Feature 4 | ALTERNATIVE PROPULSION
opportunity to see and hear them move and blow. The key components of the Elding’s
new auxiliary are a 10kW Ballard fuel cell, batteries, and DC/DC converter. Vessel service using the hydrogen auxiliary unit started in April 2008.
Solid oxide fuel cell Wärtsilä is focusing on natural gas and methanol as the fuels offering the greatest potential for its solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) systems targeted at the distributed power generation and marine markets. Envisaged shipboard usage would be as auxiliary power units, whereby the fuel cell plant would be connected to the vessel’s AC (alternating current) bus bar and automation system. The company is of the view that fuel cells represent one of the most promising energy technologies of the future, offering benefits in terms of efficiency, ultra-low emissions, silent operation and reliability. After seven years of development work
on FC systems, Wärtsilä recently started up its 20kW prototype in 2007 at the group’s Fuel Cell Laboratory in Espoo, Finland. The SOFC power unit, the WFC20, uses natural gas as fuel, and will have a productive role at Espoo as well as providing a platform for the technology, since it will generate electricity and heat for the local grids. Wärtsilä’s development partner in the project is Topsoe Fuel Cell, a subsidiary of the Danish firm Haldor Topsøe. Wärtsilä plans to demonstrate WFC50 units in the 50kW category within the near-term, for pre-commercial niche applications.
Hydrogen power As a seminal development supporting the use of fuel cell technology in urban waterborne transport, and thereby constituting one of
Front view of fuel cell-powered passenger vessel by Fuel Cell Boat (credit: Fuel Cell Boat N.V.).
is claimed to be the first of its kind worldwide, and provides a new outlet for Linde’s experience as a supplier of key equipment to hydrogen fuelling stations for cars, lorries, buses and forklift trucks. The vessel refuelling berth is located on a canal adjacent to the Hamburg Hochbahn underground train depot in the Stadt (city) Park area near Barmbek. The initial recipient of its services is the new, low-profile inland cruiser and ferry FCS Alsterwasser. The aim of the Zemship project is to
demonstrate the concept of a ‘Ship of the future for Europe’, distinguished by zero local emissions, low noise, high energy efficiency and no risk of water pollution. The hydrogen-fuelled, fuel cell-powered FCS Alsterwasser, commissioned in August this year, has given first form to this objective. She has been conceived to carry 100 passengers on the inner city lake and connecting canals. At
the ‘bunkering’ station on the the most apposite
applications for environmentally-inspired engineering, a hydrogen refuelling point for waterway passenger craft has been established in the midst of Hamburg. Designed and built by the Linde the filling station will serve
Group,
the first zero-emissions vessel recently brought into commission under the Zemship collaborative research project. The waterside hydrogen supply terminal
44
waterside at Hellbrookstrasse, liquid hydrogen delivered by road tankers is transferred into a super-insulated storage tank at a temperature of minus 253°C. During the fuelling process, a vaporiser converts the hydrogen from liquid back into its gaseous state, whereupon the gas is compressed to 25bar by means of a rotary screw compressor. The second compression stage entails a maximum pressure of up to 450bar, achieved by way of a newly developed system in which an ionic liquid is used for pressurising in place of the conventional, mechanical piston. The arrangements allow for complete refuelling of the vessel with
50kg of compressed hydrogen in about 12 minutes.
Funding The Zemship project has brought together a wide range of companies and organisations from Germany and the Czech Republic, each contributing specialist know-how. The participants have provided €3.1 million (US$3.9 million) towards Zemship’s overall budget of €5.5 million, the balance of €2.4 million having come from EU coffers, under the provisions of the Community’s LIFE Programme for R&D funding. The work is headed by the Hamburg State Ministry for Urban Development and the Environment, partnered by Germanischer Lloyd (GL), Proton Motor, the Linde Group, Hamburger Hochbahn, Alster- Touristik, Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Hamburg, hySolutions, and the UJV Nuclear Research Institute of Rez, Czech Republic. The vessel’s drive system comprises
two PEM (proton exchange membrane)- type fuel cells, with a maximum power of 50kW each. German supplier Proton Motor’s track record includes hybrid bus fuel cell systems already in operation in Hamburg, and these have helped shape the Zemship ferry installation, with the requisite adaptations for marine use. The Hamburg ferry is expected to
have an average efficiency of nearly 50% in operation, substantially more than the energy efficiency of a diesel- electric system, together with all the environmental benefits associated with no exhaust gas emissions and very quiet operation. The by-product of the
Ship & Boat International November/December 2008
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 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72