The ship moves with hydrogen July 27, 18:31

What kind of image do you think of when you hear the word "hydrogen ship"?

Does it work properly?

Isn't it dangerous?

I thought this.

While clearing these issues, a shipbuilding company in Onomichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture, developed the first hydrogen-fueled passenger ship in Japan.

Will decarbonization accelerate in the field of ships as well?

(Hiroshima Broadcasting Station Fukuyama Branch Yusuke Goto)

Hydrogen ship born in the Seto Inland Sea

Japan's first hydrogen-fueled passenger ship "Hydro Bingo".

The name of the ship comes from the fuel "hydrogen" and the "Bingo area" where the ship was built.

It is a small boat weighing 19 tons and having a capacity of 82 people, and is being considered for use as a pleasure boat.

The development period is 2 years.

This year, I passed a public inspection in July and got "certified" that I can carry passengers.

A test run off the coast in late June.

I was interviewed on a boat that accompanied me.

Even with hydrogen as fuel, I was surprised at the speed of 40 km / h, which is not inferior to that of a ship of the same size.

A barrier to both "environmental measures" and "practicality"

We developed "Tsuneishi Craft & Facilities" with about 50 employees in Onomichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture, facing the Seto Inland Sea.

A group company of Tsuneishi Holdings, which owns the major shipbuilding company Tsuneishi Shipbuilding, and specializes in the construction of small vessels such as passenger ships, fishing boats, and research vessels of government agencies.

This company has strengthened its awareness of environmental measures in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake, and has built four motorized ships powered by electricity for about 10 years.

It is active as a pleasure boat in Osaka and Toyama.

However, if you try to run a long distance such as a remote island route, you have to load a large battery to store electricity on the ship, which leads to a reduction in the number of passengers.

In addition, the issue of slow speed has been highlighted.

Achieving both "reduction of carbon dioxide" and "practicality of ships" has been an issue for many years.

To solve these problems, the next step was to utilize hydrogen.

In 2014, Toyota Motor Corporation commercialized a fuel cell vehicle powered by hydrogen.

With this as a trigger, I thought that the use of hydrogen would expand and the development of social infrastructure would progress.

President Jun Kamihara, President of Shipbuilding Company

"At first, I was skeptical about the spread of hydrogen, but when I saw the movement of fuel cell vehicles, I thought that the hydrogen society would seriously integrate into our lives. I thought that hydrogen was a promising next energy source for building a ship with a strong power. "

Hydrogen and light oil First of all, "co-firing"

Hydrogen is said to be the "ultimate clean energy" because it does not emit carbon dioxide when burned.

On the other hand, technical handling is difficult and hydrogen fuel engines for ships have not yet been put into practical use.

The company chose a method called "co-firing" to burn not only hydrogen but also light oil, which is a common fuel, as a stepping stone to acquire hydrogen technology.

Hydrogen is light and has a low density, so its volume is large.

If you want to run with only hydrogen, you need a huge tank, but if you use a co-firing engine, you can save space for the tank and secure space for passengers.

In addition, this method allows you to run on another fuel, light oil, even if you run out of hydrogen.

It can also address the issue of underdeveloped infrastructure for supplying hydrogen.

The engine was procured from a Belgian shipping company that has a proven track record in Europe.

The ratio of hydrogen to fuel is up to 50%.

It is said that this will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by half.

What to do to ensure safety

We also worked to ensure the safety of the tanks on which it is mounted due to the “flammable” nature of hydrogen.

However, although there are national guidelines for "fuel cell ships" that use hydrogen as fuel for power generation, there are no strict rules for ships that directly burn hydrogen to run the engine like this time.

Where to stack hydrogen tanks and how to avoid the risk of gas leaks.

What should I do if there is a leak?

Discussions were repeated from the ship design stage.

The tank containing hydrogen can be easily replaced and is installed at the rear end away from passengers and occupants.

If a gas leak occurs, a warning will be displayed on the cockpit and the ship will stop automatically.

In addition, we have created a mechanism to prevent gas from staying on board in the event of a gas leak.

The piping is double-structured so that even if the inner piping is damaged, gas will pass through the outer piping and be scattered outside the ship.

This shipbuilding company wants to proceed with research and development that uses next-generation energy such as ammonia and LNG in addition to hydrogen so that it can handle various ship sizes and operating distances.

President Kamihara

"We have taken a big step here that will lead to the next step in building a ship that is 100% hydrogen and a ship that runs on another energy source. want to go"

There are also circumstances where decarbonization is difficult to proceed

Such decarbonization efforts are also an issue for the shipbuilding industry as a whole.

The government has set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 46% towards 2030 compared to 2013.

Domestic transportation-related carbon dioxide emissions are 86.2% for automobiles.

Passenger ships and freighters (coastal vessels) account for 4.9%, which is almost the same as railways and aviation.

Regarding coastal vessels, discussions on the development of next-generation vessels have finally begun this year with experts and industry groups at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

There are circumstances in which it is difficult for coastal vessels to take measures.

There are many small and medium-sized enterprises, and it is difficult to make capital investment and development in the environmental field.

Furthermore, ships are basically "made-to-order", which is made after receiving a request from the shipowner, rather than selling after making it.

It is said that the construction cost of a ship is hundreds of millions to billions of yen per ship, and even if the environmental performance is improved, the cost will be added, so it is unknown whether it will lead to an order from the shipowner.

Can you ride the "wave" with your technical skills?

The construction cost of this "hydrobingo" is 1.5 times higher than that of a conventional ship.

Part of the cost was subsidized by Hiroshima Prefecture, but most of it is at my own expense.

To develop the market, we first build our own ship.

This time, if we didn't receive an order, we could do it ourselves, and this shipbuilding company established a new company jointly with a Belgian shipping company, and we became the shipowner ourselves.

Eventually, the country was once involved in the operation of this ship.

As part of the Ministry of the Environment's business, it is used to verify how to utilize hydrogen emitted from the factories of chemical manufacturers in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

After that, it is being considered to use it as a pleasure boat with the involvement of private companies.

A ship that plays an important role in carrying people and carrying cargo.

I felt that the ability to utilize new energy such as hydrogen depends on how the industry as a whole and the government that supports the efforts are in line.

I would like to pay attention to whether Japan can overcome the wave of "decarbonization", which has become a big swell in the world, by demonstrating Japan's technological capabilities, which was once said to be a "shipbuilding power".

Hiroshima Broadcasting Station Reporter

Yusuke Goto

Joined in 2012

After working at Saitama Station and Kagoshima Station, from last fall, Hiroshima Station Fukuyama Branch