Zero-Emission Multi-Fuel Station (ZEMFS) for Hydrogen and Electric Small Craft

The Little Ships of Dunkirk were about 850 private boats that sailed from Ramsgate, England, to Dunkirk, France, between May 26 and June 4, 1940, as part of Operation Dynamo, helping to rescue more than 336,000 British and French soldiers who were trapped on the beaches at Dunkirk during the Second World War. This epitomised the importance of small craft to the marine coastal industry in the UK as it is surrounded by waters.

In 2019 there are 5911 UK registered fishing vessels and 80% of the UK fleet is made up of vessels of under 10 metres. Vessels over 24 metres account for just 4%. Around 12,000 fishers work in the UK registered vessels and 43% vessels are in England and around 42% from Scottish vessels.

Waterborne transport accounts for 13% of GHG emissions in the EU and 9.8% rise according to the 4th IMO GHG study. Emissions from UK international shipping bunkers were estimated to be 6.1 MtCO2e in 2020, a decrease of 17.8% from the 2019 level. This is the second lowest annual figure since these estimates began in 1990 and was due to the large fall in shipping traffic that occurred following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, 24% of net GHG emissions are from the transport sector which accounted for 97.2MtCO2.

There are several alternative fuels to enable the decarbonisation of UK shipping, namely hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, electric and possibly others. Hydrogen is the nearest sustainable fuel in the UK with vast offshore and coastal land providing energy from wind, solar and waves.

To decarbonise the operation of waterborne small crafts, the following had to be addressed.

1. The safety of storage of hydrogen and ammonia onboard vessels
2. The continuous availability of zero carbon fuel for bunkering (LH2) or (LNH3)
3. The willingness of vessel owner to convert to zero-carbon fuels

This study will lead to the development of a Zero-Emission Multi-Fuel Station (ZEMFS) that uses a single source of liquid hydrogen (LH2), to provide zero-emission fuelling of Liquid hydrogen (LH2), compressed gaseous hydrogen (CGH2) and electric charging options, at the port or harbour.

Unitrove proposed to install the facility at all UK ports and harbours and hopefully to be operational by March 2025\. The added value is that ZEMFS can fuel HGVs that serve the ports/harbour; further reducing the impact of GHG.