Handling of hydrogen in liquid form as LOHC from a shipping perspective – a pre-study

Projekt:

Branschprogrammet hållbar sjöfart

Sammanfattning:
Hydrogen is increasingly being singled out as one of the solutions needed to achieve future climate goals in various sectors. This also applies to shipping and there is a large need for knowledge about various hydrogen-based solutions. This report summarizes existing information related to the storage and use of hydrogen when hydrogen is handled in liquid form as so-called Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers (LOHC). This with the aim of contributing to an initial understanding of the potential for handling LOHCs on board ships and at ports as well as a carrier of hydrogen used as fuel onboard (i.e., its potential from a maritime perspective).
The concept of LOHC is that hydrogen is bound to a liquid chemical and later released while the liquid returns to its original liquid form. The report describes and compares possible technical solutions linked to LOHC and briefly describes identified ongoing initiatives in the area.
There are several different LOHC options being assessed with different properties. Relatively high hydrogen storage capacity, and low safety and environmental impacts are important for the prerequisites for a LOHC to be feasible. Several physical properties and the reversibility and durability of the LOHC are also important as they influence for example the dehydrogenation temperature, possibility to use the LOHC in existing infrastructure and the cost.
The leading LOHC companies seem mainly to be exploring H0-BT/H12-BT, Benzyltoluene/perhydrobenzyltoluene (Hydrogenious maritime) and TOL/MCH, Toluene/methylcyclohexane (Chiyoda Corporation), respectively. However, these are not the only interesting options according to the literature. The main initiatives
identified for testing LOHC for shipping are described in the report.
Several challenges for using LOHC as a carrier for hydrogen which is used as fuelonboard remains to be further explored. These include for example: (i) the LOHC concepts have not been tested in large-scale yet and thus need to be demonstrated and scaled up, (ii) the influence on the space onboard and lost cargo through the space needed for the LOHC (loaded and unloaded) and for the onboard dehydrogenation unit, (iii) the supply of the heat that is required to recover the hydrogen from the carrier on-board, (iv) the safety and environmental impact of the various LOHC and finally (iv) the cost for using LOHC as marine fuel.
In terms of cost, there are a few comparative studies of selected marine fuel options including LOHC. These indicate that other fuel options might be more interesting for the specific shipping segments assessed. However, LOHC might be an interesting option for certain shipping applications. Though, more similar assessments are needed before any firm conclusion about the potential for LOHC versus other hydrogen-based energy carriers (as marine fuel and for transport) can be drawn. The actual potential is also affected by the development of other hydrogen-based alternatives. Finally, more assessments and testing of LOHC for shipping is needed.

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Författare: Anders Hjort, Julia Hansson, Jenny Trinh, Desirée Grahn, Selma Brynolf, Karl Jivén
Utgivare: Lighthouse
Utgivningsdatum: 2023-03-01
Diarienummer: TRV 2019/27023
Antal sidor: 52
Språk: Engelska
Kontaktperson: Charlott Andersson, PLa1us