At EnergyWeek 2026, the role of alcohol-based fuels in future propulsion systems was the focus of the seminar, bringing together experts from academia, industry, and research organisations to examine both the opportunities and current limitations of these alternative fuels. The Flexible Clean Propulsion Technologies (Flex-CPT) project was presented in Energy Week in seminar “The role of alcohols as fuel for engines in the future” which was organized by Technology Industries of Finland- Internal combustion engines. The seminar hall was almost full, reaching over a hundred listeners.
Professor Magnus Hellström (ÅAU) presented Flex-CPT results under the title ‘Availability and Competition of Alcohols.’ The main message of his speech was that there is a lot of potential and activity in green alcohol production, but over 75% of projects are in the pre-feasibility stage. A large portion of the produced alcohols is already used as fuel, mainly in blends. The number of ports bunkering methanol is still small.
Principal Scientist Päivi Aakko-Saksa (VTT) had presentation ‘Electro methanol in shipping’. Päivi also addressed the issue of availability, emphasizing that the production costs of alternative fuels remain high, which results in the available alternative fuels still being primarily fossil-based. However, there is opportunity to increase the uptake of alcohols as the engine portfolio capable to run methanol is wide and marine methanol standard is available.
Principal Scientist Päivi Aakko-Saksa (VTT)
In addition to the Flex-CPT project, Päivi introduced the recently ended ‘The Unmanned Power-To-Methanol production (UP-TO-ME) project’, in which the research played an active role in developing new production method of e-methanol from the CO2 fraction of biogas. The project also examined the key properties of e-methanol, and communicated this information further to support fuel standardization.
Senior development engineer Hannu Nenonen from AGCO Power Oy presented ‘Ethanol in tractor application – AGCO Power Oy’. The presentation covered benefits and challenges of ethanol usage in tractor application in South America. Despite some technical challenges alcohol usage in tractors has, Hannu said that AGCO Power Oy considers ethanol as one of the potential and suitable fuel options under research for NRMM (Non-Road Mobile Machinery) applications. Although, accurate and equal emission legislation aspect is required.
Senior development engineer Hannu Nenonen (AGCO Power Oy)
Other speakers in the seminar were Kaj Portin (General Manager, Sustainable Fuels & Decarbonisation, Wärtsilä Finland Oy), Samuli Kuusisto (Sustainability & Sales, Uwira Oy) and Thomas Hägglund (Director, Energy Solutions Uwira Oy). Kaj acted as chairman, Samuli presented Methanol Piping solutions and Thomas participated in panel discussion. The seminar included a panel discussion between Thomas, Hannu and Päivi, Magnus acting as moderator. The conclusions based on the panel discussions were that alcohols have potential as clean burning fuels, enabling lowering the local emissions near big coastline cities and making farming and other non-road activities greener. The relevance of using alternative fuel is largely defined by market area, especially in nonroad sector. The technical challenges are manageable but costs of green alternative fuels need to be brought down.
