Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries has recently received basic design approval from compatriot classification society ClassNK for a for a large liquefied hydrogen carrier.
The approval in principle for the 160,000 cbm liquefied hydrogen tanker follows the same approval KHI won in April last year for the cargo containment system.
In the meantime, the world’s first liquefied hydrogen carrier built by KHI, Suiso Frontier, completed its maiden delivery from Australia to Japan.
However, this 346 meters long new carrier would be much larger then Suiso Frontier that has a capacity of only 1250 cbm.
The approved liquefied hydrogen carrier would have four 40,000 cbm tanks that would utilize a newly developed insulation system that minimizes boil-off gas (BOG), according to KHI.
Also, the propulsion system includes a boiler and steam turbine plant capable of operating using hydrogen as fuel, and a dual-fuel propulsion system that makes use of natural BOG as fuel to power the ship.
KHI said it has developed this vessel as part of a subsidized project by NEDO and is currently carrying out more in-depth design with an eye to commercial operations starting in the mid-2020s.