Setting sail for Europe’s largest e-methanol facility

“Topsoe has been part of the FlagshipONE journey for a long time. The combination of world-class products and deep knowledge of the project made the company an easy choice as the supplier of methanol synthesis technology”. 

In 2025, Danish energy producer Ørsted will commission its first-ever commercial scale Power-to-X facility, FlagshipONE, with Topsoe as a technological partner. This is set to be the largest green e-methanol facility in Europe.  

Solutions for decarbonization - and the technologies that enable them - are context-specific and unique to individual industries. For the global maritime shipping industry, which currently accounts for roughly 3% of global emissions, decarbonization will involve redesign of engines and fast adoption of e-fuel. That means a mass adoption of e-methanol.  

Versatile and easy to transport  

Green e-methanol is a versatile, low-carbon, liquid fuel that is easy to store, transport and use. While it has potential across numerous industries, Claus Bøjle Møller, Vice President Execution and Operations P2X at Ørsted believes the global shipping industry will be one of the earliest adopters of e-methanol’s power.  

“Currently, there are more than 200 ships in operation or on order that are dual-fuel vessels. 41% of the vessels on order are from contracts made in the first half of 2023. So clearly, the demand is rapidly increasing.”  

Delivering a modular and scalable solution  

The FlagshipONE project, situated in Örnsköldsvik in Northern Sweden, is estimated to produce around 50,000 tonnes of e-methanol per year. As one of Ørsted’s key technological partners, we will be supplying the FlagshipONE project with our e-methanol ModuLite™ technology, which enables the synthesis of e-methanol from green hydrogen and biogenic carbon dioxide.  

Intended for use in Power-to-X applications and more, Topsoe’s ModuLite™ systems are complete plants built from prefabricated, truckable modules that allow for rapid deployment and less onsite construction – which is particularly important on remote sites such as FlagshipONE.  

“For us, it is clear that Topsoe is a well-established technology provider with deep domain expertise and a professional approach to delivering the scope for FlagshipONE,” says Claus Bøjle Møller. “We share the commitment to making this more than a stand-alone e-methanol plant. We want it to be the steppingstone towards scaling up and proving that the technology works in a baseload set-up. We look forward to continuing our productive collaboration with Topsoe.”