Hydrogen as a Deep Sea Shipping Fuel: Modelling the Volume Requirements

Recent targets have increased pressure for the maritime sector to accelerate the uptake of clean fuels. A potential future fuel for shipping is hydrogen, however there is a common perception that the volume requirements for this fuel are too large for deep sea shipping. This study has developed a range of techniques to accurately simulate the fuel requirements of hydrogen for a case study vessel. Hydrogen can use fuel cells, which achieve higher efficiencies than combustion methods, but may require a battery hybrid system to meet changes in demand. A series of novel models for different fuel cell types and other technologies have been developed. The models have been used to run dynamic simulations for different energy system setups. Simulations tested against power profiles from real-world shipping data to establish the minimum viable setup capable of meeting all the power demand for the case study vessel, to a higher degree of accuracy than previously achieved. Results showed that the minimum viable setup for hydrogen was with liquid storage, a 105.6 MW PEM fuel cell stack and 6.9 MWh of batteries, resulting in a total system size of 8934 m3 . Volume requirement results could then be compared to other concepts such as systems using ammonia and methanol, 8970 m3 and 6033 m3 respectively.