General news

A few weeks ago we were informed that Mrs Sarah Consuegra stepped down as member of the Editorial Board, due to personal reasons. We thank her for the period she participated in our team ! The special on the application of hydrogen in the maritime world has been issued as the first issue of Volume 67.

ISP Volume 67, Issue 1

ISP Volume 67, issue 1 of 2020, is an issue that contains five articles on the application of hydrogen in the maritime world. Summaries, as well as the full articles can be found on https://content.iospress.com/journals/international-shipbuilding-progress/67/1.

 Designing the zero emission vessels of the future: Technologic, economic and environmental aspects

One of the major challenges facing the maritime sector today is the transition to zero emission carbon-neutral vessels. In particular, work vessels such as dredging vessels are required to operate worldwide and under heavy conditions. These vessels have a high power density, limited on-board space, require often a large autonomy, and therefore will need very energy dense fuels. This article presents an environmental and economic assessment of four cutter suction dredger drive system design alternatives with the life cycle performance assessment tool. This tool includes the most important environmental factors as well as the net present value. The effect of emission costs and fuel price developments may be taken into account with scenarios, and this article illustrates that they have a large effect on the economic viability of future zero emission vessels. A combination of clean fuels, new prime mover technologies, efficient design and effective system integration has the potential to achieve zero emissions while maintaining the vessels’ functionality. However, technology alone cannot solve the complex challenge of energy transition in the maritime sector. In order to make zero emission designs economically viable, a system wide integration is needed, meaning cooperation in the value chain and effective policies.

High energy storage of gaseous marine fuels: An innovative concept and its application to a hydrogen powered ferry

The upcoming stricter limitations on both pollutant and greenhouse gases emissions represent a challenge for the shipping sector. The entire ship design process requires an approach to innovation, with a particular focus on both the fuel choice and the power generation system. Among the possible alternatives, natural gas and hydrogen based propulsion systems seem to be promising in the medium and long term. Nonetheless, natural gas and hydrogen storage still represents a problem in terms of cargo volume reduction. This paper focuses on the storage issue, considering compressed gases, and presents an innovative solution, which has been developed in the European project GASVESSEL® that allows to store gaseous fuels with an energy density higher than conventional intermediate pressure containment systems. After a general overview of natural gas and hydrogen as fuels for shipping, a case study of a small Roll-on/Roll-off passenger ferry retrofit is proposed. The analysis points out that the filling process is critical to maximize the stored hydrogen mass and that it is critical to measure the temperature of the cylinder walls in order not to exceed the material limits. Nevertheless, for specific application such as the one considered in the paper, the introduction of gaseous hydrogen as fuel, can be considered for implementing zero local emission propulsion system in the medium term.

Maritime fuel cell applications: A tool for conceptual decision making

The environmental impact of ships needs to be reduced by using more sustainable and cleaner solutions for power generation on board to meet the increasing amount of regulations. Fuel cells are seen as one of the most promising solutions to address this challenge. There are various fuel cell technologies which can be combined with different fuel types, resulting in a large number of options. In order to find the best prospect, a review of the fuel and fuel cell technologies is performed to get an understanding of the possibilities and applicability of fuel cells on superyachts. Various systems were compared on the following characteristics: density, storage type, maturity, safety, and emissions. Based on these characteristics a decision-making tool was developed to assist in the decision-making process considering of many variables. Using this tool, it has become clear that a fuel cell solution should be specifically selected for any different type of application. The required applications or required usage of a fuel cell could lead to the selection of a completely different type of technology.

Zero carbon propulsion in shipping – scenarios for the development of hydrogen and wind technologies with the MATISSE-SHIP model

This paper introduces the MATISSE-SHIP model for illustrative long term scenarios of technical change in shipping. It applies current theory for sustainable innovation – ‘transition theory’ – and uses an agent-based modelling (ABM) approach that explicitly represents a range of decision makers with different decision criteria. It models investment decisions for new ships, concentrating on the choice of power train and generates time paths of shares of a range of propulsion technologies. Two scenarios were generated to illustrate pathways under which hydrogen achieves a major market in shipping by 2050: 1) If current SOx /NOx legislation does not lead to the large scale adoption of LNG and there is an expectation of strengthened climate change policy in the medium term, wind/H2 combined power systems take off, as they can demonstrate cost savings with GHG emissions reductions. The need for high power applications may lead to the uptake of biofuels as they can provide significant reductions in GHG emissions, while not requiring new bunker infrastructure or changes in operating patterns. 2) If, in addition to these developments, there is acceptance of changes in operations towards lower speeds in container shipping and biofuels remain limited in their adoption (e.g. due to limited supply and high fuel costs), combined wind/H2 propulsion systems could be the main alternative to 2050. High power installations are then covered by fossil fuels to 2050, with Power to Gas/Liquid technologies being developed in the longer term.

 Energy and cost analysis of a hydrogen driven high speed passenger ferry

Norway is facing the challenge of reducing transport emissions. High speed crafts (HSC) are the means of transport with highest emissions. Currently there is little literature or experience of using hydrogen systems for HSC. Objective: Evaluate the economic feasibility of fuel cell (FC) powered HSC vs diesel and biodiesel today, and in a future scenario, based on real world operation profile. Method: Historical AIS position data from the route combined with the speed-power characteristics of a concept vessel was used to identify the energy and power demand. From the resulting data a suitable FC system was defined, and an economic comparison made based on annual costs including annualized investment and operational costs. Results: HSC with a FC-system has an annual cost of 12.6 MNOK. It is 28% and 12% more expensive than diesel and biodiesel alternative, respectively. A sensitivity analysis with respect to 7 key design parameters indicates that highest impact is made by hull energy efficiency, FC system cost and hydrogen fuel cost. In a future scenario (2025–2030) with moderate technology improvements and cost development, the HSC with FC-systems can become competitive with diesel and cheaper than biodiesel. Conclusions: HSC with FC-systems may reach cost parity with conventional diesel in the period 2025–2030.

ISP issues in 2020

For 2020 (Volume 67) four issues of ISP are planned. The first issue (March) was a special issue on the application of hydrogen in the marine field. This issue is meanwhile available:  https://content.iospress.com/journals/international-shipbuilding-progress/67/1.

Next meeting of the Editorial Board

Due to the COVID-19 pandemia no new meeting of the Editorial Board has been scheduled for the time being. It is the intention to organize an on-line meeting in the near future, and resume the Editorial Board meetings on a regular basis in some form

Upcoming conferences, meetings and training courses

Overviews of relevant conferences, exhibitions, meetings and training courses can be found on:

http://www.marin.nl/web/Events

https://www.rina.org.uk/RINA_Events

http://www.sname.org/events/calendar

http://www.swzonline.nl/events-calendar

A Printable full version of the ISP Newsletter, including the abstracts and belonging pictures can be found on this website by using this link.