A ship powered by a resource millions of years old may be one of the keys to a greener future, according to three Japanese companies and the British Renewable Energy Firm Drax Group. The companies are floating around the idea of a “bioship,” which would burn wood chips or pellets made from sawdust and logs, as part of an effort to reduce greenhouse emissions in global shipping, as reported by thecooldown.com on Monday, June 10.
The proposed vessel would have an onboard Drax biomass fuel plant that would burn wood and forest waste pellets in a “gasifier” that creates and traps carbon monoxide, methane and hydrogen. Those gasses would then be used to power the ships generator.
Researchers said that the proposal could reduce one ship’s carbon pollution by up to 22%. Currently, international cargo shipping contributes to about 3% of the global pollution annually.
The Drax Group and the three Japanese companies, Tsuneishi Shipbuilding, NYK Line, and NYK Bulk and Project Carrier, hope to produce the first ship by 2029, if the initial study of creating a biomass fuel plant is a success. Drax said that the effort fits into its goal of being carbon negative by 2030. Drax said that it gets its wood from companies of all sizes looking to get rid of wood they can’t sell.
However, Drax has faced backlash in the past from environmentalists, who accuse the company of deforestation to create its biomass. Drax denies that it cuts down trees, maintaining it only uses wood “sent for disposal” or “left to rot on the forest floor.”
This isn’t the only biomass breakthrough. Scottish and Australian scientists are reportedly developing a plan to bring biomass generation to India. There are also plans for Indonesia’s state-owned power company to use more than a million tons of biomass per year. A Georgian company is using biomass to make renewable jet fuel.
Biomass is relatively broad in definition, described as any “renewable organic material that’s sourced from plants to animals.” Biomass can include wood, agricultural waste and manure.