MOL To Develop Hydrogen & Wind Powered Vessel Design

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Monday November 30, 2020

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) is looking to develop a novel zero-emission vessel design centred around wind and hydrogen power.

The so-called the "Wind Hunter Project" includes several corporate-academic partners including Graduate School of Frontier Sciences of The University of Tokyo, West Japan Fluid Engineering Laboratory Co., Ltd., and Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK).

The design seeks to incorporate sailing technology being developed as part of MOLs existing Wind Challenger project, and combine it with hydrogen carriers and fuel cells.

Notably, the design envisages that the hydrogen will be generated onboard using a power generation turbine ultimately driven by wind power.

"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 about the application of supplying hydrogen generated at sea for onshore use," says MOL.

The project group held its first meeting this month.

The news comes as part a sharp uptick in such projects as the industry looks to develop zero and low emissions vessels to meet the IMO 2030 and IMO 2050 targets. 

Indeed, also today a separate group of players announced the start of a joint development project (JDP) aiming to produce a series of energy efficient vessel designs also featuring wind power.