Electricity-based fuels to power fuel cells for inland navigation
Authors: Martin Zerta, Patrick Schmidt, Werner Weindorf, Dr. Ulrich Bünger
Date: September 2019
Electricity-based fuels to power fuel cells for inland navigation – Under what technical and economic conditions and in which market segments can electricity-based fuels be reasonably implemented in inland waterway shipping? This is the subject of the study conducted by Ludwig Bölkow Systemtechnik GmbH, DNV GL SE and Ingenieurbüro für Schiffstechnik for NOW GmbH.
The study examines alternative fuels exclusively in fuel cell drive systems and compares them with conventional diesel-based drive systems with combustion engines.
The analyses include the entire process chain. In order to be able to analyse the technical and economic influences of adapting various fuel and fuel cell technologies for inland waterway vessels, four frequently occurring reference vessel types were selected: cargo ship, barge, excursion boat and cabin vessel.
The technical analysis reveals that the use of fuel cells in inland waterway shipping is in principle possible for each of the types of vessels studied. There is no universal solution here: a large number of possible combinations of electricity-based fuels and different types of fuel cells with different levels of technological maturity can be considered.
Due to the multitude of influencing factors, a detailed analysis of the respective application is necessary for a well-founded decision for a specific fuel cell solution. The study is intended to provide some fundamental points of reference in this respect
Further information (in German) are available here: