World's First Fuel Cell Ship Docks in Copenhagen

Strange feeling, just began reading "Critical Path" by R. Buckminster Fuller where he is commenting on how we can change from energy wasteful consumption to energy efficient use by changing our ways and using our new technological advances to advantage.
- LRK -

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R. Buckminster Fuller - "Critical Path", Kiyoshi Kuromiya, Adjuvant
Introduction p. xxiii-xxiv

... Continuing to attempt to fit our late-twentieth-century astronautical man-on-Moon-visiting capability into a ninetieth-century horse-and-buggy street pattern, house-to-house-yoo-hooing life-style (and a land baron racket) is so inefficient that the overall design of humanity's present social, economic, and political structuring and the physical technology it uses wastes ninety-five out of every 100 units of the energy it consumes. (Our automobiles' reciprocating engines are only 15-percent efficient, whereas turbines are 30 percent, jet engines 60 percent, and fuel cells used by astronauts 80 percent.) In the United States, throughout all twenty-four hours of every day of the year--year after year--we have an average of two million automobiles standing in front of red stoplights with their engines going, the energy for which amounts to that generated by the full efforts of 200 million horses being completely wasted as they jump up and down going nowhere. ...
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And then I read Jun Okushi's Facebook post "World's First Fuel Cell Ship Docks in Copenhagen: Scientific American www.scientificamerican.com Can fuel cells and natural gas help reduce emissions from shipping? "
- LRK -

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http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=worlds-first-fuel-cell-ship&sc=CAT_SP_20091221
December 21, 2009
World's First Fuel Cell Ship Docks in Copenhagen
Can fuel cells and natural gas help reduce emissions from shipping?

By David Biello

COPENHAGEN—Pleasure yachts and tall ships line the wharves and quays of Nyhavn here in the Danish capital. Shipping in Denmark goes back to the Vikings and their long ships that made perilous sea crossings even beyond Greenland. Now what may be the future of shipping is docked around the corner from Nyhavn at Kvaesthusmolen pier, a bright orange and yellow North Sea supply ship from Norway dubbed "Viking Lady"—the first ship to employ a fuel cell in history.

As a result of flourishing world trade, shipping is now responsible for roughly three percent of global emissions of greenhouse gases, or more than one billion metric tons of carbon dioxide every year, along with smog-forming nitrogen oxides, acid-rain causing sulfur dioxides and soot. In fact, emissions of nitrogen oxides from one ship burning diesel in a year are greater than those from 22,000 cars. That's because ships burn bunker fuel or diesel to cleave through the waves but, according to Tor Svensen, CEO of Det Norske Veritas (DNV) Maritime, "it is possible for shipping to reduce emissions, even taking into account growth in world trade."

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But in the case of the 5,900 metric ton Viking Lady, Norwegian shipping company Eidesvik and its partners have gone further, installing a 320-kilowatt molten carbonate fuel cell that operates on liquefied natural gas (and can be reconfigured, if necessary, to run on methanol). Storage tanks for the hydrogen and carbon dioxide that gets the fuel cell started press up against the stern of the 92.2 meter-long ship (in case of explosion) as do the machines to regasify the fuel. The fuel cell operates at 650 degrees Celsius and is warm to the touch, even on a blustery, frigid day in Copenhagen's harbor.

Already, liquefied natural gas is cheaper than diesel—if you can find it. Engineer and project developer Kjell Sandaker of Eidesvik notes there are as many as 15 such fueling stations along the Norwegian coast and the bright orange Viking Lady gases up once a week as its onboard turbines also directly burn the gas to supply electricity to the engines, though they can also burn diesel if necessary. The ship's 220 cubic meter tank can hold roughly 90 metric tons of liquefied natural gas at a time.
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Fuel Cell, electric powered ships, what an idea. I hope the fuel cell test is successful and they actually use it to power the electric motors on the ship. Also note, when you read the article, that there is a motivation to use natural gas because of a tax on nitrogen oxide emissions.
- LRK -

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But the investment was also made because Norway has a tax on nitrogen oxide emissions that paid an immediate return for installing gas rather than diesel engines, says Eidesvik CEO Jan Fredrik Meling. Compared to a traditional ship, even without using the fuel cell, the Viking Lady reduces nitrogen oxide emissions by 90 percent, CO2 emissions by 20 percent and eliminates sulfur dioxide and soot emissions.
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Now if they are to make a go of it they will need to have liquid gas stations at dockside. Slight paradigm shift required and as you might have guessed, aaaah, might need some government support.
- LRK -

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Ultimately, whether the Viking Lady remains unique in the annals of shipping will depend on the political decisions that come out of the Copenhagen climate conference and in national capitals. "It will take 20 to 30 years for this technology without government support," says DNV's Tronstad. "If they want to act on climate soon, this is a technology that is available today."
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I wonder what would happen if every home used some low tech skills to get us off the power grid? I shall continue to see what R. Buckminster Fuller has to suggest.
- LRK -


Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
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http://americanhistory.si.edu/fuelcells/basics.htm
Fuel Cell Basics

Through this website we are seeking historical materials relating to fuel cells. We have constructed the site to gather information from people already familiar with the technology–people such as inventors, researchers, manufacturers, electricians, and marketers. This Basics section presents a general overview of fuel cells for casual visitors.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell
A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that produces electricity from a fuel tank. The electricity is generated through the reaction, triggered in the presence of an electrolyte, between the fuel (on the anode side) and an oxidant (on the cathode side). The reactants flow into the cell, and the reaction products flow out of it, while the electrolyte remains within it. Fuel cells can operate virtually continuously as long as the necessary flows are maintained.

Fuel cells are different from conventional electrochemical cell batteries in that they consume reactant from an external source, which must be replenished[1] – a thermodynamically open system. By contrast, batteries store electrical energy chemically and hence represent a thermodynamically closed system.

Many combinations of fuels and oxidants are possible. A hydrogen fuel cell uses hydrogen as its fuel and oxygen (usually from air) as its oxidant. Other fuels include hydrocarbons and alcohols. Other oxidants include chlorine and chlorine dioxide.[2]

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http://scitoys.com/scitoys/scitoys/echem/fuel_cell/fuel_cell.html
Build a hydrogen fuel cell.

A fuel cell is a device that converts a fuel such as hydrogen, alcohol, gasoline, or methane into electricity directly. A hydrogen fuel cell produces electricity without any pollution, since pure water is the only byproduct.

Hydrogen fuel cells are used in spacecraft and other high-tech applications where a clean, efficient power source is needed.

You can make a hydrogen fuel cell in your kitchen in about 10 minutes, and demonstrate how hydrogen and oxygen can combine to produce clean electrical power.

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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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