The trial in Stockholm Harbour followed the successful bunkering of the vessel at the SMA pilot station in Oxelösund, Sweden, where the pilot boat will be based.

Fastwater Co-ordinator Sebastian Verhelst said: “The Fastwater project demonstrates that methanol is a present and practical choice for application in ports and coastal shipping for all kinds of small craft, where there is an urgent need to reduce pollution.”

According to the Methanol Institute, the trial provided a further demonstration of methanol’s suitability as a marine fuel, permitted within the IMO’s IGF Code with full flag state and class society approval.

Liquid at ambient temperature and miscible in water, methanol can be shipped, stored and handled using procedures similar to conventional fuels. The Methanol Institute says that, in operation, methanol produces around 10% lower carbon emissions than fuel oil, has IMO-2020-compliant SOx emissions, low PM and NOx. It adds: “As increasing volumes of renewable Methanol become available, operators can lower net carbon emissions further and achieve compliance beyond 2030.”

AIP for methanol-fired boilers
US-based classification society the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has granted Alfa Laval what it says is the first marine approval for operating boilers on methanol. Alfa Laval received an approval in principle (AIP) in November 2021, based on extensive solution testing at the Alfa Laval Test & Training Centre.

Methanol is so far only used by a small number of vessels and only for their main engines.

“Alfa Laval is looking at the full scope of methanol’s influence on board,” says Lars Skytte Jørgensen, Vice President Technology Development, Energy Systems, Alfa Laval Marine Division. “The most natural choice for boilers is to fire them with the vessel’s primary fuel, but methanol’s low-flashpoint nature and the differences in its energy density require a new approach to the burner and fuel supply systems.”