HYDROGEN SEEKS ITS PLACE IN THE NAUTICAL WORLD
“Hydrogen as a motor fuel has received a lot of attention in business circles, media and governments. Valid reason: the need to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. And hydrogen fuel is one of the most promising non-fossil energy carriers. But it will also be a war between the world’s oil companies that continue to exploit the resource to the limit; hydrogen is here to get into the next-generation fuel business.
Energy-to-hydrogen and hydrogen-to-power conversion technologies, such as hydrogen combustion turbines, are being rapidly developed. In the transportation sector, the initial focus was on fuel cell hydrogen electric vehicles or FCEVs. More recently, hydrogen vehicles powered by internal combustion engines are also receiving increasing attention, especially among medium- and heavy-duty truck applications. Hydrogen produced by electrolysis from electricity from solar panels or wind turbines, for example, enables CO2-free driving. In addition, hydrogen fuels do not release particulate matter, carbon monoxide or volatile organic compounds. However, hydrogen engines do have the potential to release some NOx, an air pollutant that can contribute to the haze sometimes seen over large cities in the summer months.
Aftertreatment systems are used to remove most NOx emissions. Nitrogen oxides – NOx – are the result of high-temperature combustion in an oxygen-rich atmosphere. Diesel engines emit the most NOx and pollutant by-products. For example, it is estimated that in the United States, converting medium and heavy-duty trucks to clean hydrogen would eliminate approximately one-quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. Hydrogen, obtained from renewable sources, is one of the zero-emission fuels for powering vehicles. Hydrogen engines are reliable, have proven technology and offer environmental benefits. This makes the transition to hydrogen engines operationally and economically viable.
Last February Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA, introduced the world’s first hydrogen-powered outboard for recreational boating along with a prototype fuel system integrated into a boat that the company plans to further refine for testing through the end of this year. The effort is part of Yamaha’s strategy to achieve carbon neutrality. Yamaha worked on the iconic XTO, a big rig V8 that puts out 425 to 450 hp, the highest horsepower currently produced by the Japanese company.
The novel implementation is based on the principle of conventional internal combustion engines but with the necessary changes to run on hydrogen instead of fossil fuel. The system, by burning hydrogen instead of fuel, emits water vapor instead of polluting gases. The challenge is, as in land and air engine technology, how to transport this hydrogen on board in a safe, compact and lightweight form. Yamaha signed an agreement with the company Roush for the engineering of the fuel system, with more than two decades of integration and research of hydrogen systems.
“When you look at Roush’s history with hydrogen, it ranges from land speed record vehicles to spacecraft. A lot of that knowledge we’ve gained over the years we’re now applying directly to this Yamaha project,” said Matt Van Benschoten, Roush’s vice president of advanced engineering. “We are the fuel system integrator, responsible for fuel system designs, all specification development, physical integration, safety system analysis, as well as testing and development. Yamaha is trying to determine if hydrogen can be used successfully in this market and I believe we will find that the answer is ‘yes.’
“Yamaha is exploring all possibilities to achieve carbon neutrality and we are committed to making our operations carbon neutral by 2035 and our products carbon neutral by 2050. That goal within the maritime market can only be achieved through an approach that leverages multiple solutions. Hydrogen is a viable method to achieve these goals,” said Ben Speciale, president of Yamaha’s U.S. Marine Business Unit. “Yamaha wants to be a leader in this space and we encourage others in the marine industry to get involved as we look for ways to build infrastructure and new policies around innovations.”
Yamaha also joined forces with Regulator Marine, a long-time boatbuilding partner, to build a boat suitable for testing the outboard prototype. Regulator Marine built a hull based on the 26XO and modified it to accommodate the hydrogen tanks needed to power the new outboard.
Together, Yamaha, Regulator and Roush showcased the boat’s hull, fuel system and outboard to demonstrate how hydrogen could function as a possible fuel source in a marine environment. In addition, the effort allows engineers to begin the process of determining marine standards for hydrogen use in boats. “If we don’t look for a new source, we will not find a new source. Innovation starts by asking questions. It creates a little angst, but at the end of the day, good things come out of innovation,” said Joan Maxwell, president of Regulator Marine. “In the future, as we design ships, if this proves what we think it does, it may very well be possible that we’ll be designing hulls around these hydrogen fuel tanks.”
Obviously, this new fuel phenomenon will cause designers to take note around what weight and volume these special tanks will have when it comes down to it, and many things will certainly change on board. Time will do the rest, i.e., improvement in the technical development of all these components. Imagination and development are just beginning to be conceived in the yachting industry.
A recent study, the first of its kind, commissioned by the International Council of Marine Industry Associations (ICOMIA), entitled The Pathways to Decarbonization for the Recreational Marine Industry, validates Yamaha’s approach to carbon neutrality and reveals that a multi-plan approach is the best way to continue the decarbonization of recreational boating.
Text and photos: Gustavo Revel