Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan) and renewable energy company European Energy A/S (Søborg, Denmark) are working to expand the customer base and applications for the world’s first e-methanol, produced at a plant established by Solar Park Kassø ApS, a subsidiary of a joint venture between Mitsui and European Energy, located in Kassø, Aabenraa Municipality, southern Denmark.
The initial shipment of e-methanol produced under this project was supplied to Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller – Maersk in May 2025 for use as marine fuel. In the spring of 2026, the project also began to supply e-methanol for use in chemical products to the LEGO Group, a leading toy manufacturer, and Novo Nordisk (Bagsværd, Denmark), a global healthcare company. The customer base continues to expand, with decisions to supply e-methanol as a Renewable Fuel of Non-Biological Origin (RFNBO) to leading European energy firm OMV AG (Vienna, Austria) for use as a land-based transportation fuel.
Mitsui has designated “Global Energy Transformation 2.0” as one of its key strategic initiatives in its Medium-term Management Plan 2029, with the aim of expanding the range of low-carbon energy products while building an optimized value chain. E-methanol is a low-carbon methanol produced by synthesizing green hydrogen generated using renewable energy-derived electricity with green carbon dioxide (CO₂) derived from biomass. A key advantage of e-methanol is its high compatibility with existing infrastructure, such as methanol distribution networks and storage facilities, allowing it to contribute to decarbonization as a synthetic fuel for the transportation sector — including applications for which green hydrogen alone has proved difficult to deploy, such as land transport and aviation. Demand is expected to expand across Europe, especially Germany, driven by policy frameworks such as the Renewable Energy Directive (RED III). By strengthening its supply capacity for low-carbon methanol, Mitsui aims to contribute to both the energy transition and the achievement of a sustainable society.