Accounting for Fuel End-of-Life in Maritime Decarbonization

Context

In maritime decarbonization, the focus often rests on fuel production and combustion, but what happens to those fuel systems at the end of a vessel’s life can have a significant environmental impact.

As regulations like FuelEU Maritime, the IMO’s net-zero framework, and upcoming lifecycle-based climate disclosure rules take hold, shipowners, designers, and OEMs are being asked to consider the full picture, including fuel-related end-of-life impacts.

This is where Vessel Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) provides a strategic advantage. It quantifies emissions and environmental effects across every stage of a ship's life, including what’s often overlooked: the dismantling, recycling, or disposal of fuel-related systems.

What Is Fuel End-of-Life?

Fuel end-of-life refers to the final environmental impacts associated with:

• Decommissioning or recycling fuel storage systems (e.g. LNG tanks, hydrogen tanks, methan½ol piping)
• Disposing of fuel system components, insulation materials, or hazardous residues
• Emissions from scrapping, transporting, or treating materials at the end of a vessel’s life

These impacts can vary significantly depending on:

• The type of fuel used (LNG, methanol, ammonia, hydrogen, etc.)
• The materials and design of the storage and delivery systems
• The availability of circular pathways, such as recycling or reuse

Why Fuel End-of-Life Is Essential to Vessel LCA

✅ 1. True Lifecycle Carbon Accounting

• Fuels like LNG or hydrogen may have low combustion emissions, but their storage systems can carry high embodied emissions and end-of-life disposal challenges.
• LCA ensures fuel decisions are based on total environmental impact, not just in-operation CO₂.

✅ 2. Avoiding Unintended Trade-Offs

• Switching to a new fuel may lower operational emissions, but could increase waste or hazardous material use during scrapping.
• LCA highlights these trade-offs early in the design phase.

✅ 3. Improving Circularity

• Understanding end-of-life pathways helps shipowners design for disassembly, reuse, or recycling of tanks, pipes, and support systems, critical for sustainability goals.

✅ 4. Supporting Climate Claims & Compliance

• Green claims and ESG reports increasingly require science-based evidence, including Scope 3 emissions and end-of-life impact.
• Fuel-related end-of-life modeling supports taxonomy alignment, CSRD readiness, and IMO compliance.

Fuel Examples and End-of-Life Factors

Designing vessels with these factors in mind ensures more accurate climate data and avoids compliance or reputational risks in the future.

How ReFlow Helps Model Fuel End-of-Life

At ReFlow, we provide tools to model fuel infrastructure impacts, including end-of-life, in the full Vessel LCA:

• Material breakdown of storage and delivery systems
• Circularity modeling (reuse vs. disposal vs. recycling)
• Emissions data for decommissioning and waste processing
• Export-ready data to support ESG, CSRD, or tender compliance

This helps shipowners and equipment suppliers understand the total climate impact of a fuel system from cradle to grave.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What does “fuel end-of-life” mean in vessel design?

It refers to the environmental impact of disposing, recycling, or decommissioning fuel-related systems at the end of the vessel’s service life.

Why is this important for climate reporting?

Because more regulations now require cradle-to-grave emissions data, including disposal or recycling of onboard systems — not just in-operation emissions.

Which fuels have the highest end-of-life impact?

Hydrogen and LNG often have complex, high-material tanks that are resource-intensive to dismantle or recycle. Biofuels and methanol typically have simpler infrastructure.

Can this be included in an IMO-aligned LCA?

Yes. ReFlow’s Vessel LCA includes fuel infrastructure modeling, including end-of-life pathways, to ensure compliance with IMO’s well-to-wake GHG requirements.

Does this matter if a vessel changes fuel mid-life?

Yes, because switching fuels means new systems are added and old ones must be decommissioned or replaced. LCA helps quantify both transitions.