Hydrogen is assumed to become an important low/zero-emission energy carrier and has several potential end-use applications in transport, utilities and industries.
A major challenge to overcome, is to enable cost- and energy-efficient storage and logistics solutions, connecting supply and demand locally, regionally, and globally. For long-distance transport of large volumes, ship transport will be needed, and liquid hydrogen can become one of the major modes of transport, similar to LNG.
To enable efficient ship transport in a scale resembling present-day LNG, completely new containment systems for seaborne carriers, as well as systems for onshore storage and ship loading, must be developed. A sufficient insulation standard must be developed and eventually proven to give satisfactory evaporation rates. Therefore, the LH2 Pioneer project aims to develop a conceptual design for liquid hydrogen cargo tanks with 40-45,000 m3 volume and an energy capacity of roughly 100 GWh each. The insulation standard is targeted to give a daily evaporation loss down towards 0.1 %, that is, an inventory loss percentage equivalent to LNG cargo tanks.
In addition to the tank design and performance, the project will work on new solutions for adjacent key systems such as ship layout, ship propulsion powering, boiloff gas handling and LH2 loading and offloading. By taking a holistic system approach across these different disciplines, the aim is to identify favourable and techno-economically optimal trade-offs with respect to balancing the needs for insulation with energy demands for propulsion and other onboard utilities in different phases of a voyage.
LH2P fields a strong industry consortium and an ambitious dissemination plan, targeting the most important stakeholder groups. The scientific sphere will be targeted through peer-reviewed journals and conferences of high merit. Other target groups are governments, industry, trade associations, NGOs and the public sphere, all of which are targeted through appropriate channels in the dissemination plan.
