Hong Kong energy company Towngas has announced plans to construct a new green methanol production facility in Foshan, Guangdong province, marking a significant step toward establishing Hong Kong as a hub for alternative marine fuel bunkering.
According to Ship & Bunker, the project will be developed through VENEX, a joint venture involving Towngas, and is designed to scale the company’s green methanol output to 500,000 metric tons per year by 2028. Towngas disclosed the plans via a LinkedIn post on Wednesday.
Biomass-Based Feedstock and Production Design
The Foshan plant will rely on biomass gasification technology, using sugar cane bagasse and wood processing waste as its primary feedstock, as reported by Ship & Bunker. This approach positions the facility within the growing segment of waste-to-fuel production, leveraging agricultural and forestry byproducts to generate low-carbon marine fuel.
The first phase of operations is scheduled to come online in 2028, with an initial annual production capacity of 200,000 metric tons.
Dual-Network Strategy Across China
The Foshan plant will complement Towngas’s existing green methanol facility in Inner Mongolia, according to Ship & Bunker. Together, the two sites are intended to form a dual-production network spanning both northern and southern China, aimed at strengthening marine fuel supply chains and contributing to broader shipping decarbonisation efforts.
The strategic placement of production capacity across different regions of China reflects a logistics-conscious approach to serving bunkering demand, particularly for ports in and around Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta.
Hong Kong’s Green Bunkering Ambitions
As Ship & Bunker notes, the new plant is directly tied to Hong Kong’s ambitions to develop as a green maritime fuel bunkering hub. Green methanol has emerged as one of the more commercially accessible alternative marine fuels, with a growing number of vessels capable of running on methanol entering service globally.
The 2028 timeline for the first phase aligns with increasing industry demand for cleaner fuel options as international emissions regulations tighten.
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Sources: Ship & Bunker
