Mannheim starts climate-neutral shipping: E-methanol plant opens!

Mannheim starts climate-neutral shipping: E-methanol plant opens!

On March 24, 2025, a groundbreaking demonstration plant for the production of climate-neutral e-methanol was inaugurated at the Mannheim sewage treatment plant. The start-up ICODOS, which emerged from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), has developed this fully automatic system to provide an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels in shipping. Transport Minister Volker Wissing pressed the symbolic start button and noted how urgent the need for sustainable solutions in maritime shipping was. KIT reports that Shipping currently accounts for around three percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

The Mannheim plant converts biogas obtained from fermented sewage sludge together with green hydrogen into methanol. “The process we use here allows us to process more than 99 percent of the CO₂ from fermentation,” explains Professor Thomas Hirth from KIT. The importance of this technology for the sustainable transformation of the economy cannot be overestimated. Tagesschau reports that Currently, sewage sludge in Germany is mainly burned to generate energy.

Innovative technology and production

The demonstration plant produces around 15,000 liters of e-methanol annually, requiring 2,500 kg of green hydrogen, which requires around 150,000 kWh of electricity. Green hydrogen is produced through electrolysis using renewable energy. However, the current shortage of green hydrogen could challenge the scalability of such installations. Tagesschau highlights that the costs for e-methanol could be between 700 and 800 euros per ton.

Nearly 80,000 wastewater treatment plants in Europe could benefit from this technology, and ICODOS plans to expand its productivity to additional locations. These initiatives are crucial to achieving the UN's climate neutrality goals for global shipping by 2050. Dr. Wissing emphasized that the use of climate-friendly fuels in shipping is essential in order to reduce the high emissions in this sector.

The challenges of shipping

Shipping is one of the largest CO₂ emitters worldwide. Container ships, which often use fossil fuels such as diesel or heavy oil, can emit several hundred tons of CO₂ every day. Deutschlandfunk reports that Experts estimate that a switch to environmentally friendly powertrains could take decades, although it is seen as imperative.

The transition requires not only new fuels, but also massive investments in port infrastructure and the retrofitting of existing ships. Route optimization and the use of efficient freighters could reduce CO₂ emissions in the short term, even by up to 50 percent, according to the startup Searoutes. But without green alternatives, the basis of shipping remains fossil fuels, which is not sustainable in the long term.