Methane Documentation for NavigaTE 1.0

Key takeaways

Renewable methane from biomass or electricity is a candidate for replacing fossil-based LNG and fuel oils in shipping

▪ Renewable liquefied methane can be produced from various pathways:

1. E-methane synthesized from green hydrogen and CO2 captured either from point-source or direct air capture
2. Bio-methane produced from anaerobic digestion on biowaste or biomass. (Boosting with green hydrogen not studied here)
3. Bio-methane produced from gasification of biowaste or biomass and methanation of synthesis gas. (not studied here.)
4. Purification / boosting of landfill biogas (not studied here)

▪ The produced methane will likely need to be transported to a liquefaction plant to be liquified. The availability of a methane certificate trading system changes the details of how this will be done

▪ For bio-methane, the liquefaction plant would likely be centralized due to the economies of scale of liquefaction. Pooling of bio-methane in natural gas pipelines and certificate trading will be an advantage

▪ E-methane plants must be built at larger scale than bio-methane plants, so liquefaction of methane may be performed locally. However, CO2 infrastructure is required to pool ample feedstock.