FASTWATER

The Paris and IMO agreements target a 50% reduction of CO2 emissions from maritime transport by 2050. There are a number of alternatives to achieve that goal. FASTWATER aims to meet this target, by moving shipping towards a clean and renewable fuel: Methanol. Methanol, as non-sooting fuel burning at low temperatures, enables an immediate reduction in pollutant emissions (effective in the short term), and offers a pathway to a climateneutral synthetic fuel produced from renewables (effective in the long term). Methanol can thus make an immediate impact and is a future-safe fuel. Being already available in large quantities in most ports today, and being a liquid fuel – so it is easily stored on board (which is advantageous to ship design) – methanol enables relatively simple retrofitting. Furthermore, it has compelling environmental properties with regards to marine life, with e.g. rapid dispersing and biodegrading of spills at sea should these occur. Methanol enables high energy efficiency in internal combustion engines, gas turbines as well as fuel cells, providing a long term value chain for current but also future technologies that few other fuels can offer. The project receives funding from the European’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Contract No.:860251)