From next year, shipping firms will have to cut polluting sulphur emissions in vessels going to parts of Europe and North America, sparking a race for alternatives to standard diesel between fuel sources such as methanol and liquefied natural gas. As well as being considered a green fuel, methanol is potentially cheaper and more plentiful than diesel or LNG. But it is trickier to handle than some fuels, such as diesel, due to its lower flashpoint -- the temperature where it vaporizes and could ignite -- so needs care to prevent fires. “Compared with LNG as an alternative shipping fuel we see methanol in an early stage of development,” said Thomas Wybierek, a shipping analyst at Norddeutsche...
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