Methanol fuel cells and hydrogen fuel cells are widely used in various types of ships. Different power types of fuel cells are also suitable for different ship types and different power usage demand environments.
Here are some typical application cases:
Yacht
The German Hanse 410 sailing boat was transformed into a green, emission-free sailing boat, equipped with power lithium batteries, solar panels, and MFC Pr02800 fuel cells. Due to the limited laying area of solar panels, they are greatly affected by the weather. However, the MFC Pro2800 fuel cell is not limited by weather or time. At the same time, compared with traditional fossil fuel generators, there are no harmful pollution emissions and no additional noise.
Sailing boat
The MFC fuel cell operates on a 30-foot Corby 30 sailing boat Spint participating in the OSTAR 2013 race. OSTAR is a single-handed transatlantic sailing race from Plymouth, UK to Newport, Rhode Island, USA, with a voyage of approximately 3,500 nautical miles and a duration of 24 days. Providing reliable power is the greatest demand. During the race, the sailing boat consumes approximately 3 to 4 amperes of current per hour. Mainly for autopilot, AIS, VHE, RTE, chart plotter, running lights, heater, and charging of mobile devices such as iPad, cameras, and mobile phones. The original YANMAR diesel generator, because this is a light displacement boat, the cooling water intake is higher than the waterline, there is a problem of generator overheating. Secondly, the noise is very loud. Most importantly, in the 25-day race, the engine used 25 x 3 liters of fuel, approximately 65 kilograms, and each of the two batteries was 32 kilograms. By installing MEC and batteries, one of the batteries was replaced by DMEC. The MEC consumed less than 25 liters of methanol during the race. The weight of the MEC is 7 kilograms. The weight of methanol is approximately 21 kilograms. This has reduced the weight by a total of 69 kilograms!
Tugboat
Rivercel is a demonstration project funded by the German government. This project, in collaboration with DNV, Berlin Institute of Technology, and Viking Cruises, aims to develop and demonstrate a safe and practical solution for the hybrid electrical power system of ships, which uses fuel cells in limited maritime applications. The system consists of 18 5kw methanol fuel cell units connected in parallel and stacked, with a maximum output of 90kw and a voltage of 1050V. The methanol fuel cell unit design of this project successfully passed the safety test in 2021 and completed the safety assessment with the ship classification society DNV successfully, which is an important milestone at present.
Sightseeing boat
MS Innogy is the first ship in Germany powered by methanol fuel cells, and its fuel cells are of the HTMFC type. As part of this project, in collaboration with the energy company Innogy, it aims to demonstrate the potential of methanol as a future fuel. The system consists of seven 5KN modules integrated in one rack to form a 35kw power system, composed of a fuel cell system and battery packs. The waste heat from the operation of the methanol fuel cell drives methanol reforming without the need for additional energy input. The ship has been in operation until now, and the low noise and low vibration brought by the methanol fuel cell have been widely praised.
