[Haichuan Hydrogen Energy] Kawasaki Heavy Industries completes development of cargo containment system for large liquefied hydrogen carriers

To enable the bulk maritime transport of hydrogen, it must be cooled to minus 253 degrees Celsius in order to liquefy and reduce its volume to 1/800 of its gaseous state, while remaining at these low temperatures reliably over extended periods. In response to this, Kawasaki Heavy Industries has developed a unique cargo containment system, the CC61H type, for large-scale liquefied hydrogen carriers. A spherical design is adopted to maintain a surface area smaller than the internal volume and minimize heat ingress. The system also features a double-shell structure, providing high-performance, two-stage thermal insulation. The test storage tanks designed based on the CC61H format are similar in size to those intended for large hydrogen liquefaction carriers; each ship will be equipped with 4 storage tanks of 40,000 cubic meters each, giving a total storage capacity of 160,000 cubic meters. The structural dimensions of the tank components used for testing, such as the thickness of the structural elements and the insulation materials, have been adjusted to match those of actual ships. Furthermore, the integrity of the new structure was also verified, including the workability of the assembly, welding, and insulation materials. In the final stage of the development process, Kawasaki Heavy Industries used test tanks to conduct gas displacement, cooling, and heating tests. The test results also confirmed that inert gases can be used to effectively purge the interior space of large storage tanks, thereby achieving the desired insulation performance as planned.

It is understood that Kawasaki Heavy Industries is developing a large-scale liquefied hydrogen carrier with a capacity of 160,000 cubic meters. It has a length of approximately 346 meters, a width of around 57 meters, and a draft of 9.5 meters. The ship is equipped with 4 liquefied hydrogen storage tanks, each with a capacity of 40,000 cubic meters; thus, the total storage capacity amounts to 160,000 cubic meters, allowing the ship to carry around 10,000 tons of liquefied hydrogen. In April 2022, the basic design of this type of ship was also approved by the Japanese Shipbuilding Association. In May of the same year, Kawasaki Heavy Industries completed the basic design for the world’s first marine hydrogen boiler fueled by clean energy hydrogen. This hydrogen boiler will be installed on Kawasaki Heavy Industries’ large liquefied hydrogen transport ships as part of a dual-fuel propulsion system. In November of the same year, the hydrogen dual-fuel power generation engines and related systems installed on the ship received principle approval from the Japanese Classification Society. It is understood that Kawasaki Heavy Industries began developing the world’s first dedicated ship for transporting liquefied hydrogen in 2014, leveraging its extensive experience in the design and construction of LNG ships, and using this expertise to independently develop a liquefied hydrogen storage system. At the end of last year, the world’s first liquefied hydrogen carrier, the \"SUISO FRONTIER,\" built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, embarked on its inaugural voyage. This 1,250-cubic-meter liquefied hydrogen carrier arrived in Hastings, Australia, in January this year, where it loaded hydrogen for the Australian Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) project, before returning to Kobe, Japan, on February 25 – marking the world’s first long-distance sea transport of liquefied hydrogen.