Whilst hydrogen is a promising candidate for replacing fossil fuels, a wide market acceptance of hydrogen solutions strongly relies on safe design and operations. Recently, Maritime CleanTech’s Hydrogen Expert Group gathered industry leaders to discuss how to optimize technical safety for maritime hydrogen systems.
To achieve a large-scale implementation of hydrogen and hydrogen-based energy carriers, safety is crucial. We need to minimize risk for incidents, which could harm people, and create major setbacks for the green shift.
Amongst the speakers in the Expert Group Meeting were Geirmund Vislie, VP Hydrogen Safety, Gexcon, and Jonathan Økland Torstensen, Associate professor, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. In their outlook for the Marine Industry, they pointed out how demonstration projects to prove the technology are going well. Yet, to achieve viable economics, there is a need to free up deck space and to place fuel storage and drive trains below deck. They touched upon several case studies of the damage potential from various scenarios, including hydrogen storage below deck, and explosions following a potential bunkering hose rupture. Mapping out the potential dangers and mitigations will be essential for both social and regulatory acceptance. Vislie and Torstensen believe there will be a regulation void until 2028, as regulatory guidelines for H2 and NH3 are not expected until the end of the decade.
Green shipping provider, Hornblower Group, was also present in the meeting. They now have first-hand experience with gaseous hydrogen marine vessel design, and Dr. Narendra Pal, Director of Hydrogen Technology, presented some of their findings. It is via the EU-funded Nautilus project that Hornblower is working with pressurized hydrogen-powered passenger vessels, adding an extra level of security and public acceptance necessity. The project aims to use hydrogen in pressure bottles and has received approval for a thermally activated pressure relief device system.
Reaching class approval involves the resolution of several relevant issues. MAN Energy Solutions shared their pathway to class approval, where they highlighted the importance of learning from current land-based systems. For liquid hydrogen, such issues include flammability, the temperature of the liquid and following system components, leaks, and material effects such as hydrogen embrittlement. While the properties of hydrogen and its interaction with other materials differ from that of e.g. natural gas, the IMO international code of safety is yet to be adopted. They estimate that it will take some time for the international rules of approval to be set – and since there are no international rules finalized, the approaches by different classes are not converged. Ågren and Lorentsson emphasized that the dangers of hydrogen shall be taken seriously, but that exaggeration of the danger is of no help to anyone. They explained that there are many land-based installations operating in a safe way today which we in the maritime sector can learn from.
The meeting was concluded by Milinko Godjevac from Future Proof Shipping (FPS). Godjevac, who is a Senior Integration Advisor at FPS, used the FPS Maas as a case study for demonstrating security solutions related to the use of onboard container-swap solutions. FPS aims to own ten zero-emission ships by 2025 – and has already joined the FLAGSHIPS project with FSP Waal, a hydrogen-fueled inland container vessel set to sail by the summer of 2023. In the case of FPS Maas, a risk-based design process is followed together with Lloyd’s Register in the approval procedure. Several security solutions have been defined for the container swap, and they have ensured an operational alignment with both harbor authorities and safety bodies such as fire departments and regional safety authorities. The design includes both secondary, and often tertiary safety barriers. If all goes as planned, the project will be operational in October 2022, with plans for more retrofits to start soon.