The HyMethShip project reduces drastically emissions and improves the efficiency of waterborne transport at the same time. This system will be developed, validated, and demonstrated on shore with a typical engine for marine applications in the range of 2 MW (TRL 6). The HyMethShip system will achieve a reduction in CO2 of more than 97% and will practically eliminate SOx and PM emissions. NOx emissions will be reduced by more than 80%, significantly below the IMO Tier III limit. The energy efficiency of the HyMethShip system is more than 45% better than the best available technology approach (renewable methanol as fuel coupled with conventional post-combustion carbon capturing). The HyMethShip system innovatively combines a membrane reactor, a CO2 capture system, a storage system for CO2 and methanol as well as a hydrogen-fueled combustion engine into one system. The proposed solution reforms methanol to hydrogen, which is then burned in a conventional reciprocating engine that has been upgraded to burn multiple fuel types and specially optimized for hydrogen use. The HyMethShip project will undertake risk and safety assessments to ensure that the system fulfills safety requirements for on-board use. It will also take into account the rules and regulations under development for low flashpoint fuels. The cost effectiveness of the system will be assessed for different ship types and operational cases. For medium and long distance waterborne transport, the HyMethShip concept is considered the best approach available that achieves this level of CO2 reduction and is economically feasible. The HyMethShip consortium includes a globally operating shipping company, a major shipyard, a ship classification society, research institutes and universities, and equipment manufacturers. Further stakeholders will be represented in the External Expert Advisory Board and will be addressed by dissemination activities respectively.

In the ORCELLE project we will develop and demonstrate a solution for wind as main propulsion. With wind as main propulsion we mean an energy efficiency gain of more than 50% as an average saving in full year operation. Under ideal sailing conditions the energy efficiency gains are close to 100%. Engines are only used in situations with insufficient wind resources, for manoeuvring and increased ship safety. ORCELLE builds on several large previous projects where we have worked to build simulation tools, wing systems and initial designs of a prototype vessel. In this project we combine improvements to the simulation framework and wing systems by building two physical demonstrators: A 1-wing retrofit (targeting 10% efficiency gains) and a multi-wing newbuilt demonstrator (targeting +50% efficiency gains overall). The demonstrators are RoRo (PCTC) vessels that will operate in a trans-Atlantic route transporting cars and other cargo. We have an extensive set of sensor systems onboard the ships which will allow them to function as research vessels to validate & improve designs, simulation tools and prototype designs of ship & wing systems. A tailored, dynamic weather routing software and service will be developed to optimize sailing performance. The project is a strong opportunity to combine the investments needed to get full scale demonstration and data capture with advanced models and tools for wing propulsion vessels. The project coordinator is Wallenius Wilhelmsen, a world leading RoRo logistics operator with some 130 RoRo vessels in global service. Beyond the demonstrator, we use the models and tools to develop advanced conceptual designs and operational plans for multiple vessel types: Tanker/bulk carriers, shortsea vessels, containerships, cruise and ferries. This forms the basis for our dissemination & exploitation work to enable a large-scale shift towards wind as the main propulsion on a very high percentage of vessels (relevant for 80%+ of the world fleet).

Key Enabling Technologies (KET´s) deployment will be the driving force for a significant part of the goods and services that will be available in the market in the next decade. Amongst KET´s, nano-enabled surfaces and membranes must be highlighted due to their huge potential to offer material solutions to address Sustainable Development Goals resulting in positive and sound impacts for the society and key industrial sectors NewSkin aims to create an Open Innovation Test Bed (OITB) to provide the Innovation Ecosystem with the necessary resources and services to uptake a set of game changing, efficient and cost-effective innovative processes to manufacture nano-enabled industrial and consumer products. During the Grant execution the Consortium partners will create an OITB, as well as its structure and procedures establishing a single-entry point, and will validate the OITB capacity to provide services to the I.E executing 165 showcases. After the Grant execution the OITB aims to generate €66.17 million revenues in 5 years creating a €6.7 billion KET market to be absorbed by an end user market of valued at €1 trillion. In 2029, end users markets will obtain economic benefits of about €52.6 billion savings per year mostly devoted to lower energy consumption, increased resources efficiency as well as a reduction of the carbon and volatiles footprint of 184CO2 MT per year and 0.57 MT of VOC’s per year.

FASTWATER focuses on methanol, a clean fuel, available in large quantities in most ports today and offering a pathway to a climate-neutral synthetic fuel produced from renewables. Methanol is suited for internal combustion engines, gas turbines as well as fuel cells. As a liquid fuel, it is easily stored on board, which is advantageous to ship design, and enables relatively simple retrofitting. Consequently, the EU’s Joint Research Centre’s study on alternative fuels for shipping states that methanol is one of the most promising options to decarbonise the shipping sector. FASTWATER aims to start a fast transitionary path to move waterborne transport away from fossil fuels, and reduce its pollutant emissions to zero impact, through the use of methanol fuel. The FASTWATER consortium has a strong track record with methanol projects (particularly for waterborne transport) and includes shipyards, a ship owner, engine manufacturers, an equipment supplier, a classification society, a methanol producer, a major port and research institutes. Specifically, FASTWATER will develop and demonstrate an evolutionary pathway for methanol technology, including retrofit solutions as well as next generation systems. Universal, scalable retrofit kits, medium speed and high speed methanol engines will be developed, demonstrated and commercialized. The demos include a harbour tug, a pilot boat and a coast guard vessel. A complete design for a methanol-powered river cruiser is also included. The demos will show the complete chain from renewable methanol production to ship bunkering, work with regulatory agencies to simplify rules and regulations for methanol as a fuel, and develop and use a training programme for crew. Finally, business plans will be elaborated including the life cycle performance analysis of investment cost, fuel cost, CO2 savings and pollutant reductions, to commercialize the developed solutions.