EveRé, operator of a waste treatment plant, CMA CGM, and Elengy, have joined forces to study the feasibility of creating France’s first production unit for liquefied biomethane (BioLNG).
BioLNG would allow for the decarbonization of shipping services departing from the Grand Port Maritime in Marseille and would be used primarily for the CMA CGM’s LNG-powered vessels.
The project creates a circular economic system, while using the area’s household waste will help reduce local air pollutants.
BioLNG, combined with the dual-fuel gas engine technology, reduces greenhouse gas emissions by at least 67% relative to well-to-wake VLSFO, said the partners. On the basis of a tank-to-wake measurement, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by 88%.
LNG also allows for a 99% reduction in sulfur oxide emissions, a 91% reduction in fine particles emissions and a 92% reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions. By the end of 2024, 44 of the CMA CGM Group’s vessels will be powered by LNG.
The project will be benefited from the existing infrastructure at the Grand Port Maritime, including EveRé’s waste methanization unit, Elengy’s LNG terminals, which will be used for the storage and delivery of the BioLNG, TotalEnergies’ bunker vessel, which will be located at the port as of January 2022, and CMA CGM’s fleet of LNG-powered vessels.
The feasibility study has been launched within the framework of this large-scale project, which corresponds with the national drive to promote BioLNG as defined in France’s Mobility Orientation Law.
The CMA CGM Group, Engie and TotalEnergies have also been working together for several months as part of the Coalition for the Energy of the Future, which aims to step up the pace of development of future energy sources and technologies and to support new sustainable mobility models, thereby reducing the environmental impact of transportation and logistics.
In order to make true technological revolutions possible and achieve tangible results by 2030, the Coalition has established three main targets:
- To considerably increase clean energy supply sources;
- To reduce energy consumption per equivalent kilometer transported;
- To reduce the proportion of emissions attributable to transportation and logistics.
