{"id":860,"date":"2021-10-20T21:47:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-20T20:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mercator.nfdtesting.uk\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/2021\/10\/20\/synthetic-natural-gas-makes-its-commercial-debut\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T21:54:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T20:54:44","slug":"synthetic-natural-gas-makes-its-commercial-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/news\/lng\/synthetic-natural-gas-makes-its-commercial-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"Synthetic Natural Gas Makes Its Commercial Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yet the bunkering event itself represented a significant&nbsp;event. The fuel bunkered was synthetic natural gas (SNG)&nbsp;generated from 100% renewable electricity, and the event&nbsp;marked the first time that such a fuel had been used in&nbsp;commercial shipping.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Retrofitting as key to emissions reduction<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The vessel selected for the first bunkering of SNG was&nbsp;<em>ElbBLUE<\/em>. The 1,036 teu container feeder, which is owned by&nbsp;German shipowner Elbdeich Reederei and operated by&nbsp;charterer Unifeeder, is an example of a successful conversion&nbsp;to dual-fuel operation. When its four-stroke main engine was&nbsp;converted to a MAN 51\/60DF unit in 2017, it was the first such&nbsp;conversion of its type globally.<\/p>\n<p>The event was also attended by Stefan Eefting, Senior Vice&nbsp;President and Head of MAN PrimeServ, Augsburg, who&nbsp;stressed that engine retrofits to operate on synthetic fuels&nbsp;would have a crucial role to play in reducing or even&nbsp;eliminating future emissions.<\/p>\n<p>The vessel sailed to St. Petersburg in Russia, where the&nbsp;performance of the vessel would be monitored by a team of&nbsp;engineers from MAN PrimeServ, MAN Energy Solutions\u2019 aftersales&nbsp;division.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The arrival of Power-to-X<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While the event focused on the technical achievement of&nbsp;bunkering SNG, the greater implication was that it marked&nbsp;the arrival of green synthetic natural gas (SNG) into the fuel&nbsp;mix for commercial shipping.<\/p>\n<p>The quantity of fuel supplied may have been comparatively&nbsp;limited, and the fuel was supplied at a price that was&nbsp;significantly above other alternative fuels, such as LBG.<\/p>\n<p>However, the fact that synthetic natural gas (SNG) produced&nbsp;in Lower Saxony from renewable electricity has been&nbsp;bunkered represents a key milestone.<\/p>\n<p>It was also fitting that the first bunkering of green SNG&nbsp;should occur in Germany, given the importance of German&nbsp;researchers in the history of synthetic fuel production&nbsp;research. The importance of figures such as Friedrich Bergius,&nbsp;as well as Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch, live on in their&nbsp;eponymous processes.<\/p>\n<p>As Wayne Jones OBE, Chief Sales Officer, MAN Energy&nbsp;Solutions told <em>The Motorship<\/em> during a tour of the vessel, the&nbsp;bunkering demonstrated that the technology required for&nbsp;Power-to-X to work was both developed and available.<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline_image inline_image_right image_size_med fullsize\" data-attachment=\"124815\" data-sequence=\"3\"><button class=\"show-fullscreen\" data-url=\"\/attachment?attype=P&amp;atcode=124815&amp;storycode=1431141\">Show Fullscreen<\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"picture\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Dr Uwe Lauber, CEO, and Wayne Jones OBE, Chief Sales Officer of MAN Energy Solutions\" src=\"https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/01_124815_img_1977_539255.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"lazyloaded wp-image-862\" width=\"3000\" height=\"2142\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/01_124815_img_1977_539255.webp 1600w, https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/01_124815_img_1977_539255-300x214.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/01_124815_img_1977_539255-1024x731.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/01_124815_img_1977_539255-768x548.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/01_124815_img_1977_539255-1536x1096.webp 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"inline_meta\">\n<p class=\"inline_title\">MAN ES leaders<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline_source\"><cite>Source: The Motorship<\/cite><\/p>\n<p class=\"inline_caption\">Dr Uwe Lauber, CEO, and Wayne Jones OBE, Chief Sales Officer of MAN Energy Solutions during a tour of ElbBLUE\u2019s engine room.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Dr. Uwe Lauber, CEO of MAN Energy Solutions, took a&nbsp;broader view of the challenge of introducing SNG into the&nbsp;marine fuel chain. \u201cSNG is not available in the quantities&nbsp;required by the shipping industry at the moment, so there is a&nbsp;chicken and egg aspect to the discussion\u201d, Dr. Lauber said,&nbsp;adding that \u201cI\u2019m quite sure that the [expansion of renewable&nbsp;energy sources to produce green hydrogen] would come.&nbsp;Because there is no alternative to decarbonisation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Lauber also noted that the development of viable&nbsp;commercial business cases for synthetic fuels relied on the&nbsp;introduction of \u201can appropriate CO2 price\u201d, as well as technical&nbsp;advances in electrolyser production.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Lauber also noted that the introduction of CO2 from&nbsp;Carbon Capture, Use and Storage schemes would also lower&nbsp;the GHG emissions generated by supplying synthetic natural&nbsp;gas. MAN Energy Solutions was a partner in the current&nbsp;Northern Lights CCUS project, which also involved&nbsp;HeidelburgCement\u2019s Swedish subsidiary, as well as DNV,&nbsp;Equinor and a number of other participants.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Political environment<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to local observers, the inconclusive result of the&nbsp;German parliamentary election in September 2021 is likely to&nbsp;result in the creation of the country\u2019s first three-party&nbsp;governing coalition, with either the Christian Democrats or&nbsp;Social Democrats forming a majority with the Liberals and&nbsp;Green parties. Energy policy and attitudes towards natural&nbsp;gas and hydrogen in particular are just two of the areas&nbsp;where the Liberals and Greens have divergent attitudes.<\/p>\n<p>As such, the bunkering ceremony occurred at a time of&nbsp;intense scrutiny of the decarbonisation agenda in Germany.<\/p>\n<p>The event was also attended by senior politicians from&nbsp;Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, as well as Germany\u2019s&nbsp;national maritime coordinator.&nbsp;<em>The Motorship<\/em> notes that the scope of a German federal&nbsp;funding programme for eco-friendly propulsion systems on&nbsp;inland ships was extended to include funding for conventional&nbsp;diesel engine replacements or upgrades earlier in 2021.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Environmental case for SNG and P-to-X<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The early adoption of green SNG into the LNG fuel mix would&nbsp;offer significant environmental advantages. Compared with&nbsp;conventional HSFO, SNG offers an 80% reduction in GHG&nbsp;emissions as measured on a well-to-wake basis in CO2&nbsp;equivalent terms.<\/p>\n<p>This reflects the slightly different content of SNG compared&nbsp;with LNG, as described in \u2018What is green SNG\u2019 below.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Pengg-Buehrlen of kiwi AG added that the Life Cycle&nbsp;Analysis (LCA) for SNG had not yet been concluded, and that&nbsp;was expected to be one of the outcomes from the trial.<\/p>\n<p>However, the use of captured CO2, differences in the methane&nbsp;number, as well as the absence of upstream emissions, was&nbsp;likely to lead to a clear advantage for SNG in CO2e terms.<\/p>\n<p>A full comparative analysis of SNG as measured against&nbsp;conventional LNG had not yet been completed. Timm&nbsp;Niebergall, Shortsea Director Unifeeder, noted that one of the&nbsp;objectives of the test of the new fuel on board the ElbBLUE was&nbsp;an accurate measurement of the environmental emissions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is green SNG<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Green Power-to-X technologies refer to&nbsp;the conversion of renewable electricity&nbsp;into fuels that can be easily stored and&nbsp;transported. The approach has begun to&nbsp;attract considerable attention in recent&nbsp;years, as it represents a potential solution&nbsp;to the problem of reducing greenhouse gas&nbsp;emissions from so-called diffi cult to abate&nbsp;sectors, such as shipping, aviation and&nbsp;heavy goods vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>The approach used in Brunsb\u00fcttel used&nbsp;synthetic fuel generated from 100%&nbsp;renewable energy via H2 production through&nbsp;water electrolysis, and subsequent&nbsp;methanation into synthetic natural gas. As a&nbsp;result, the SNG lowers the carbon dioxide&nbsp;(CO2) footprint of the fuels produced, while&nbsp;producing a fuel that is compatible with&nbsp;existing infrastructure for fuel distribution&nbsp;and bunkering.<\/p>\n<p>The liquefied SNG was produced in a&nbsp;power-to-gas facility in Werlte, Germany,&nbsp;owned by kiwi AG. Originally built on behalf&nbsp;of automaker Audi, the facility has a 6MW&nbsp;electrolyser capacity, based on 3 x 2MW&nbsp;2012-vintage atmospheric alkaline&nbsp;electrolysers. The electrolysers themselves&nbsp;are robust, and have a \u201crespectable\u201d 65%&nbsp;efficiency level, Hermann Pengg-Buehrlen,&nbsp;CEO of kiwi AG told <em>The Motorship<\/em>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline_image inline_image_right image_size_med fullsize\" data-attachment=\"124812\" data-sequence=\"1\"><button class=\"show-fullscreen\" data-url=\"\/attachment?attype=P&amp;atcode=124812&amp;storycode=1431141\">Show Fullscreen<\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"picture\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The 20t stem of SNG was produced from renewable electricity at kiwi AG\u2019s plant in Lower Saxony.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/02_124812_at130154_werlte_607076.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"lazyloaded wp-image-863\" width=\"2240\" height=\"1600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/02_124812_at130154_werlte_607076.webp 1600w, https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/02_124812_at130154_werlte_607076-300x214.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/02_124812_at130154_werlte_607076-1024x731.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/02_124812_at130154_werlte_607076-768x548.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/02_124812_at130154_werlte_607076-1536x1096.webp 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2240px) 100vw, 2240px\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"inline_meta\">\n<p class=\"inline_title\">kiwi AG\u2019s plant<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline_source\"><cite>Source: Audi AG<\/cite><\/p>\n<p class=\"inline_caption\">The 20t stem of SNG was produced from renewable electricity at kiwi AG\u2019s plant in Lower Saxony.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The CO2 required for the methanation&nbsp;step is supplied from captured CO2, with&nbsp;further reductions in the upstream GHG&nbsp;emission footprint, while the energy required&nbsp;for the production process was generated&nbsp;from 100% renewable energy sources.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Quality of SNG<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The SNG produced by kiwi AG\u2019s&nbsp;hydrogenation process is stable in quality.&nbsp;The gas was successfully used by former&nbsp;owner Audi AG in a pilot programme for&nbsp;passenger vehicles.&nbsp;The gas produced by the plant&nbsp;has a slightly lower&nbsp;methane number than conventional LNG, as&nbsp;the SNG does not include some of the other&nbsp;alkanes seen in conventional LNG (such as&nbsp;butane, propane and ethane), Pengg-Buehrlen noted. SNG also contains lower&nbsp;quantities of carbon monoxide and sulphur,&nbsp;although slightly higher levels of CO2&nbsp;introduces a requirement for a scrubber&nbsp;alongside the liquefaction step during production.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Economics of SNG production<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The cost of the SNG, which was supplied on&nbsp;a commercial basis, is expected to fall as&nbsp;SNG production proceeds along the&nbsp;experience curve. Larger and more&nbsp;efficient electrolyser installations are&nbsp;expected to contribute to the reduction in&nbsp;costs, owing to the weight of electrolyser&nbsp;costs in SNG production. Underlying&nbsp;electricity costs remain a key determinant of&nbsp;production costs: locations with plentiful&nbsp;supplies of low cost, renewable electricity,&nbsp;are expected to emerge as potential&nbsp;production centres.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Pengg-Buehrlen also noted that new&nbsp;developments, such as the recent&nbsp;introduction of a liquefaction unit developed&nbsp;by kiwi AG in mid 2021, was also expected to&nbsp;contribute to reduce the cost of producing&nbsp;SNG compared with conventional LNG.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On a sunny autumn afternoon near the north German coast on Wednesday, 29 October 2021,\u00a0a select audience gathered to watch the bunkering of a test cargo of 20 tons of LNG onto a\u00a01,036 teu capacity container vessel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":861,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,16,45],"tags":[],"sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alternative-fuels-lubricants","category-lng","category-other-alternative-fuels"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":864,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860\/revisions\/864"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860"},{"taxonomy":"sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorship.com\/propulsion-and-future-fuels-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sponsor?post=860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}