Angelicoussis sets sights on bulkers that produce hydrogen fuel from LNG on board
Maran Dry Management, a unit of Greek owner Angelicoussis Shipping Group, has partnered with Italian class society RINA and Chinese designer Shanghai Ship Research and Design Institute (SDARI) to develop a newcastlemax bulk carrier that can run on hydrogen produced from LNG on board.
The project for the 210,000 dwt vessel will be based on a propulsion arrangement that reduces the running machinery at sea and mixes LNG as the main fuel with steam to produce hydrogen and CO2.
The design is based on a pre-combustion carbon capture principle, where the CO2 is captured from splitting the LNG molecules before the combustion in the engine takes place, rather than from exhaust gas emissions. “This involves lower mass flows, therefore a reduced space requirement, and scalable installation to progressively keep up with the pace of the emissions reduction requirements up to 2050,” RINA explained.
The vessel can be built as a standard dual-fuel vessel, with the additional equipment installed once regulations incentivize the investment, the class society added.
“The design will allow us to run the vessel on increasing percentages of hydrogen, lowering emissions over time, to meet the increasingly stringent rating thresholds towards 2050,” said Captain Babis Kouvakas, managing director at Maran Dry Management.
The solution is said to address existing LNG bunkering facilities and requires no onshore hydrogen infrastructure and no need for supply and storage of hydrogen on board. It will also aim to reduce the resistance of the ship to increase overall operational efficiency.
“This is an exciting design that enables shipowners to work towards IMO 2050 with confidence, as it does not rely on the availability of new fuels or additional technological developments to maintain the ship’s A rating going forward,” said Wang GangYi, chief engineer at SDARI.
The project follows the design that was launched earlier this year for an MR tanker and approved by RINA.
