Fuels
The recent political will to move away from fossil fuels has accelerated research into hydrogen- based solutions.
Elsewhere in Scandinavia, Danish shipping company DFDS hopes to deliver a 100% hydrogen-powered ferry by 2027. This ferry will use a mammoth 23MW fuel cell system, far larger than what’s available today, and will be developed by a consortium of companies with possible support from the EU Innovation Fund. While there is some way to go before these ships set sail, it is heartening to note that hydrogen-based solutions are being considered seriously. Engineers have been experimenting with hydrogen as an energy source for decades, while the first fuel cells were invented as early as 1839. But it’s only recently that there has been a political will to move away from fossil fuels. “Nothing is easier than just burning a fuel that comes out of the ground,” points out Bruinsma. “Although Nasa has been working with hydrogen in rocket science for many years, it’s a gas and it’s hard to store. You need to compress it or liquefy it, and then you have to go through some kind of process to convert it into electrical energy. The fossil fuel market, by contrast, is just about converting a fuel that is widely available, easily transportable and easily stored.” In recent decades, it has become apparent that continuing to burn fossil fuels at our present rate will have severe ecological consequences. Those implications aside, oil prices have fluctuated dramatically, with high prices during the 2008 financial crisis driving demand for other options. And while the movement away from oil has not been
2027
Danish shipping company DFDS hopes to deliver a
100% hydrogen- powered ferry.
DFDS 36
linear, we could cite the 2015 Paris Agreement as the moment the trajectory became clear. “Following the Paris Agreement, there was this overall thought that we need to do something about our CO2
emissions.
That’s where hydrogen comes in,” says Bruinsma. In 2016, Germany unveiled the world’s first hydrogen-powered train, which was followed a few years later by the Hydroflex train in the UK and early plans for a ‘hydrail’ in the US. The shipping sector has also turned to hydrogen, with a number of zero- emission pilot projects under way.
“Following some demo projects over the past few years, hydrogen-powered ships are coming quite soon,” says Bruinsma. “So, this year [and] next year, we’ll be seeing the first vessels operating on commercial routes with hydrogen.”
Perfecting the process
The real problem with hydrogen is that it is only as green as its production process. Although the gas is plentiful, it does not exist in a pure form in nature, and has to be separated out from other materials. Much of the hydrogen in use today is created from methane, releasing greenhouse gases during production. Greener extraction methods (such as electrolysis from water, powered by renewable energy) remain uncommon and expensive. If green hydrogen is to take off as a shipping fuel, producers will invariably need to invest in its production. This will require a push on both sides, as the customers will first need to demonstrate that the demand is there. “Liquid hydrogen is not available in large quantities at the moment,” says Bruinsma. “There are currently three plants in Europe producing liquefied hydrogen, but they are producing the exact amount that clients request. It will take a while to scale up.” There are other potential issues too. Hydrogen systems are highly flammable, raising safety concerns, and storing it as a liquid takes up a lot of space that could otherwise be used for cargo.
“If you look at the smaller expedition vessels, it might be a very feasible solution, because you only need limited power,” says Bruinsma. “However, the amount of hydrogen fuel you’d require to deliver 50MW all day long would be a challenge.” The cost issue is perhaps the easiest one to solve, in the sense that the fuel cells themselves are cheap to maintain once they’re installed. “Yes, the capex is more expensive, but probably your return on investment from a maintenance point of view is much lower,” says Bruinsma. “If you look at
World Cruise Industry Review /
www.worldcruiseindustryreview.com
Scharfsinn/
Shutterstock.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65
