organization Carbon Targets: A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Analysis for Sustainable Container Shipping," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-22, December.
    2. Riccardo Risso & Lucia Cardona & Maurizio Archetti & Filippo Lossani & Barbara Bosio & Dario Bove, 2023. "A Review of On-Board Carbon Capture and Storage Techniques: Solutions to the 2030 IMO Regulations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-25, September.
    3. Livia Rauca & Ghiorghe Batrinca, 2023. "Impact of Carbon Intensity Indicator on the Vessels’ Operation and Analysis of Onboard Operational Measures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-14, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kanchiralla, Fayas Malik & Brynolf, Selma & Olsson, Tobias & Ellis, Joanne & Hansson, Julia & Grahn, Maria, 2023. "How do variations in ship operation impact the techno-economic feasibility and environmental performance of fossil-free fuels? A life cycle study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 350(C).
    2. Andres Laasma & Riina Otsason & Ulla Tapaninen & Olli-Pekka Hilmola, 2022. "Evaluation of Alternative Fuels for Coastal Ferries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Gu, Xubo & Bai, Hanyu & Cui, Xiaofan & Zhu, Juner & Zhuang, Weichao & Li, Zhaojian & Hu, Xiaosong & Song, Ziyou, 2024. "Challenges and opportunities for second-life batteries: Key technologies and economy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    4. Calise, Francesco & Cappiello, Francesco Liberato & Cimmino, Luca & Dentice d’Accadia, Massimo & Vicidomini, Maria, 2024. "A solar-assisted liquefied biomethane production by anaerobic digestion: Dynamic simulations for harbors," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PB).
    5. Cariou, Pierre & Halim, Ronald A. & Rickard, Bradley J., 2023. "Ship-owner response to carbon taxes: Industry and environmental implications," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    6. Jessica Kersey & Natalie D. Popovich & Amol A. Phadke, 2022. "Rapid battery cost declines accelerate the prospects of all-electric interregional container shipping," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 7(7), pages 664-674, July.
    7. Vinicius Andrade dos Santos & Patrícia Pereira da Silva & Luís Manuel Ventura Serrano, 2022. "The Maritime Sector and Its Problematic Decarbonization: A Systematic Review of the Contribution of Alternative Fuels," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-30, May.
    8. Ahmed, Shoaib & Li, Tie & Yi, Ping & Chen, Run, 2023. "Environmental impact assessment of green ammonia-powered very large tanker ship for decarbonized future shipping operations," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    9. Chountalas, Theofanis D. & Founti, Maria & Tsalavoutas, Ioannis, 2023. "Evaluation of biofuel effect on performance & emissions of a 2-stroke marine diesel engine using on-board measurements," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    10. Simon Kaiser & Felix Siems & Clemens Mostert & Stefan Bringezu, 2022. "Environmental and Economic Performance of CO 2 -Based Methanol Production Using Long-Distance Transport for H 2 in Combination with CO 2 Point Sources: A Case Study for Germany," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-22, March.
    11. Theocharis, Dimitrios & Rodrigues, Vasco Sanchez & Pettit, Stephen & Haider, Jane, 2021. "Feasibility of the Northern Sea Route for seasonal transit navigation: The role of ship speed on ice and alternative fuel types for the oil product tanker market," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 259-283.
    12. Dragan Pamucar & Muhammet Deveci & Ilgin Gokasar & Milena Popovic, 2022. "Fuzzy Hamacher WASPAS decision-making model for advantage prioritization of sustainable supply chain of electric ferry implementation in public transportation," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(5), pages 7138-7177, May.
    13. Namsu Kim & Minjung Lee & Juwon Park & Jeongje Park & Taesong Lee, 2022. "A Comparative Study of NO x Emission Characteristics in a Fuel Staging and Air Staging Combustor Fueled with Partially Cracked Ammonia," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-15, December.
    14. Matsumoto, Deanna & Mace, Caitlin & Reeb, Tyler & O'Brien, Thomas, 2022. "Environmental Plans and Freight Movement at the San Pedro Bay Ports: A Quick Strike Analysis," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt5jb232mt, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    15. Rafael Estevez & Francisco J. López-Tenllado & Laura Aguado-Deblas & Felipa M. Bautista & Antonio A. Romero & Diego Luna, 2023. "Current Research on Green Ammonia (NH 3 ) as a Potential Vector Energy for Power Storage and Engine Fuels: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-33, July.
    16. Martin, Jonas & Neumann, Anne & Ødegård, Anders, 2023. "Renewable hydrogen and synthetic fuels versus fossil fuels for trucking, shipping and aviation: A holistic cost model," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    17. Tino Vidović & Jakov Šimunović & Gojmir Radica & Željko Penga, 2023. "Systematic Overview of Newly Available Technologies in the Green Maritime Sector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-26, January.
    18. Yifan Wang & Laurence A. Wright, 2021. "A Comparative Review of Alternative Fuels for the Maritime Sector: Economic, Technology, and Policy Challenges for Clean Energy Implementation," World, MDPI, vol. 2(4), pages 1-26, October.
    19. Chen, Ruihua & Deng, Shuai & Zhao, Li & Zhao, Ruikai & Xu, Weicong, 2022. "Energy recovery from wastewater in deep-sea mining: Feasibility study on an energy supply solution with cold wastewater," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    20. Yan, Ran & Wang, Shuaian & Psaraftis, Harilaos N., 2021. "Data analytics for fuel consumption management in maritime transportation: Status and perspectives," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:20:p:7468-:d:938836. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.