Online bunkering marketplace provider Powerzeek has introduced liquefied biogas (LBG) to its digital platform on which shipowners are currently able to source LNG as a marine fuel.
Powerzeek chief executive Dag Lilletvedt told TradeWinds the company is adding LBG to the platform’s procurement module so a shipowner can send out enquiries for the product as bunkers.
“If there is an LBG supplier, we will connect them and they can agree terms,” he said.
Powerzeek will now begin to build an LBG supplier base in the same way it has done for LNG in the past few months.
Since launching in April, the company said it has onboarded LNG suppliers to its platform with a total supply capacity of more than 800,000 tons.
It said the inclusion of LBG — also referred to as liquefied biomethane or bio-LNG — comes on the back of requests from the shipping market, along with Powerzeek's mission to make it easier to source cleaner fuels.
Lilletvedt said he previously set up a supply chain of LBG between the London-based landfill gas producer and a transport company in Stockholm,
Bunkering barges
“When we now add LBG to our online platform, we are making it easier for these type of market players to meet and agree on the trade of this renewable energy,” he said.
LBG is produced from organic materials such as food, sewage and agricultural waste and is a sustainable, renewable product that does not add any new CO2 to the atmosphere.
It is already being used as a drop-in fuel in marine bunkering, and suppliers are adding it to their portfolios.
In July, Dutch bunkering company Titan LNG announced it will build three new bunkering barges equipped with a dedicated tank for bio-LNG.
Marine customers will be able to buy bio-LNG or a blend of bio and conventional LNG as bunkers.
But LBG has yet to be scaled up for large-scale commercial use and is currently significantly more expensive than LNG. Checks also need to be run to ensure the green credentials of the feedstock and its production.
Karen Sund, a coordinator for Norwegian biogas promoter Biogas Oslofjord, said LBG is a “great solution” for shipping, by blending with conventional LNG and by gradually replacing it.
“It is already used in trucks, so production and liquefying capacity is growing,” she said, according to Powerzeek.
