MAN Cryo has announced the development of a marine fuel-gas system for liquefied hydrogen developed in close cooperation with Fjord1 and Multi Maritime in Norway.

Multi Maritime’s hydrogen vessel design for Fjord1, including the fully integrated hydrogen fuel gas system, has been granted preliminary approval in principle DNV-GL.

MAN Cryo developed the system design in-house at its headquarters in Gothenburg in close cooperation with the shipowner, Fjord1, and ship designer, Multi Maritime, in Norway.

According to a prepared statement, the system has a scalable design that allows easy adaptation for different shipping types, sizes and conditions. The design is suited for both above- and below-deck applications, offering ship designers the flexibility to optimize their designs in relation to efficiency, and to cargo or passenger space.

 MAN Cryo, which is a division of MAN Energy Solutions, has long experience with cryogenic gases and solutions for storage and distribution. The company has made numerous hydrogen installations over the years on land that, in combination with its extensive experience from marine fuel-gas systems for LNG, have enabled it to design the new system.

Liquefied hydrogen has a temperature of -253° Celsius and is one of the coldest cryogenic gases, which places system components and materials under extreme stresses. Another design challenge has been hydrogen’s explosive nature, with the engineering team accordingly placing top priority on safety.

Once liquefied, hydrogen is reduced to 1/800th of its volume, compared to that of its gas phase, facilitating distribution. As a fuel, hydrogen does not release any CO2 and can play an important role in the transition to a clean, low-carbon, energy system. Liquefied hydrogen can be used to charge batteries for electrical propulsion via fuel-cell technology.

MAN Cryo stated that it sees a bright future for hydrogen applications globally as part of its target of achieving zero fossil emissions within the marine sector by 2050. In particular, Norway is currently developing several promising hydrogen applications.

MAN Cryo offers systems for the storage, distribution and handling of liquefied gases, including LNG. It supplied the world’s first LNG fuel-gas system for the Glutra ferry in Norway in 1999, a vessel that is still operational to this day. More recently, in 2013, MAN Cryo supplied the world’s first bunker vessel, the SeaGas, with operations in Stockholm, Sweden. The design for the conversion of the SeaGas was also provided by Multi Maritime.