Optimising the Design of a Hybrid Fuel Cell/Battery and Waste Heat Recovery System for Retrofitting Ship Power Generation

Onur Yuksel, Eduardo Blanco-Davis (), Andrew Spiteri, David Hitchmough, Viknash Shagar, Maria Carmela Di Piazza, Marcello Pucci, Nikolaos Tsoulakos, Milad Armin and Jin Wang
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Onur Yuksel: Liverpool Logistics Offshore and Marine Research Institute (LOOM), School of Engineering, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK
Eduardo Blanco-Davis: Liverpool Logistics Offshore and Marine Research Institute (LOOM), School of Engineering, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK
Andrew Spiteri: Liverpool Logistics Offshore and Marine Research Institute (LOOM), School of Engineering, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK
David Hitchmough: Liverpool Logistics Offshore and Marine Research Institute (LOOM), School of Engineering, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK
Viknash Shagar: Liverpool Logistics Offshore and Marine Research Institute (LOOM), School of Engineering, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK
Maria Carmela Di Piazza: National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Marine Engineering (INM), Via Ugo La Malfa 153, 90146 Palermo, Italy
Marcello Pucci: National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute of Marine Engineering (INM), Via Ugo La Malfa 153, 90146 Palermo, Italy
Nikolaos Tsoulakos: Laskaridis Shipping Co., Ltd., 5 Xenias Str. and Ch. Trikoupi, Kifissia, 14562 Athens, Greece
Milad Armin: Enki Marine Technology Consultancy, Unit 5 Reliance House, 20 Water Street, Liverpool L2 8AA, UK
Jin Wang: Liverpool Logistics Offshore and Marine Research Institute (LOOM), School of Engineering, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 2, 1-40

Abstract: This research aims to assess the integration of different fuel cell (FC) options with battery and waste heat recovery systems through a mathematical modelling process to determine the most feasible retrofit solutions for a marine electricity generation plant. This paper distinguishes itself from existing literature by incorporating future cost projection scenarios involving variables such as carbon tax, fuel, and equipment prices. It assesses the environmental impact by including upstream emissions integrated with the Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) and the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) calculations. Real-time data have been collected from a Kamsarmax vessel to build a hybrid marine power distribution plant model for simulating six system designs. A Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methodology ranks the scenarios depending on environmental benefits, economic performance, and system space requirements. The findings demonstrate that the hybrid configurations, including solid oxide (SOFC) and proton exchange (PEMFC) FCs, achieve a deduction in equivalent CO 2 of the plant up to 91.79% and decrease the EEXI and the average CII by 10.24% and 6.53%, respectively. Although SOFC-included configurations show slightly better economic performance and require less fuel capacity, the overall performance of PEMFC designs are ranked higher in MCDM analysis due to the higher power density.

Keywords: maritime decarbonization; proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC); phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC); solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC); ship electrification plant; multi-criteria decision making (MCDM); lithium-ion battery; waste heat recovery systems (WHRS) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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