As the shipping industry increasingly explores new initiatives to meet the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) ambitious 2050 zero emissions target, Mitsui OSK Lines has revealed its involvement in a wide-ranging corporate-academic partnership championing the cause.
Called the ‘Wind Hunter Project’, its objective is to find new applications for hydrogen fuel and wind power.
It combines wind propulsion sailing technology and wind energy converted to generate a stable supply of hydrogen. “The project team aims to give a new and first step to realise a decarbonised and hydrogen society,” according to an MOL statement.
“This combination of sail and hydrogen technology will enable vessels to sail on schedule even in the periods of low wind and the project team plans to study the application of supplying hydrogen generated at sea for onshore use. Both of these applications are aimed at creating a zero-emission business free of any greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,” says the statement.
As a first step, the project team will conduct a feasibility study using a sailing yacht and verify the function and performance of a series of cycle operations i.e. turbine power generation, hydrogen generation/storage and fuel cell-related propulsion.
The next step will be a demonstration using a larger vessel.
“One of the measures in the MOL Group Environmental Vision 2.0 is to deploy commercial ‘Net GHG Zero Emissions' deep-sea vessels by 2030," said a spokesman for the line.
MOL’s partners in the initiative include a range of experts in maritime research and technology.