HORIZON EUROPE: Development of large scale LH2 containment for shipping

Expected Outcome

An important element of the European Hydrogen strategy is to support liquid hydrogen(LH2) deployment for various usages and to allow the energy transportation over longer distances. A further important element of the Hydrogen strategy is to contribute to the cost decrease by importing energy from low-cost zones by development of an international hydrogen trade, and thereby also enabling import of hydrogen to the European Union. In the end this will lead to increase the EU’s competitiveness, manufacturing capabilities and secure the energy supply.

Shipping of LH₂ will represent a flexible means for transport of larger quantities of hydrogen over longer distances, as well as for regional distribution without a gas-grid. LH₂ also represent a dense form suitable for fuel storage for energy demanding applications.

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Enable safe, cost- and energy efficient transport of bulk LH₂. Large scale LH₂ ship storage concepts need to be developed for shipping of LH₂ at energy system scale, in the order of GW hydrogen energy flux. An important aspect is to utilise the techno-economic advantage of scale;
• Allow for the development of LH₂ containment for shipping exceeding the currently demonstrated size of about 1,250 m3, corresponding to 90 tonnes of hydrogen. At present, large-scale solutions for the storage and bulk transportation of liquid hydrogen are in their infancy. It is expected that the development will foster the basis for large scale trade of LH₂ by 2030 being a supplement and later an alternative to the current world-wide LNG trade;
• Design a scalable liquid hydrogen storage to large dimensions, in the range of those implemented for LNG shipping today, e.g. 200,000 m³ per ship, distributed between a relevant numbers of storage tanks. Such a capacity will correspond to 14,000 tonnes of hydrogen transported per ship;
• Demonstration and first application of the developed liquid hydrogen storage technology may be at reduced scale

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following objectives of the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA:

• LH₂ containment tank capacity [tonnes]: 350 in 2024 and 2.800 in 2030
• Capex of installed LH₂ containment tank [€/kg]: 50 in 2024 and <10 in 2030
• LH₂ boil-off [%/day]: 0.5 in 2024 and <0.3 in 2030

Scope

The scope of this topic is to develop and validate containment concepts intended for the bulk shipping of liquid hydrogen. The concepts developed should also be suitable for a later scale-up.

Multiple European technology providers have started to design and develop LH₂ containment solutions, e.g. based on the IMO Type B, Type C and membrane tank designs currently available for LNG shipping, as well as for other novel concepts. Due to the considerably lower temperature of LH₂ than LNG, as well as the lower heat of vaporisation and different material compatibility characteristics, totally novel insulation concepts need to be developed if LH₂ should be contained with equally or lower boil-off rate as current LNG concepts.

The scope for the proposed project should include:

• Concept selection for large scale LH₂ containment to be used in shipping;
• Approval in Principle (AIP) for the LH₂ containment concept by one of the major IACS classification societies;
• Materials and component selection and integrity testing for LH₂ exposure, e.g. strength, ductility, toughness, thermal expansion, sloshing and compatibility;
• Sub-system testing for thermo-mechanical validation;
• Detailed design, construction, and testing of a scaled-down prototype of at least 10 t LH₂ capacity;
• General Approval for the LH2 containment system by one of the major IACS classification societies;
• Development of a preliminary integrated ship design with a corresponding cost estimation;

The topic could have potential synergies with the topic from ZEWT: HORIZON-CL5-2021-D5-01-07 “Enabling the safe and efficient on-board storage and integration within ships of large quantities of ammonia and hydrogen fuels”, but the targeted tank size in the present topic will most likely require a different conceptual approach.

Proposals are expected to address sustainability and circularity aspects.

Deadline

20 September 2022

For further information

Funding & tenders