Shell International Trading and Shipping Company has teamed up with Alfa Laval to develop a gas combustion unit (GCU) for use on liquid hydrogen carriers.
By paving the way for the safe transport of hydrogen by sea, the project is an “important step” on the path to global decarbonisation, the companies said.
The tie-up will see Alfa Laval develop a system to safely combust hydrogen boil-off gas (BOG) from a vessel’s storage tank, as part of a new liquid hydrogen carrier.
Because the venting of cargo is restricted, a GCU offers a means of controlling tank pressure/temperature when the BOG poses safety risks beyond the tank’s design conditions, Alfa Laval said.
Carl Henricksen, Shell’s general manager of shipping technology said renewable hydrogen will likely be a key fuel in tomorrow’s decarbonisation mix, but accessibility will “determine its impact”.
“By enabling safe ocean transport of liquid hydrogen, we can help speed up the global transition to clean energy and Shell’s target to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050,” he said.
David Jung, business development manager, Alfa Laval said: “Global hydrogen demand is expected to grow many times larger than it is today, and liquid hydrogen carriers at sea will be a vital link in the world’s decarbonised fuel chain.”
Alfa Laval said insights and technology as a result of its "leading position" in gas combustion on LNG carriers will act as a springboard for this latest initiative.
The design of the new GCU system for hydrogen will be based on the existing Alfa Laval GCU for LNG carriers.
More than 200 of these units have been installed in just over a decade, and an additional 100 units have been ordered during 2022.
However, the company said the challenges in hydrogen combustion are significantly greater than those involved with LNG.
“With its boiling point of -253°C, hydrogen is expected to have a higher boil-off rate than methane, which will make having a GCU or similar means of BOG handling crucial on hydrogen carriers,” said Jung.
“In addition, hydrogen is light, highly flammable and easily ignitable. Safety will be paramount when transporting it on board, so there are critical safety considerations when designing the GCU system.”
Alfa Laval said it will design and engineer the new GCU for hydrogen with the aim of receiving an approval in principle (AIP) from an IACS classification society.
Once the AIP is achieved, a GCU prototype will be built for testing and type approval, it added.
