HYTRA’s new 3,000 cbm LH2 tanker
HYTRA is watching the future transport market for hydrogen closely. The cancellation of the large hydrogen pipeline project by Equinor announced this Friday was a slap in the face for the German Ministry of Economics, which had pinned great hopes on this project.
Now the only way to import hydrogen into Germany will be with a fleet of tankers. Although many want to transport hydrogen as ammonia, this will not be a viable economic solution because the reforming costs for ammonia into clean pure hydrogen are far too high. Similarly, extracting hydrogen from natural gas is not a solution because here too there are high reforming costs, expensive disposal of the waste carbon and the natural gas, which is also not cheap.
By contrast, hydrogen that is freshly tapped from the tanker in liquefied form only needs to be passed through a suitable expansion nozzle to be used in fuel cells, etc. This is a more cost-effective technology and guarantees a lower market price than any other currently existing transport method.
HYTRA has now started work on a smaller tanker design to complement the existing 60,000 cubic metre design. The new tanker is designed for 3,000 cubic metres – a larger capacity than the first existing tanker, the Japanese-built ‘Suiso Frontier’. The new 3,000-cubic-metre tanker is planned for the early phases of market development, when the logistical supply system for hydrogen has yet to be established. The tanker is based on HYTRA’s patented technology and will be very economical to operate.
In Europe, all ports, all relevant authorities and also end-users will have to become familiar with handling hydrogen instead of conventional fuel types. And as the history of the oil industry shows, starting with supertankers or a large underwater pipeline may not be the best idea to begin with.
The first oil tanker in the history of shipping, the ‘Zoroaster’ in 1879, was a fairly small ship, 56 metres long. The largest oil tanker was the ‘Jahre Viking’, at 458 metres long. Quite a development in 130 years.
Rostock – 30th Sept. 2024