Fuel cells aren’t likely to out-compete combustion engines any time soon, but their future is still bright.

In May this year, a group of stakeholders led by the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping published their research into the viability of fuel cells in the report: Fuel Cell Technologies and Applications for Deep-Sea Shipping. The focus was on replacing diesel generators with a fuel cell as the authors believe it appears unrealistic to assume that fuel cells will compete with or entirely replace internal combustion engines in the short term. Rather, it seems more likely that different technologies will co-exist for the foreseeable future due to the high initial costs currently associated with fuel cells and the adjustments that would be required in ships’ engine room design and standard operating procedures for crews.

The investigation involved a desktop study of an 82,000dwt bulk carrier, an LR2 tanker, and a 15,000 TEU container ship. The fuel cell configurations considered were liquid hydrogen fuel for a PEM fuel cell, methanol fuel reformed for a PEM fuel cell, and methane fuel for an SOFC. These options were compared to generators running on either LSFO, bio-methanol, or bio-methane.