Hydrogen-powered ships remain at an experimental stage
Could hydrogen become a viable marine fuel?
The prospect of zero-carbon hydrogen-powered vessels is highly attractive, if cost and infrastructure concerns can be overcome
Hydrogen is one of the zero-carbon fuels being considered for use in marine applications of the future. The other zero-carbon fuel is ammonia, and the production pathway of the two are directly linked. Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of sources, utilising conventional or renewable energy, which determine the cost of the fuel to the end-user as well as its lifecycle carbon footprint. Hydrogen can be extracted from fossil fuels and biomass, from water, or from a combination of the two. The total energy used worldwide hydrogen production in 2019 was about 275mn t oe, which corresponds to 2pc of total energy demand, according to the IEA. Reducing the cost of green hydrogen to $2/kg
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