A trio of Dutch companies said this week it is on track to complete by 2023 the first bio-liquefied natural gas (bio-LNG) production facility to serve the maritime industry after receiving $4.8 million in funding from the European Union (EU).

Attero, Nordsol and Titan LNG have partnered to build a facility capable of producing 2,400 tons/year of bio-LNG. Bio-LNG is seen as a more practical fuel to help ships meet increasingly stringent environmental regulations in the near term compared to other alternatives, such as hydrogen and ammonia, which are expected to take longer to produce at scale. 

The FirstBio2Shipping project would be located at an Attero facility in the Netherlands. Attero would produce biogas that would then be liquefied using Nordsol’s technology. Titan would...