Renewable gases to decarbonize maritime transport

Listen to the podcast (in French)

Erik Orsenna

Today, it’s my pleasure to welcome Gabrielle Ménard. Hello. 

Gabrielle Ménard  

Hello Eric Orsenna. 

Erik Orsenna

So who are you, Gabrielle Ménard? 

Gabrielle Ménard  

I manage an R&D team at Lab Crigen – one of the ENGIE group’s four research centres. At Crigen, we work on green gas, new energy uses for cities, buildings and industry, and emerging technologies. 

Erik Orsenna

So you've got one foot firmly in the future. 

Gabrielle Ménard  

One foot firmly in the future, absolutely. 

My team is called Lab Liquéfaction. It’s made up of 25 researchers, doctors and technicians who work on quite specific subjects. These include so-called liquefied gases – LNG, bio-LNG and liquid hydrogen – and carbon capture. 

What value do these molecules have for ENGIE? They will enable us to decarbonise heavy mobility and certain industrial uses. They can also offer additional solutions for the security of the gas supply.  “Heavy mobility” refers to aviation, shipping, trains and trucks. In this podcast, we will be talking more about maritime mobility. 

Erik Orsenna

Right then. A question, which sounds strange when you ask it: “How is natural gas produced?” On the face of it, this is “natural” gas. So why do we need to produce it?

Gabrielle Ménard  

Natural gas is currently a fossil energy that, like oil, comes from the transformation of organic matter at the bottom of the ocean. After extraction and processing, this natural gas is burned for various applications such as electricity generation, heating, specific industrial uses, and as fuel for gas-powered vehicles.  When used in mobility, natural gas already reduces CO2 emissions by 20% compared to traditional fossil fuels such as diesel or domestic heating oil.

Erik Orsenna

Twenty percent is already quite a lot. But we can do better. 

Gabrielle Ménard  

Yes, 20% is already quite a lot. But it’s not enough to meet the targets in the Paris agreement. Hence our interest at ENGIE in renewable gas, and in particular biogas. 

Erik Orsenna

So by definition, natural gas is a fossil fuel. How can renewable gas be produced? It seems contradictory. 

Gabrielle Ménard   

One of the renewable gases that ENGIE is looking at is biogas. This is already a reality in France. There are 1,400 plants all over the country producing it. 

Erik Orsenna

Wait, these 1400 plants – sometimes it's a small anaerobic digestion unit near a farm, or something like that?

Gabrielle Ménard  

Absolutely. This is what we call first generation biogas. These 1,400 small plants all produce biogas, in particular from agricultural waste. 

There are different types of biogas. Also, to be completely accurate, we should talk about biomethane. I didn’t specify just now, but when we talk about natural gas this is in fact a mixture of several components. The one that we are most interested in is methane, or CH4 to use its chemical formula. But natural gas is also composed of ethane, propane, butane and nitrogen.  

Returning to biogas, or biomethane, this so-called “first generation” biogas is also a mixture, this time of biomethane and biogenic CO2. And this biomethane, this first generation biogas, is produced using a process called anaerobic digestion.

Erik Orsenna

Anaerobic means there’s no oxygen. Etymologically: “an” (no), “aerobic” (oxygen). That’s my job, anyway – words. I don't know much about chemistry. But I know a little more about words. 

Gabrielle Ménard  

There you are. The chemistry is based on the French. All is well. So in the broadest terms: anaerobic digestion looks like the workings of a stomach that uses bacteria to digest the injected materials. In the proper jargon, we call these injected materials “inputs”. For first generation biogas, these inputs are wet biomass, i.e. food residues, livestock effluent, intermediate crops, or organic waste from communities or canteens, e.g. food waste. 

Erik Orsenna

The things we put in the sorting bins. You put that in this big pocket, add some bacteria, and it looks exactly like a giant stomach. 

Gabrielle Ménard  

Absolutely. In France, one point to clarify is that there are no crops grown specifically to produce energy. We really do use waste. Our anaerobic digestion unit will digest these inputs and produce a mixture that is 50% biomethane, 50% CO2. 

CO2 is no good for the uses we are talking about, because it has no calorific value. So we remove it. The technical term for this is “purification”. We concentrate the biomethane produced to reach 95% purity, then we inject it into the network or liquefy it. This biomethane molecule will be green methane, which will replace fossil methane.

Erik Orsenna

Which we can inject back into the network in this format?

Gabrielle Ménard   

Absolutely. Biomethane is 100% locally produced renewable energy, which helps develop a circular economy. It generates additional income for the farming industry, and it’s a way to manage our waste. 

Erik Orsenna

The interesting thing is that it’s both circular and renewable. So this is not something that’s going to be completely lost. And on the other hand, it’s completely decentralized, as you mentioned just now. This is even more the case in Germany, where there are thousands of small facilities producing this type of gas.

Gabrielle Ménard   

Absolutely. So first generation biomethane already exists. To meet green gas targets, however, ENGIE is also supporting the development of a second generation biomethane sector. This currently has pilot status, and we’re trying to expand it to an industrial scale. 

Erik Orsenna

We're going to expand the number of facilities, increase their size and improve their efficiency. But this is all for the so-called “second generation”. The first generation is what we have at the moment. The second generation will expand it, but using same system. And we will invent a third way. 

Gabrielle Ménard  

That's it. We’re also looking at the third way when we talk about e-methane produced from green hydrogen, which is itself produced from renewable electricity and CO2. If we chemically recombine hydrogen and CO2, this will produce the CH4 molecule that we were talking about earlier. We’ll call it e-methane. The “e”, refers to electricity. 

Erik Orsenna

So can you explain to somebody like me the difference between the first and second generation? 

Gabrielle Ménard  

For the second generation, we’ll use what we call dry biomass. The first generation uses wet biomass; the second generation uses dry biomass. Dry biomass is residual scraps of straw and plant material from forests. We take this biomass, and instead of putting it in a “stomach” as before, we heat it at very high temperatures. We call this process “pyrogasification”. 

In the broadest terms, this will break down the biomass molecules, which are very large, and produce a synthetic gas. Without going into detail, this synthetic gas will undergo different stages and be transformed into second generation biomethane. So to answer the question in one sentence: first generation biomethane looks like a stomach; and second generation biomethane looks like a boiler, with some additional steps.

Erik Orsenna

That's all very clear. But why do we need to do the research if biogas already exists? Is it to expand the number and capacity of all these facilities? Or is there something else? 

Gabrielle Ménard  

For the first generation – yes, it already exists. So ENGIE’s R&D goals are to reduce production costs by 30% by 2030 – i.e. to produce more, and at lower cost. For the second generation, the technology has been shown to work in a demonstrator. The aim is to expand to an industrial scale, with larger plants. Second generation production will be able to process more inputs. So we will produce more gas, which naturally will contribute to lowering costs.  For e-methane, we are more in an upstream R&D phase. We are in the process of classifying the performance of the different processes. 

Erik Orsenna

Because every time, there is the gap between the idea, the demonstrator, and the industrial use. There are three steps that can take involve different timescales, depending on the case. So the difference between the stomach and the boiler is clear. 

And now: why are we interested in liquefaction and liquefied gas? 

Gabrielle Ménard  

The principle of liquefaction is to transform a gas from its gaseous state to its liquid state. We do this because it lets us squeeze a lot more energy into the same volume. We increase what is known as the “volumetric energy density”. 

When natural gas is liquefied – i.e. when it is cooled to minus 160°C and transformed into a liquid – it becomes liquefied natural gas, or LNG. LNG contains 600 times more energy than natural gas for the same volume. I stress this point because it’s really important, and the basis for what’s coming next. In the case of natural gas, liquification allows us to store 600 times more energy.

Our liquefaction site cools our gas to minus 160°C and turns it into liquid. Natural gas becomes LNG, and biomethane becomes liquefied biomethane, or bio-LNG. This bio-LNG can be produced from first generation biogas, second generation biogas, or even e-methane. Although we talk more about e-LNG in the context of e-methane. 

Erik Orsenna

So the idea is: 

- to have something recyclable, and hence with infinite capacity 

- that we can gain a lot of space. 

I see us showing more and more interest in big transporters. And what are the biggest transporters? There are obviously cars, trucks and so on. And large boats, of course.

Gabrielle Ménard  

I could talk about liquefied gases for a long time. But I'm going to keep it short. Liquefied gases need to be stored in special tanks, which are expensive. So liquefying and then storing energy in liquid form is costly. But the point, again, is to store a lot of energy for the same volume. Historically, LNG was designed to transport large quantities of gas from producer to importer countries, in situations where a pipeline could not be installed. Today, LNG that has seen strong growth in its secondary use as a fuel, especially for heavy mobility, which notably consumes a lot of energy over long distances. A container ship, for instance, can transport a cargo of tens of thousands of containers from Europe to China. So it’s going to consume a lot of energy. And just think about the weight and size of the newest cruise ships. 

In its fossil form, LNG can already reduce CO2 emissions by 20%. Another benefit is that LNG emits fewer fine particles than other fossil fuels.

Once again, 20% is not enough to achieve our energy transition targets. So the goal is for these ships to increasingly consume bio-LNG or e-LNG, which will reduce their CO2 emissions by at least 75%. 

Erik Orsenna

And this is where the cooperation between ENGIE and the transport giant, CMA CGM, comes into play. We are lucky enough to have Claire Martin, CMA CGM’s vice-president in charge of social and environmental responsibility, here with us today. Claire – over to you. 

So what are the CMA CGM group’s goals for fighting global warming? And what role does fuel play in this strategy? 

Claire Martin 

Hello everyone. CMA CGM, very briefly, is a major player in multi-modal transport and logistics chains. We are involved in maritime container transport but also air transport, road transport, and therefore multi-modal transport, including last-mile logistics. The energy transition is a genuine focus of our CSR commitments and the group's strategic decisions. 

In terms of goals, since you ask, the group initially made a commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 for all our activities, in line with the Paris agreements. Fuels play an absolutely central role in our 2050 decarbonisation pathway, as their production and combustion represent 80% of the group’s carbon footprint. So if we want to solve 80% of the transport industry’s GHG emissions problem, it’s by working on energy sources. Clearly, we have a lot of work to do to hit these targets. 

We have various action levers. The first is to reduce our fuel consumption as much as possible. The second is to use fuels with low carbon emissions.

 Erik Orsenna

So it’s a question of reducing, on one hand, and diversifying on the other. For example, I see that there will be 11,000 tonnes of second generation biomethane produced in the Port of Le Havre. 

Claire Martin

Absolutely. This comes under the second lever. We are also talking about acceleration. We have already started using alternatives to fuel oil with the lowest possible carbon emissions. 

There are three steps to this process. What you described, Éric, is the first step: the biogas, or biomethane, that Gabrielle mentioned previously. And this is the basis for our cooperation with ENGIE. The so-called Salamandre project will initially produce 11,000 tonnes of biogas – i.e. biomethane – from biowaste. This will happen in the Port of Le Havre, where we will be able to procure it for use in our ships.

The second step will be the use of synthetic e-methane and synthetic e-methanol. And finally a third step, because we’re not stopping with biogas, bio-methanol or e-methanol. We are also looking at other options presented by hydrogen, or even liquid ammonia. 

So our decarbonisation pathway for maritime transport is based on these two levers: reducing consumption, and using decarbonised or less carbon-intensive fuels. 

Erik Orsenna

Thank you very much, Claire. So how does a cooperation between an energy company, ENGIE, and a leading transport company work in practice? 

Gabrielle Ménard  

It's going very well! Maritime transport currently accounts for 3% of CO2 emissions worldwide. Put like this, 3% may not seem very much. But in country terms, this would make maritime transport the sixth largest polluter in the world – somewhere between Japan and Germany. 

Returning to ENGIE: it’s in our DNA as an energy company to support our customers in their transition to zero carbon. We are aiming to be zero carbon ourselves by 2045.  To achieve this, the ENGIE group signed a strategic partnership with Claire Martin A CGM in 2020. This agreement has several components, the first of which aims to produce 200,000 tonnes of renewable gas for use as fuel for ships. We also have an R&D component that focuses on several topics, including reducing the production costs of renewable gases, making them more available, improving energy efficiency, and on-board carbon capture. 

Erik Orsenna

But how does the working relationship with CMA CGM function in practical terms? For example, who do you contact? Has ENGIE has changed its business model? Are you designing boats now? Because I haven't seen a lot of shipowners in La Défense.

 Gabrielle Ménard  

No, ENGIE does not design the ships. CMA and the shipyards do this very well. We support CMA CGM with the fuel component – with the uses of these new fuels, their production and the supply chains. 

However, fuel has a strong impact on ship design and will change the blueprint. The aim is to have as much space as possible for useful cargo, and as little fuel as possible.

Erik Orsenna

That’s right – every bit of space taken up by fuel means less space for containers.

Gabrielle Ménard  

Exactly. I told you just now that LNG can store 600 times more energy than gas for the same volume. But if oil still has some value in the maritime world, it’s in the fact that it takes about twice the volume of LNG to travel the same distance. Oil’s strength lies in its extremely high energy density. 

For now, renewable marine fuels are more expensive for transporters and take up more space on board. So our R&D on this maritime application with CMA CGM must factor in the space constraint, which is less of a consideration for land-based transport. 

My research engineers need to work with Claire Martin A engineers on a daily basis to fully understand the specific features of maritime transport. 

Erik Orsenna

So they go on board? 

Gabrielle Ménard  

Yes. We had the opportunity to board one of CMA’s ships, the Sorbonne, at the Port of Rotterdam, to get a better understanding of how it works. 

Erik Orsenna

So ports are faced with the same issues as cars transitioning to electricity. There needs to be ports with connections to bio-LNG. How does this happen? Is it down to the municipalities, the ports? How does it work? 

Gabrielle Ménard  

The issue goes beyond municipalities. Fossil fuels are currently found in every port in the world. No one can predict what will happen. But it’s not certain that there will be bio-LNG in all of the world’s ports in the future. We need to bear in mind that we are in the midst of a paradigm shift. We are leaving a world where energy was limited to oil, coal and nuclear. And there will be no “miracle molecule”. We are moving towards a world of diverse uses and energy resources. 

In the future, we expect that different fuels will be used depending on the routes, geographical areas and uses – for example, intercontinental or coastal transport.  Bio-LNG is not the new oil. But it is one of the solutions that will decarbonise maritime transport in the geographical areas concerned. 

We also need to add the political challenges and global government alignment strategies to the technico-economic complexity of getting these new fuels on board and setting up the proper supply chains. As things stand, for example, Claire Martin A CGM only operates LNG vessels between Europe and China, and soon to the United States. This is because these are the only places in the world where LNG fuel is available. 

Erik Orsenna

The striking thing when listening to you and Claire Martin is the evident need for interaction and collaboration at every point, right down to the industrial design. Before, basically, things were quite simple because the sources were fairly specific. Energy producers played one role, transport or industry another, goods manufacturers another. Now, right from the off, you need to jointly design new products, new ships, new aircraft, and so on. This is what makes this transition so original. There is no single source. We need to work together to achieve our goals, right from the start of design process.