LH2 storage and fuel-system below deck, integrated in a Service Operating Vessel

To achieve the ambitious objectives set at the international level, the transition to an alternate low carbon energy source will become essential. Since batteries are limited to smaller ship, and synthetic-fuel will remain hardly available, hydrogen will irremediably appear as the best alternative energy. However, the related challenge is to store efficiently and safely hydrogen, and here Liquid Hydrogen (LH2) is the most attractive solution. Alternate storage solutions (CH2, ammonia…) have lower power-to-volume ratio, and additional constraints, such as high-pressure, toxicity, reverse transformation etc. Moreover, LH2 is already becoming a standard in space, aeronautics, motorsport, trucks. 
NAVHYS aims at providing a concept based on a LH2 storage and fuel-system below deck, integrated in a Service Operating Vessel to provide to wind energy providers a fully decarbonized solution. The design of the LH2 system, its integration in the ship and the risk analysis will be very challenging as they deviate from previous prescriptive safety rules and design guidelines.

NAVHYS will design a fuel-system to supply GH2 at 5 bar/Tambiant to be used in any propulsion system to produce from 500kW to 2MW. This system will integrate a LH2 pump, benefiting from ArianeGroup’s experience in Ariane 6, thus making it more robust to sloshing and allowing beneficial impact of low-pressure tank considering sizing and loading limit. A prototype of the distribution system will be tested on ArianeGroup test bench.

NAVHYS will confirm the safety and the operability of the proposed design with an Approval in Principle delivered by the Classification Company Bureau Veritas.

NAVHYS will address refuelling operations and supply chain evaluation, based on the HORIZON Europe DelHyVEHR project which already aims at demonstrating the capacity to refuel LH2 with a high flowrate.

NAVHYS will also integrate an analysis of the potential scale-up of the system and a spill-over towards other applications.