Japan’s shipping major Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) announced that a group of seven companies, including MOL, completed successfully a trial using liquefied bio-methane from cattle manure as marine fuel on the domestic LNG fueled vessel Ise Mirai.
This trial, that took place in Ise Bay area, marks Japan’s first use of carbon-neutral liquefied bio-methane derived from biomass.
Teaming up on the project were Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Air Water, Techno Chubu, Kyoudou Kaiun, MOL Coastal Shipping, Cenergy and IHI Power Systems.
The trial was conducted based on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between MOL and Air Water in February 2023.
In the trial, Air Water supplied liquefied bio-methane produced from cattle manure in the Tokachi region of Hokkaido, as part of a technology development and demonstration project adopted by Japan’s Ministry of the Environment. All the parties involved confirmed the following through ocean transport of JERA’s cargo.
The vessel was jointly built by MOL Coastal Shipping, Techno Chubu, and Kyoudou Kaiun, and was delivered in December 2020.
It is the first LNG fueled ocean cargo vessel in Japan, as MOL claims in its press release, and it was built with support from Japan’s Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
