Well to wake and beyond How can cleaner gas-to-liquid fuels help propel marine transportation in the lead up tomid-century decarbonisation solutions?
Susan Brownlow Words for Industry
T he risks of climate change now need little introduction. We are already starting to live with the impacts of a changing climate on communities, businesses and supply chains. The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report delivered the unnerving news that we now have less than a nine-year window to act on climate and limit global warming to 1.5°C. It made plain that limiting warming to 2°C will not be enough to prevent the most serious impacts to our way of life. In 2021 we find ourselves at a critical turning point in the history of our relationship with crude- based fuels. In addition to the already much speculated date when the world will reach peak oil, increasingly stringent legislation to protect our environment and health is gradually resulting in the demise of conventional diesel fuels. To achieve a fully decarbonised economy by 2050 (and in the developing world by 2060), the world must electrify as many economic activities as possible through renewable energy, including wind, solar, green hydrogen and bioenergy.
However, due to the phenomenal investment required to make operational the infrastructure to support such a decarbonised energy system, alternative fuels – at least for an interim period – need to be considered. As an alternative next-generation fuel, gas-to-liquid (GTL) has the capacity to be such a transitional solution to reducing polluting emissions. high-quality fuels, oils and lubricants, and even personal and home care products that would otherwise be made from crude oil. The benefit is that they not only have comparatively better combustion properties when used in diesel engines, but they contain none of the impurities and pollutants, such as sulphur, aromatics, metals and nitrogen, found in crude oil-based fuels. GTL: efficiency without toxicity GTL technology converts natural gas into Free of these contaminants, GTL fuels are non- toxic and biodegradable, and are significantly less harmful to both the environment and to human health. Studies undertaken at Shell have indicated
90% of world trade is mainly undertaken by huge sea-going vessels such as cargo ships and crude tankers
www.decarbonisationtechnology.com
50
Powered by FlippingBook