Expert consortium comes together for FlagshipONE eMethanol project

The project is being supported by a recent EUR 1.7 million investment from EIT InnoEnergy and is seen as a significant milestone in meeting the growing demand for renewable fuels to enable more sustainable transportation.

Industries and governments are making commitments to reduce their carbon emissions and operate in a more sustainable manner. To actually achieve this, we need to ensure that we have the necessary resources and infrastructure in place. With our passionate team and expert consortium, Liquid Wind is excited to bring cost-competitive and scalable renewable fuel to market to meet this growing demand and enable a more sustainable future, said Claes Fredriksson, CEO, and Founder, Liquid Wind.

Together, the Consortium members will integrate their technologies and optimise the fuel production process. Each facility will capture waste carbon dioxide and combine this with hydrogen, made from renewable electricity and water, to produce renewable methanol, eMethanol.

This versatile, liquid fuel is carbon neutral and easy to store, transport and use. The process of upcycling waste CO2 for use as a renewable fuel to replace fossil fuels will prevent the emission of new CO2. The fuel provides an ideal solution to reduce carbon emissions, particularly within the marine sector and road transportation, which are currently lacking viable, low-carbon fuel options at scale.

Design work in progress for FlagshipONE

The Consortium is now designing the technology integration for the first facility, dubbed FlagshipONE, in Sweden and expects to be supplying eMethanol from 2023. Each facility will produce 45 000 tonnes of carbon-neutral fuel per year, enabling a reduction of 90 000 tonnes of CO2.

The long-term collaboration will result in a standardised eMethanol facility blueprint, captured as a ‘digital twin’, for efficient replication. Liquid Wind and the Consortium intend to develop six such facilities across Scandinavia by 2030, after which the concept will then be scaled and licensed internationally.

Some of the expertise and technology featured in this project includes:

Axpo Nordic AS will handle power supply to the facility, this includes balance responsibility, intra-day optimization and long-term fix-price supply for power. Axpo is the perfect partner for this given their extensive wind portfolio and interest in contributing to both wind power investments, ancillary services to the market and new sustainability-based business ideas in line with Liquid Wind.

Carbon Clean Solutions is a global leader in low-cost CO2 capture technology. Their highly effective technology will efficiently capture and concentrate waste CO2 from large-scale emitters.

COWI is a leading consulting group with world-class competencies within engineering, economics, and environmental science. They will support the Consortium with Project Management and Engineering, to ensure all partner’s work is incorporated for the Balance of Plant (BoP). COWI is interested to support the use of advanced fuels made from renewable feedstocks and enable the transformation to a more sustainable future.

Haldor Topsoe A/S will contribute its proven and highly efficient methanol process, hardware and catalysts to the Liquid Wind consortium.

Liquid Wind is in discussions with several other companies and expects to sign contractual agreements with them in the coming months.

The world needs to reduce CO2 emissions, and e-methanol can help to achieve that. It makes us proud to be part of this consortium that brings together very capable players in the field. We look forward to bringing our tried and tested methanol technology into this innovative context, commented Tore Sylvester Jeppesen, Senior Business Development Director, Haldor Topsoe