Solid hydrogen carriers and solid oxide fuel cells application in maritime industry

In the maritime industry, the use of solid hydrogen carriers, such as sodium boron hydride in combination with fuel cells, has received much attention due to their distances to fuel stations, as well as the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. The use of hydrogen in gaseous or liquid form is problematic in terms of the safety and operational characteristics of a ship. The storage of hydrogen by chemical bonds in substances such as sodium borohydride, lithyumaluminium hydride and metal hydrides have the potential to overcome or reduce these problems. However, little is known about the implementation of a sodium borohydride system on board. Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) has a great potential to act as an energy source due to its high efficiency and ability to manage different types of fuel. SOFCs have never been used as the primary energy source for marine applications. In this paper a short literature survey has been take placed. The possibility of using SOFCs as the main power supply on ships has been done.To reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the automotive industry, there is an increasing trend towards batteries. But the cost and bulk energy density of lithium-ion batteries make the marine sector impossible. The application of SOFC, battery and liquid natural gas engines needs advanced Power and Propulsion Systems (PPS) [۱,۲]. SOFC fuel cells have a lower power density than proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) but do not require pure hydrogen to refuel and can use solid hydrogen carriers such as sodium borohydride or Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG, so they are more suitable for marine applications [۳,۴].Methods of hydrogen storage in maritime industry include: compression, cryogenic and material-based storage. Compression is a simpler and more efficient storage method; however, limited energy densities can be problematic for larger vessels. Cryogenic tanks for hydrogen storage, is very expensive. Solid hydrogen carriers, such as chemical hydrides, especially sodium borohydride, are very promising as an energy storage method due to their high energy density, both in volume and weight. However, the regeneration process is still very inefficient, leading to higher costs; however, only limited research is done to improve the hydrolysis process, and greater progress can be expected. In addition, the consequences of a hydrogen fuel that can be safely used under atmospheric conditions can have a significant impact on the marine sector. Sodium borohydride is one of the most suitable carriers of solid hydrogen because of more stability and higher hydrogen storage capacity than other metal borohydrides [۵]. Hydrogen can be released by catalytic hydrolysis of NaBH۴.For the first time, Ali Haseltalab, et al. (۲۰۲۱) has proposed the possibility of using SOFCs as the main energy source for the maritime industry [۶]. They found that if SOFC is used with LNG fuel, a maximum emission reduction of ۵۳% can be achieved compared to conventional designs.In this paper, a new approach to the possibility of using solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) as the main source of energy in ships and sodium borohydride as a source of fuel hydrogen is proposed

کلیدواژه ها:

Solid hydrogen carriers ، solid oxide fuel cells ، maritime industry ، sodium borohydride.