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Scaling
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Chris Chatterton of The Methanol Institute argues that

methanol, as the most efficient carrier of hydrogen, is
the preferred fuel source for a solution seen as critical to
reducing emissions

I
t is abundantly clear that decarbonising
the transportation sector, and shipping in
particular, poses a formidable challenge.
Energies available to shoreside facilities
such as renewable electricity are hard to
generate onboard ship despite a handful of
projects focused on this problem.
One of the issues facing owners is that
the multi-fuel future is a phased process in
terms of regulation, availability and suitabil-
ity, with LNG and methanol the only practi-
cal short-term choices. If the goal, as many
believe, is to use ammonia and hydrogen
as fuel, this has to be seen in the context of
safe, affordable and regulated technology.
Hydrogen’s application as a direct fuel
could be many decades away. But faced
with the problem of needing to cut emis-
sions quickly ahead of 2030, shipowners
are examining and investing in hydrogen
fuel cell technology, with methanol as the
primary energy carrier, where it is either
reformed alongside the fuel cell in a sepa-
rate unit, or integrated within the fuel cell itself.
Fuel cells can already meet the electrical
demands of vessels in port and supply power
for applications including refrigerated con-
tainers and port equipment. And a new gen-
eration of fuel cells can provide both vessel
auxiliary and ultimately main propulsion power.
SUITABILITY_________________
Fuel cells generate electricity through an elec-
trochemical reaction rather than combustion;
in a fuel cell, hydrogen and oxygen are com-
bined to generate electricity, heat and water.
Clean, efficient, reliable and low noise, fuel
cells do not need to be periodically recharged
like batteries but instead continue to produce
electricity as long as a fuel source is provided.
Unlike combustion-based power gener-
ation, fuel cells provide virtually emission-
free power and do not produce particulate
pollutants or unburned hydrocarbons. As

Bunkerspot February/March 2023 www.bunkerspot.com 85


a result, they emit less carbon dioxide
than other, less efficient technologies and
when using fuel generated from renew-
able sources can be net carbon neutral.
Methanol is an extremely efficient car-
rier of hydrogen atoms, with the highest
hydrogen-to-carbon ratio of any liquid fuel.
Liquid methanol at ambient temperature
and pressure packs 40% more H2 by volume
than hydrogen in a liquid state (-253C) and
140% more H 2 than compressed hydro-
gen at 700 bar. This makes methanol the
ideal fuel to be re-formed onboard ship
and consumed as hydrogen in fuel cells.
Compact and affordable processes are
increasingly available for onboard reform-
ing of methanol to hydrogen at qualities
necessary to be used in fuel cells. In addi-
tion, using methanol as the hydrogen source
reduces cost towards a competitive price
with diesel for some generator applications.
Fuel cells are already in use in a number of
maritime applications, notably onboard Viking
Lines’ RoPax ferry M/S Mariella. The vessel
is equipped with a fuel cell stack powered
by a methanol fuel supply system designed
and installed by the Meyer Werft shipyard.
Mariella’s methanol fuel tank is bunkered
by truck using a standard hose arrange-
ment and is reformed into hydrogen and
transformed into 90kW of electrical power.
In other small-scale applications, e1 has
produced a methanol to hydrogen generator
designed to support 100 kW mobility power
applications including replacing polluting
diesel generators for refrigerated contain-
ers. This modular and scalable design can
support MW-sized fuel cell power solutions.
NEW APPLICATIONS__________
With the technology proven and accepted,
the next stage of development is to fur-
ther scale fuel cells to provide power for
new applications and at higher loads.
Manufacturer Advent Technologies has
just announced its fourth generation of fuel
cell units, SereneU, with claimed advan-
tages including longer lifetime, decreased
service and maintenance and lower total
cost of ownership. These methanol fuel
cells have the option to interconnect with
multiple units resulting in power systems
and solutions for larger power demands.
A group of Norwegian companies is devel-
oping a solution to lower emissions by com-
bining liquid hydrogen fuel cells with battery
storage as soon as this year when the IMO’s
EEXI and CII regulations enter into force.
Bergen-based system integrator Norwegian
Bunkerspot February/March 2023
Electrical Systems intends to install a 3.2MW
hydrogen fuel cell onto a large vessel cur-
rently being designed by Havyard Design
for the shipowner Havila. This will be the
largest fuel cell ever installed on an ocean-
going vessel, replacing the more fre-
quently used compressed gas. Batteries
are planned to store additional energy
to make the system fully emissions-free.
Leading tanker shipowner Ardmore has
partnered with e1 and finance provider
Maritime Partners to create e1 Marine, with the
purpose of delivering e1’s unique methanol-
to-hydrogen technology to the marine sector.
e1 Marine will have a worldwide mandate
for the marketing, development, licensing, and
sale of the hydrogen generation systems for
application to the marine industry, including
shipping, containers, offshore energy, renew-
‘Faced with the
problem of needing to
cut emissions quickly
ahead of 2023 and
2030, shipowners
are examining and
investing in hydrogen
fuel cell technology,
with methanol as
the primary energy
carrier’
able energy, passenger and leisure and certain
port infrastructure and related applications.
RIX Industries has licensed e1’s reforming
technology to create a mobile Methanol-to-
Hydrogen generation system and pro-
vide green power in shipboard and marine
environments. With the ability to gener-
ate hydrogen onboard and on demand, the
RIX system offers users a safer and smaller
shipboard volume requirement than high-
pressure compressed hydrogen solutions.
Without the heavy and costly footprint of cry-
ogenic liquid hydrogen storage, these highly
efficient power systems provide shipbuild-
ers and vessel operators with a readily avail-
able path away from diesel-based propulsion.
Gas generation systems specialist RIX
Industries has been awarded a major con-
tract by Maritime Partners to purchase 10
methanol-to-hydrogen reformer systems for
www.bunkerspot.com
fuel cells
use on Hydrogen One, the world’s first meth-
anol/hydrogen fuel cell-powered towboat.
The RIX system generates high-purity
(99.97%) hydrogen with zero NOx, SOx, or
particulate matter, enabling a superior method
of addressing decarbonisation efforts. The
systems are combined with PEM fuel cells
to deliver primary power on the vessel.
These systems, capable of supporting fuel
cell solutions from 10kw to 140kw with a
single reformer, can be aggregated to support
megawatt applications, can also be deployed
for operations such as auxiliary power sys-
tems, reefer container power and cold ironing.
Finally, an innovative fuel cell system based
on high-temperature proton exchange mem-
brane (HTPEM) technology designed by fuel
cell manufacturer Blue World Technologies is
being constructed for testing by Alfa Laval.
The test installation, which will use meth-
anol as fuel, will explore the technology’s
potential as a source of marine auxiliary
power. Funded by Danish Energy Technology
Development and Demonstration Program,
the project is a joint effort between Blue World
Technologies, Alfa Laval and shipowners
including DFDS, Maersk Drilling and Hafnia.
The aim of the project is to establish a highly
efficient and cost-effective HTPEM fuel cell,
giving marine vessels a realistic alternative
to combustion-based auxiliary power within
the near future. The fuel cell test setup will
have a power of 200 kW, but the fully devel-
oped and modular design should be possible
to scale up incrementally to a level of 5 MW.
Fuel cells offer shipowners a practical
means of adopting hydrogen technology to
provide increasingly significant amounts of
power. Their advantages of size, reliability and
suitability for marine applications make them
an increasingly interesting prospect as asset
owners consider their decarbonisation options.
Powered by conventional methanol, fuel
cells can already provide significant emissions
reductions at prices which are increasingly
attractive to owners facing up to the prospect
of higher fuel bills in future, by sidestepping
the cost prohibitive, cryogenic or compressed
gas infrastructure required for pure hydrogen.
As fuel cell projects scale up and
larger volumes of renewable methanol
become available, the ability to drive emis-
sions even lower and meet regulatory tar-
gets ahead of time becomes a reality.
Chris Chatterton,
Chief Operating Officer,
The Methanol Institute
Web: www.methanol.org
87