The US Maritime Administration (Marad) has announced field trials for “the first prototype hydrogen fuel cell unit to power onboard refrigerated containers”.
In cooperation with the US Energy Department, Marad has provided US$815,000 to fund a “clean energy-powered container unit that could pave the way to dramatically reduce harmful emissions”. The power unit is a hydrogen fuel cell system, housed in a standard 20ft container. In the pilot project, it will replace a diesel genset in trials powering reefers in port and on barges between Honolulu and Hawaii’s outer islands carried by Young Brothers Ltd, a subsidiary of Foss Maritime.
Marad administrator Paul Chip Jaenichen said hydrogen fuel cell deployment “has the potential to reduce not just emissions, but costs to shippers, all while preserving the precious maritime environment”. Performance will be analysed over six months, to determine the environmental, energy and cost savings from the hydrogen fuel cell unit. Marad added: “Upon completion of testing, Sandia National Laboratories will analyse the operational, safety and cost performance data, to develop a business case for using hydrogen fuel cells for marine use.”
The container has 75kg of onboard hydrogen storage, enough for a generator to support 10 reefer containers for for 20 continuous hours of operation.
Read this item in full
This complete item is approximately 300 words in length, and appeared in the September 2015 issue of WorldCargo News, on page 27. To access this issue download the PDF here.
By subscribing you will have:
