Some of the biggest industrial companies in Japan are working on a project that could trigger a wave of investment into one of the most controversial forms of carbon capture: methanation.
Shipping giant Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd. (MOL) is leading a working group of nine Japanese companies including steelmakers Nippon Steel Corp. and JFE Steel Corp. to assess the viability of producing and using methane to power ¡°zero-emission ships¡± instead of liquefied natural gas or other fossil fuels, including a fleet of new vessels that would transport carbon dioxide for processing.
Methanation is ¡°the most realistic solution¡± for MOL to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, Takeshi Hashimoto, chief executive officer said in an interview. ¡°The challenge for the next one to two decades is whether the company could turn the technology into a sustainable and practical solution¡± by reducing the cost, he said.
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