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New Energy World
New Energy World embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low carbon technologies.
Oil major joins supply chain to support e-NG development
27/3/2024
TotalEnergies has joined an international consortium of seven companies to support the development of electric natural gas (e-NG), a synthetic natural gas produced from renewable hydrogen and CO2.
TotalEnergies, Engie, Mitsubishi Corporation, Osaka Gas, Sempra Infrastructure, Tree Energy Solutions (TES), Tokyo Gas and Toho Gas are pooling their expertise and efforts to establish the e-NG Coalition, to support the development of e-NG in a ‘reliable, affordable and sustainable’ way.
e-NG is a green molecule chemically identical to natural gas and obtained by combining green hydrogen with CO2 through a methanation process (called Sabatier), producing green methane. As such, it can leverage existing infrastructure for liquefaction, regassification, transportation and storage. According to the coalition, it could be a drop-in solution for industrial usage, gradually replacing natural gas.
The coalition aims to promote the use of e-NG and support the emergence of a global market, foster adequate support by policymakers and harmonisation of applicable regulation and standards, and bolster collaboration between the various stakeholders, along the entire value chain and across all geographies.
A study by TES of carbon emissions at its project in Texas, US, revealed that e-NG’s entire life cycle, from production to transportation through to its ultimate combustion as shipping fuel, had a net positive climate change potential of about 3.5 gCO2e/MJ, an environmental impact significantly less than the life cycle of fossil-based fuels, at around 94 gCO2/MJ. By replacing fossil fuels with e-NG that has been produced using biogenic CO2, emissions are reduced by around 96%, according to the company.
Last month, coalition member TES called on the European Commission (EC) to set more ambitious targets for renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBO) and renewable molecules, including e-NG, produced both domestically and imported. The company also endorsed the EC’s communication on the Industrial Carbon Management Strategy, which acknowledges the evolving role of CO2 from being a waste material to being recognised as a valuable resource.
