Exclusive: Oxylus Energy strikes “beautiful balance” to make e-fuels for aviation and shipping
Flexible green methanol, which is made without fossil fuels, could rid carbon pollution from a range of industries.
Many airlines and shipping companies say they’ll hit net zero carbon emissions by 2050, but right now they have no clear path toward hitting that target.
From a scientific perspective, ridding those industries of fossil fuels is possible; economically, it’s not. Or at least not yet, claims a young startup. Oxylus Energy thinks it has the key to one part of the equation.
The company was spun out of a Yale chemistry lab last year, and it has been working to refine the production of so-called green methanol. Today, most methanol is derived from fossil fuels and used to make petrochemicals, though it can also be used as a transportation fuel. Because of that flexibility, green methanol, which is made without fossil fuels, could rid carbon pollution from a range of industries.
“We think it’s one of the most versatile chemicals that can really decarbonize the hard-to-abate sectors of shipping, aviation, and petrochemicals that are responsible for 11% of emissions right now,” co-founder and COO Harrison Meyer told TechCrunch.
While EVs have made inroads into consumer transportation and trucking, flying and heavy shipping are utterly dependent on energy-dense fossil fuels to make long-distance journeys. Batteries are too heavy, and switching everything over to green hydrogen would require costly retrofits of airplanes and ships.
Motorsports fans will note that methanol has been used as a race fuel for decades, and many of today’s internal combustion engines can burn the stuff with only minor modifications. Some ocean-going ships have also made the switch, and while a barrel of methanol doesn’t hold as much energy as other maritime fuels like diesel, it’s close enough that the industry is giving it serious consideration.
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