FAQ

The shipping sector faces increasing pressure to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, improve its energy efficiency, and comply with stricter environmental regulations like FuelEU Maritime. While clean hydrogen is widely seen as a promising alternative fuel for shipping, storage and logistics remain challenges.

Ship-aH2oy tackles these challenges head-on. The project aims to use LOHC (liquid organic hydrogen carrier) to store and transport green hydrogen safely and efficiently from source to ship, and fuel cells to convert hydrogen into electricity for efficient zero-emission power generation onboard the ship.

In this way, the project aligns with the EU’s ambitious plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving energy efficiency, and creating a competitive clean-tech sector in Europe.

Hydrogen is a versatile and clean energy carrier that can play a pivotal role in decarbonising various sectors that are hard to electrify directly, including shipping. Because of its high energy density, hydrogen can be used as a fuel for ships in operations where batteries alone do not provide sufficient power.

While hydrogen can be produced in different ways, green hydrogen, produced from renewable energy via water electrolysis, promises a scalable, carbon-free value chain which could enable the complete decarbonisation of the maritime sector.

Liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) offers the safest and most efficient solution for delivering renewable hydrogen from source to ship.

LOHC is a fluid that can chemically bind and release hydrogen through catalytic reactions. The main benefit is that it makes it possible to store and transport large amounts of hydrogen at ambient conditions, without the need for high-pressure or cryogenic storage.

The LOHC used in Ship-aH2oy is Benzyltoluene (BT). LOHC-BT has many advantages:

• It is a familiar and commercially available industrial product.
• It is a diesel-like liquid that is compatible with existing fuel infrastructure and familiar bunkering procedures.
• It can be stored in conventional steel tanks with flexible placement onboard the ship.
• It offers competitive volumetric storage density of 54 kg hydrogen per m³ LOHC.
• It is non-explosive and hardly flammable with a flashpoint of 113°C when loaded with hydrogen.
• It requires the addition of heat and a catalyst to release hydrogen, with no leakage or losses of hydrogen.
• It has comparable hazard potential to conventional fuels and is less toxic than other alternative fuels.
• It can be reused hundreds of times.

The proposed LOHC power system will work as follows:

1. Green hydrogen from a renewable source is bound to LOHC at a hydrogenation plant.
2. The LOHC is transported to port and bunkered to the ship.
3. On board the ship, the LOHC is heated and dehydrogenated via catalysis, releasing the hydrogen gas.
4. The hydrogen is fed into the fuel cell system, where it will react with oxygen from the air and generate electricity.
5. The electricity is used to power the ship’s propulsion and auxiliary systems, enabling zero-emission operations.
6. The dehydrogenated LOHC is stored in tanks and unloaded at the next port, ready to be reused.

The project aims to install a 1 MW LOHC-FC system onboard an existing and available vessel: a commissioning service operation vessel (CSOV) for the offshore wind sector, owned by Edda Wind. The vessel has been designed with dedicated space for LOHC tanks, release unit, fuel cell system, and auxiliary systems.  

The demonstration period will last six months and include various operational scenarios, such as bunkering, cargo transfer, transit, waiting, and dynamic positioning. The demonstration will collect and analyze data on the performance, efficiency, emissions, safety, and reliability of the system.

The solution will be relevant for vessel types with high power demand and operating medium-long distances, such as service vessels, cargo vessels, larger ferries, and offshore supply vessels. The project will assess the replication potential and feasibility of the solution using a Mediterranean passenger ship (ROPAX) as a case study.

The system architecture will be scalable and modular, allowing for the integration of several 1 MW modules to meet the power requirements of larger ships. The solution will offer a scalable, safe, and efficient way to store and use hydrogen as a maritime fuel and achieve high overall efficiency and zero-emission propulsion.