Potential decarbonisation game-changers?
FOR several years now a substantial proportion of the emails arriving in my inbox have been press releases relating to decarbonisation. Many of them are very technical and, I must admit, many just get a fast skim read, at best.
Of course what’s in the subject has great influence of whether the press release actually gets read or not.
One that attracted my attention recently was titled “Thorium - ship design concept from Ulstein can solve the zero-emission challenge”.
The word “thorium” aroused my interest as did the very bold claim being made. I did also check the date twice as it was in April, but it was not dated the first of that month.
Norwegian shipbuilder Ulstein says it has developed a “vessel concept capable of making the vision of zero-emission cruise operations a reality”.
In a statement it says: “Named Ulstein Thor, the 149-metre 3R (Replenishment, Research and Rescue) design will feature a thorium molten salt reactor (MSR) to generate vast amounts of clean, safe electricity. This enables the vessel to operate as a mobile power/charging station for a new breed of battery driven cruise ships.”
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So basically the proposal is for a floating nuclear reactor that will supply other vessels. A sort of bunker barge that generates its own power.
Ulstein says that it believes its “concept may be the missing piece of the zero-emissions puzzle for a broad range of maritime and ocean industry applications”. It adds: “To demonstrate its feasibility, Ulstein has also developed the Ulstein SIF concept, a 100-metre long, 160 personnel on board capacity, zero-emission expedition cruise ship. This Ice Class 1C vessel will run on next generation batteries, utilising Thor to recharge while at sea.”
“We have the goals, ambition and environmental imperative to switch to zero-emission operations, but, until now, we haven’t had the solution,” comments Ulstein chief executive officer Cathrine Marti. “Expedition cruise ships operate in increasingly remote, and environmentally fragile, areas. At the same time the industry faces growing pressure from diverse stakeholders to preserve nature as it is and ban the environmental impact of cruising. Thor enables replenishment of energy and supplies on site, while also boasting the technology to facilitate rescue operations, as well as conducting research tasks. It is, in effect, a crucial piece of infrastructure to support sustainable and safer operations. Thor literally has the power to change our entire industry.”
According to Ulstein, thorium has been “identified as having huge potential for a maritime industry hunting for clean alternative fuels”. It asserts: “MSRs are safe, efficient and operationally proven solutions that work by dissolving thorium – an abundant, naturally occurring metal with low radioactivity – in liquid salt. The ensuing chain reaction heats the salt, producing steam to drive a turbine and create electricity.”
However, a quick search though the Internet will confirm that the use of thorium MSRs is highly controversial. Many, especially among the environmental lobby groups, do not like thorium at all. Expect a lot of debate if this idea starts to get traction.
While the thorium-powered ship press release grabbed my attention, another, with the subject “RINA approves first MR tanker to exceed IMO 2050 targets using fossil fuels” nearly slipped by without me paying attention.
Many projects aim to meet or exceed International Maritime Organization (IMO) targets approvals in principle (AIPs) from classification societies for new vessel designs are coming in thick and fast.
However, on reading the press release it was clear that this was something potentially game changing. Italian classification society RINA has announced the AIP of Swedish designer FKAB Marine Design’s hydrogen powered medium range (MR) tanker. According to RINA this is the first AIP it has issued for a design using currently viable technology and fuels that achieve IMO 2050 targets.
Conceived by the class society and designed by FKAB, the propulsion is based on combining the ship’s fuel (LNG) with steam to produce hydrogen and CO2. The MR LNG/hydrogen-fuelled vessel is the result of a joint project with technology group ABB and Greece-based technology company Helbio.
The MR tanker design is based on combining LNG (liquefied natural gas) with steam in a Helbio gas reformer to split LNG molecules into hydrogen and CO2. Hydrogen is then directly used to fuel the internal combustion engines and fuel cells in a hybrid marine power system by ABB. The CO2 is captured by splitting the LNG molecules, rather than from exhaust gas.
RINA says that any solution that aims to reduce a ship’s CO2 emissions today should ensure a competitive IMO Carbon Intensity Index (CII) rating, which has increasingly stringent rating thresholds towards 2030, throughout the whole service life of the vessel, not only when getting closer to 2050.
It says that, using this design, hydrogen usage can be progressively increased to maintain a top CII rating throughout the life of the ship, reducing CO2 emissions in a parallel slope with the applicable regulations. The ship can meet full decarbonisation targets by either running the engine on 100 per cent hydrogen, or by producing all the power needed by fuel cells. In this way, the owner can decide the rate of CO2 reduction.
If this turns out to be a viable technology in practice then the implications could be massive. Basically it offers the prospect of meeting a zero-carbon emission regulatory regime when that comes in, using ING which is a fossil fuel. The big question will be how it compares in cost to other zero carbon fuels, and other ways of capturing carbon, when they have been developed. In the meantime news of this technology should certainly be encouraging for shipowners who have invested in LNG-fuelled vessels.
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