Fuel Cell Cruise Ship

The water that is produced by the fuel cell can be recovered if needed.

Fuel cell cruise ship. Vessel to be retrofitted by 2023 will combine a 32MW hydrogen fuel cell with battery storage. Carnival Corps AIDA Cruises brand is to pilot the worlds first fuel-cell system designed to power large passenger vessels. When optimal power performance and long-term reliability are required fuel cells from Freudenberg fit the transportation bill.

Methanol as an energy carrier offers good properties in terms of storage volume. Fuel cells generate DC power compatible with modern ship electric and hybrid architectures and may be deployed in parallel dispatchable configurations to meet variable power requirements of vessels. Developed as a hybrid energy system for use in cruise ships the fuel cells will be designed to enable benefits beyond significantly lower emissions including operating with lower noise and vibration.

The fuel cell is to generate energy onboard the cruise ship. The integration of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell SOFC technology on a cruise ship is a world first. Some cruise ship ports already require zero-emission operation.

In 2018 AIDA Cruises commissioned AIDAnova the worlds first cruise ship that is entirely powered with low-emission LNG. The research project named Pa-X-ell2 is designed to develop fuel cells powered by hydrogen derived from methanol with the potential to supply power to cruise ships. Together with its global partners AIDA Cruises has been focusing for many years in.

This year Aidanova a cruise ship operated by Aida Cruises will be retrofitted with fuel cells. As early as 2021 AIDA Cruises will trial this technology on AIDAnova becoming the cruise industrys first brand to trial fuel cells on a large cruise ship. The fuel cell has been developed by Freudenberg Sealing Technologies as part of a research project backed by the German Government and it runs on hydrogen obtained from methanol.

The pilot installation on a Royal Caribbean International vessel includes control converter and transformer technology from ABB and will generate 100 kW of energy. It operates with low emissions noise and vibration and is powered by hydrogen which is reformed from methanol. The AiP sets the stage to move to further testing and installation of the system on board the AIDAnova cruise ship.