Liquid Natural Gas : A study of the environmental impact of LNG in comparison to diesel

Sammanfattning: Liquefied Natural Gases (LNG) has been an alternative fuel in the marine industry for several years, but lately, the amount of ships that have been powered by methane has increased a lot. Some of the reasons for this is because LNG does not contain any sulfur and releases less nitrogen oxides than traditional maritime fuels. In this essay, LNG will be compared to diesel from an environmental perspective with focus on CO2 emissions and its equivalents. International Maritime Organization (IMO) implemented Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) requirements that adjusts how much CO2 is allowed in the exhaust gas per produced kilowatt-hour (kWh). However, these requirements will increase in intervals in the future, the next one is coming 2022 for specific ship types. The method that is used to compare the fuels is Mole-calculations for LNG as well as diesel, then calculate the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and its equivalents they release. The results show that under optimal conditions, LNG was the superior choice. However, the maritime industry might have a problem with the requirements that will be introduced to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2050.