The Ship Carbon Recycling Working Group of Japan’s Carbon Capture & Reuse Study Group has confirmed that carbon recycled methane produced by methanation technology can be recognized as zero emission ship fuel. A technical paper describing the details of the calculation procedure and evaluation conducted been published in a journal recently.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has not yet come out with clear rules for calculating emissions from the onboard fuel combustion of carbon recycled methane. But CO2-recycled methane's recognition by the Working Group is a positive first step for it use in ships in its liquified form, given that LNG has already been touted as a future clean fuel for shipping.