It is the most basic element in the periodic table of chemists. It is used to put rockets in space. And for a number of years has been touted as one of the fuels to push forward the decarbonisation of shipping as the industry faces pressure to respond to societal pressure and potential future regulation.
So can hydrogen ever become a significant maritime fuel?
Distillates, heavy fuel oils and the new gasoils that will be merging to meet the 2020 0.5% global sulphur in fuel cap, are hydrocarbons and do little to make a serious reduction on the GHG footprint of the industry despite drives to improve fuel efficiency.
LNG of course has been marketed as a clean fuel, but even this is still high when it comes to the carbon count. Hence the answer for some being hydrogen. Hydrogen gas is H2, two hydrogen atoms and is hugely abundant. But there are some serious obstacles that have to be overcome when it comes to putting it on a ship.
It can be liquified, just as LNG can be, but while current bunker fuels can be stored at atmospheric temperature, and LNG at -161 degrees C, hydrogen becomes liquid at -253 degrees centigrade (-423 Fahrenheit). Storing it safely is an issue. It is highly flammable (liquid hydrogen used to be mixed with liquid oxygen to give space rockets enough thrust to launch).
So what is the role of hydrogen in shipping? After all most industrial hydrogen ios formed from the steamed reformation of natural gas. One of its most abundant use is in hydrocracking of crude oil. However there are other ways of forming hydrogen that are cleaner, including electrolysis, and from biofuel sources, though there are certainly not signifant production at the moment. But it is all a matter of perception and timing.
Changing attitudes
Hydrogen’s most likely use will be in fuel-cells. In the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach Toyota is now trialling hydrogen powered trucks. It said in an announcement last week that it sees this as the future. Society has now become very familiar, in a short period of time, with hybrid fuels and batteries in cars. In fact the race is on in road transport with the battle being between fuel cells and batteries. As a shipowner if your client is driving the latest high-value Tesla or hydrogen powered car, then for sure they will listen a lot more readily to the idea of their cargo being shipped by a vessel with a new power source.
That of course is different from saying the economics make sense, but that may change quicker than expected. Perception is changing and the environmental agenda of shipping is unlikely to diminish, and renewable hydrogen supply chains likely to develop for other industries. Technology is also developing.
This is perhaps why Viking cruises, a Norwegian shipowner, announced its desire to build a new cruise ship powered by hydrogen fuel cells. The announcement was made at a conference organised by the Norwegian maritime directorate in September, and is being hailed as proof that hydrogen is coming of age.
There are a number of companies developing fuel cell solution that could meet demand for the maritime sector, but the reality of this potential solution is that it is unlikely to become a mainstream solution for large vessels.
Commercialisation
Stockolm-listed Swedish company Powercell has formed a join venture, called Hyon, with two Norwegian stock-listed business active in the Hydrogen fuel market. Nel Hydrogen is involved in building the systems for hydrogen distribution and Hexagon composites in fuel storage systems. (The largest shareholder of Hexagon, with 25% of the stock, is Japanese conglomerate Mitsui)
Powercell has been developing its experience in the maritime sector in recent months. It recently gained research funding as part of a consortium to look at hydrogen fuel cells on ships
Hyon’s newly appointed managing director is Tomas Tronstad. Fuel cells can now operate for 20,000 hours before needing a stack change, the technology is scaleable and safe, he says. Hydrogen pressure tanks are found in trucks on roads, underscoring their reliability.
There are no prescriptive regulations for using hydrogen on vessels, only high levels requirements, says Tronstad who used to head up fuel cell work at the class society DNV GL. So industry will need to look at the IGF code and current road regulations to address any risks.
Tronstad believes LNG fuel has done a good job in opening peoples eyes to the possibility of new fuels in shipping, as is the current, and rapid development of electricity through batteries or energy storage systems.
However there is still the issue of energy density.
As a liquid, or as a compressed gas, which Tronstad feels is the likely storage initially, hydrogen suffers from the same issue as LNG, in that when it comes to the amount of power per volume unit, it compares poorly to gas oils and current fuel sources. Then there is the issue of the pace for the vacuum insulated tanks. Most likely use for hydrogen fuel cells will be to power vessels when alongside in ports, replacing gen sets.
Hydrogen will mostly be used on smaller vessels, probably in similar situations where batteries, which are also growing in energy density and reducing in costs, will go.
Fathom-News.com
