Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries said it has developed what it says is the world’s largest cargo containment system for use on liquefied hydrogen carriers.
The shipbuilder said in a statement it received approval in principle for the system which offers a 40,000 cbm capacity per tank from compatriot classification society ClassNK.
KHI said it designed the new system to contain liquefied hydrogen, reduced to a temperature of –253°C and one eight-hundredth its initial volume, for shipping by sea in large amounts.
The system uses design, construction but also safety technologies fostered through building of the Suiso Frontier, a 1,250-cbm liquefied hydrogen carrier built by KHI.
In addition, the system enables transportation of liquefied hydrogen in large amounts thanks to tank capacity on par with tanks used on large liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, the shipbuilder said.
Also, it features a newly developed heat insulation system that mitigates boil-off gas (BOG) which occurs in response to heat ingress, KHI said.
Kawasaki developed the system as part of a project with financial support from NEDO technology development project.
The company is currently working on a large, 160,000-cbm liquefied hydrogen carrier featuring four tanks.
The carrier should start commercial operations by the middle of the 2020s, according to KHI.