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ˇPioneering zero-emissions vessel runs on hydrogen
ˇKelly seeks reduction in CO2 from merchant fleet
Source:
David Adam, environment correspondent
The Guardian, Monday June 16, 2008
Article history
Meandering along the Birmingham to Worcester canal, the narrowboat Ross Barlow seems an unlikely weapon in the battle against global warming. Yet according to Rex Harris, the scientist who converted the pioneering zero-emissions canal boat, it could offer a way to green the world's shipping industry.
The transport secretary, Ruth Kelly, is expected to call today for shipping to be included in emissions trading schemes, and to highlight cleaner options, including hydrogen. She will tell a meeting of the UN's International Maritime Organisation that more must be done to tackle emissions from shipping, and will call for improvements such as slowing down ships to maximise fuel efficiency and for more research into hydrogen fuel cells for power. Her intervention comes after the IMO said earlier this year that carbon pollution from the world's merchant fleet was almost three times greater than previously thought, and had reached 1.1bn tonnes of CO2, or nearly 4.5% of all global emissions of the main greenhouse gas. It is predicted to rise by 30% by 2020.
The Ross Barlow runs entirely on hydrogen, so its only direct emission is water. The hydrogen is converted to electricity in a fuel cell, which is used to either power the boat's electric motor or charge a back-up battery. Although every leading car manufacturer has produced a hydrogen vehicle, the Ross Barlow breaks new ground in the way the hydrogen is stored. There is no high-pressure gas or liquid on board - a nagging safety doubt over most existing hydrogen vehicles. Instead, the boat holds its hydrogen in a metal powder. A plaque on the side of the boat boasts it is the first of its kind in the world.
Harris said: "We think the technology would work on a larger scale, and that you could think about doing something similar on cross-channel ferries and inland waterways. Road travel has got most of the attention so far, but shipping produces a lot of dirty emissions and we need to find a replacement for fossil fuels." He added that the shipping industry was uniquely positioned to exploit his canal boat's brand of clean power. The powder store - known as a metal hydride - could offer safer and cheaper use of hydrogen, but is much heavier than simply squashing lots of the gas into a bottle, as is typically done.
This has crippled hydride use in cars, but for ships, the extra weight could be an advantage. "Ships need ballast to keep them stable," Harris said. "We took out tonnes of concrete blocks when we converted this canal boat."
The Ross Barlow, named after a Birmingham University postgraduate student who worked on the project but was killed in a hang gliding accident in 2005, keeps its hydride powder in a series of metal cylinders at less than 10 bar pressure. Reducing the pressure slightly frees the hydrogen from the powder and allows the gas to be channelled to the fuel cell. When all the hydrogen is exhausted, the powder store needs to be recharged with the gas. With colleagues across the UK and in Switzerland, the Birmingham team is now focusing on building a hydrogen canal boat from scratch. The Ross Barlow is a converted British Waterways maintenance vessel. Harris says a purpose-built craft could be four to five times more efficient.
So could we soon be sailing across the Atlantic on a hydride-power ship? "New York's a bit of a step at the moment," he said. "I'm thinking more of Wolverhampton." |
