By Chen Lijian, CCS Wuhan Rules & Research Institute

As a green and efficient  secondary energy  source,  hydrogen  energy is  characterized by  wide  sources, high calorific value of combustion, cleanness, no pollution and many forms of utilization . Thus, hydrogen energy is deemed as an ideal  green  energy  s ource  w ith  “zero carbon emission”, plays a crucial role in the green revolution, and becomes one of the important directions for the shipping industry and shipbuilding industry to realize green transformation .

Application prospect of hydrogen powered ships

Hydrogen energy is applied to ships in two types of power units: one is hydrogen internal combustion engines (ICE), including pure hydrogen ICE and hybrid ICE with ammonia / methanol fuels; the  other is hydrogen cells .

The use of hydrogen ICE as the ship power has the advantages of small modifications to the hull structure, high durability, low requirements for hydrogen purity, low production cost and  easy industrialization, etc . , but this is restricted by C arno tcycle . Besides, its thermal efficiency is lower than that of fuel cells,and hydrogen ICE will produce nitrogen oxides and other emissions . By contrast,hydrogen cells have the advantages of high energy conversion efficiency, low vibration noise and high technology maturity,with work efficiency up to 50% - 80% . In addition, the only emission is water . Hence,the development of hydrogen cells in the marine field is rapid .

At present, the main application cases of hydrogen powered ships in China are cruise ships in coastal and inland areas,including sightseeing ships and public service ships . From existing  hydrogen powered ships,China has mastered many technologies in this field, including the design and development of marine fuel cell systems, and the commercial application potential is emerging .

In March 2023, “SAN XIA QING ZHOU 1”, China’s first  CCS classed work ship powered by hydrogen cells,was launched.The data show that there will be 400 ships retrofitted with hydrogen cell system and 200 hydrogen cell system newbuildings by 2025, and the market scale of hydrogen cell system will reach RMB 20 billion .

Survey standard system of hydrogen ship products

According to the development status and environment of hydrogen ship technology,and in combination of the latest technological development at home and abroad, the release and use of standards,CCS overall considers the adaptability hydrogen ship technology to the economy,safety, infrastructure  and resource conditions of water transport in China,and actual demand of standards for the development of hydrogen ship equipment field, keeps improving the construction specifications of hydrogen ships and the construction of product survey  standard systems, and promotes the high -quality development of the whole industry chain of hydrogen powered ships .

Under the framework of scientific research project “Research  on the Guidelines for Survey of Hydrogen Powered Ships”,  CCS built a hydrogen ship project team to carry out the research on multiple special projects . In July 2022,the Guidelines for Ships Using Fuel Cell Power Plants (2022) prepared by CCS was officially released . Later, the product survey guideline  of E23  Hydrogen  Cells,  the product survey guideline of B07 Hydrogen Cylinders and the product survey guideline of M28 Reforming Units prepared by CCS were released on April 14, 2022. The release of the those guidelines has accelerated the application of hydrogen cells to ships and effectively guided hydrogen cell and supporting equipment manufacturers to continuously  improve the  applicability and safety of ships in structural design and manufacturing process in China .

New breakthroughs in hydrogen fuel cells application technology

Although  China  started  late  in  the application of marine hydrogen fuel cells,it has launched many successful examples and demonstration projects . In June 2020,CCS accomplished the principle approval for a 500 kW fuel cell powered demonstration ship through Green Pearl River project . In January 2021, CCS Wuhan Branch issued the first type approval certificate of marine fuel cell products to Wuhan Troowin Power System Technology Co . , Ltd . . According to the Guidelines for Ships Using Fuel Cell Power Plants (2022), CCS provided the classification survey service for the first hydrogen fuel powered  ship  "SAN XIA QING ZHOU 1" in 2022.

In November 2022, CCS issued the first marine product certificate for the marine hydrogen cell power generation system of CSIC No . 712 Research Institute in China according  to  the  above product  survey guidelines . esides, CCS completed the additional test on the characteristics of the equivalent generator set . The above product meets special requirements for main power supply of ships (or part of the main power supply) .

To meet more requirements of hydrogen energy products in marine applications,CCS established a scientific research project team to investigate the survey technology of marine solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) . CCS will complete the preparation of relevant product  survey guidelines and on -board installation and maintenance instruction documents in the middle of 2023, continue to research  and  develop  corresponding product survey standards and guidelines for more types of fuel cells and hydrogen energy products such as solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC)and solid state hydrogen storage, accelerate the  large - scale  commercialization  of hydrogen cells and other new energy ships,and promote the high-quality development of marine new energy product manufacturing industry .

In June 2022, CCS Zhejiang Branch issued the type  approval certificate for FCPS-S120 marine hydrogen cell power generation  system  developed  by  SPIC Hydrogen Energy Tech . The hydrogen fuel cell power generation system is the first 100 kW marine hydrogen cell power generation system in China, which opens a new chapter for the application of hydrogen energy in the field of marine technology .

As a shipbuilding and shipping power,China must keep pace with the international development,  seize  the  transformation development  of marine  electrification,rapidly form practical projects of fuel cell ships, formulate various standards, explore the industrialization technology and mode,and build a zero-carbon and green hydrogen shipping power .