Along a narrow winding road on a windswept stretch of Iceland’s southern Reykjanes Peninsula, a collection of electrolyzers, compressors and pipes offers a turnkey solution to help decarbonize the shipping industry.
In 2006, the founders of Carbon Recycling International Ltd. saw an opportunity to use Iceland’s abundant geothermal power, fed by the underground rivers of magma that heat the Arctic nation’s groundwater, to create “electrified” methanol, a green alternative to fossil fuel. They located the George Olah Renewable Methanol plant—named for the late Nobel laureate—half a kilometer (0.31 miles) from the Svartsengi geothermal power station, whose warm runoff waters feed ...