Maersk Growth, the corporate venture arm of A.P. Moller – Maersk, will invest in the development and commercialisation of Vertoro, a Dutch start-up focused on producing liquid lignin as a marine fuel.
Through Maersk’s investment, the energy start-up will also create a trial plant which will become operational in 2022. The output of this plant will be used to develop marine fuels in partnership with the Danish container shipping company, as well as other applications for the materials and chemicals markets.
Maersk works to decarbonise marine operations, expecting several fuel types to exist alongside each other in the future and has identified four potential fuel pathways to decarbonisation: biodiesel, alcohols, ammonia, and lignin-enhanced alcohols.
Vertoro, founded in 2017, produces liquid lignin exclusively from sustainably sourced forestry and agricultural residues by means of a patented thermochemical process.
Lignin is a class of complex organic polymers that form key structural materials in the support tissues of most plants, and like fossil oil, liquid lignin can be used as a platform for fuel, chemical and material applications.
“Our goal is to offer competitive, sustainable products to cost and environmentally conscious customers worldwide; a model inspired by no-frills disrupters in other industries that today are among the most profitable in their sector,” explained Michael Boot, Co-founder and CEO at Vertoro.
“This investment will bring us closer to reaching this goal in close cooperation with our committed team, our investors, and our partners,” continued Boot.
This investment constitutes the third one in the fuels of the future from Maersk Growth in less than two months, followed by WasteFuel and Prometheus.
