Page 12 - EurOil Week 30 2021

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UK developer unveils plans for world’s

first liquid hydrogen bunkering facility

UK UK firm Unitrove has announced plans to build significant factor in the long run.”
the world’s first bunkering facility for liquid Unitrove delivered the UK’s first LNG bun-
While overlooked hydrogen, which it believes will play a vital role kering facility at Tessport in Yorkshire in 2015,
in shipping, liquid in decarbonising larger-scale shipping. and believes that hydrogen will one day be recog-
hydrogen has been The company said on July 23 it planned to nised as a global commodity that will be traded
used for decades as showcase its liquid hydrogen technology at in the same way that natural gas is today.
the fuel of choice for the upcoming UN COP26 conference in Glas- “The bunker fuel market is worth an esti-
launching rockets and gow, Scotland, due to take place in November. mated $120bn, so there is huge opportunity not
satelllites into space. Compared to electricity and gaseous hydro- only in environmental and social terms, but also
gen, liquid hydrogen has seen far less com- financially,” Lua said.
mercial attention as a solution for reducing
emissions from the shipping industry. But Shell and shipping
Unitrove said the fuel could potentially fill the Hydrogen is one of a number of future fuels
gap where electricity and compressed hydro- pitched as solutions for decarbonising global
gen fall short, specifically in the propulsion of shipping – an industry that has for decades relied
larger-sized vessels. on fuel oil as its primary fuel. But investments
While overlooked in shipping, liquid hydro- in hydrogen propulsion are still at an early stage,
gen has been used for decades as the fuel of and the fuel is yet to demonstrate that it is com-
choice for launching rockets and satellites into mercially viable and scalable.
space. It is often stored at the cryogenic temper- LNG by contrast offers shippers a nearer-term
atures of minus 253 degrees Celsius. solution for reducing how much greenhouse gas
“We already see very early signs of light-duty (GHG) emissions they produce. It produces vir-
vessels being battery-driven or powered by com- tually no sulphur oxides and particulate matter,
pressed gaseous hydrogen, but liquid hydrogen and according to industry association SEA-LNG,
will allow us to serve the heavier portion of the it produces up to 21% less GHG emissions versus
shipping fleet, where we hope to have a much fuel oils on a well-to-wake basis.
larger impact,” Unitrove CEO Steven Lua said Royal Dutch Shell noted last week that LNG
in a statement. “We are also exploring options was the lowest emissions fuel widely available
including ammonia, liquid organic hydrogen today. It was announcing a new partnership to
carriers, and solid hydrogen in the form of help Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) decar-
sodium borohydride. However, we understand bonise its operations. The pair will achieve this
that priority is currently being given to the devel- using LNG as a near-term solution, while con-
opment of international standards and regula- sidering the use of hydrogen and methanol fur-
tions for pure hydrogen, and this could play a ther ahead. ™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 30 29•July•2021