Europe Launches New e-Fuels Project to Decarbonize Shipping

(Safety4Sea) The new €17 million European GAMMA project aims to make ocean transport and trade more environmentally friendly. Companies and researchers from Europe will collaborate to develop and convert a bulk carrier to operate on climate-neutral fuels and green power, reducing its impact on the environment.

According to RINA, the bulk carrier from TOPIC Fleet, which is used as a case study in the new EU project GAMMA, can carry 60,000 tonnes of dead weight cargo across the world’s oceans. Ocean freight transport requires large amounts of fuel, mainly made up of fossil fuels today. With the GAMMA innovation project, which began in January 2024, a wide range of partners are now working to change that.

… explained Kjartan Due Nielsen, Innovation Manager at Icelandic engineering company Verkís, which is leading the GAMMA

The Gamma project began in January 2024 and will run for five years. The innovation project has received €13 million in support from the European Commission’s Horizon Europe framework programme for innovation. The total budget is €17 million, and the complex application process was led by Inspiralia.

Gamma stands for Green Ammonia and Biomethanol fuel MAritime Vessels and involves 16 partners from Europe:

Verkís (Iceland), ANT Topic (Italy), Fraunhofer (Germany), Aurelia (Netherlands), Ballard (Denmark), Sea Green Engineering (Italy), Energy Cluster Denmark (Denmark), SINTEF (Norway), Solbian (Italy), Amethyste (France), Elkon Elektrik (Turkey), Politecnico di Milano (Italy), ARM Engineering (France), RINA (Italy), Amnis Pura (Portugal) and Dotcom (Italy). READ MORE

Excerpt from Safety4Sea: The Global Maritime Forum (GMF) has published a brief to argue that more countries should support international shipping’s transition to zero emissions.

The “National and regional policy for international shipping decarbonisation” brief emphasizes the potential for meaningful contributions by governments. Furthermore, it suggests that there are numerous options for governments to make meaningful contributions to shipping decarbonization.

Our key message goes from industry leaders to governments and regulators […] that now we need you to pick up the ball on your side of the court, meaning work with the entire shipping community to ensure that shipping can be decarbonized by 2050.
… Johannah Christensen, CEO at Global Maritime Forum, had said in an exclusive interview with SAFETY4SEA

Excerpt from Fraunhofer UMSICHT: How can e-fuels and biosurfactants for industry be produced from exhaust gases and wastewater? An interdisciplinary consortium coordinated by Fraunhofer UMSICHT is addressing this question in the newly launched BEFuel project. The focus is on coupled bioelectrochemical production – i.e. the combination of electrochemical synthesis and biotechnological synthesis using microorganisms.

Kick-off for the BEFuel project (f.l.): Ramineh Rad (Ruhr-Universität Bochum), Dr. Daniel Siegmund (Fraunhofer UMSICHT), Prof. Dr. Karl-Georg Schmelz (Emschergenossenschaft Lippeverband), Prof. Dr. Dirk Tischler (Ruhr-Universität Bochum), Rebecca Schwantes (SolarSpring GmbH), Dr. Jens Alex (Institut für Automation und Kommunikation e.V.), Dr. Tito Gehring (Ruhr-Universität Bochum), Beyzanur Celebi (Ruhr-Universität Bochum), Emeline Melchiors (Ruhr-Universität Bochum), Prof. Dr. Ulf-Peter Apfel (Fraunhofer UMSICHT | Ruhr-Universität Bochum).

Two different waste streams are used for electrolysis powered by renewable energy: Crude glycerine, a waste material from biodiesel production, is used at the anode. The oxidation products can be used by microorganisms as nutrients to form biosurfactants. At the cathode, the researchers use waste water from a sewage treatment plant. Here, green hydrogen is initially produced, which the microorganisms use as an energy source to fix carbon dioxide in a first step and produce organic C6 and C8 acids in a second step. These can be used as starting materials for the production of biodiesel and biogas and are separated and enriched using special membrane technology.

Unique coupling of electrochemical processes

"This coupling of bioelectric systems for the simultaneous bioconversion of several waste streams is unique," says project coordinator Dr. Daniel Siegmund from Fraunhofer UMSICHT. "It enables the parallel production of several high-quality goods, reduces operating costs and increases energy conversion efficiency at the same time." Further advantages: The new system is both independent of imports and can be decentralized. In addition, nutrients from domestic wastewater and organic waste can be recycled thanks to the integration with existing sewage treatment plants, which can provide CO2 from flue gases or biogases as well as nutrients for the growth of biomass.

A team of different partners is responsible for the implementation and enables the interaction between electrolysis, biotechnological processing and product insulation as well as economic and ecological evaluation. In addition to Fraunhofer UMSICHT, these partners include Ruhr University Bochum with various chairs, SolarSpring GmbH, the Emschergenossenschaft and the Institute for Automation and Communication. Their success is measured by a comprehensive evaluation of the process. In addition to greenhouse gas emission balances and cost calculations, it also includes social and, above all, ecological aspects in order to determine the potential for short-term industrial application after project completion.

FUNDING NOTE
The project "BEFuel – Coupled bioelectrochemical production of e-fuels and high-quality chemicals from exhaust gases and wastewater" is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the measure "Climate-neutral products through biotechnology – CO2 and C1 compounds as sustainable raw materials for the industrial bioeconomy (CO2BioTech)".