Speakers
Description
The marine industry consumes about 300 million tonnes Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) annually (Jacoby 2022), emitting 3% of total global climate gas emissions (King 2022). Worse, the emissions are expected to grow to more than 10%. Then, add local- and regional shipping using marine diesel oil.
Currently, green ammonia is the focal point as a possible alternative to HFO to decarbonize shipping (King 2022). Yet, the amount of electricity required to produce the equivalent amount of green ammonia is about 7,800 TWh/yr, or more than 2.7 times the total EU electricity production in 2022 (Emblemsvåg 2024). The light water reactors have historically demonstrated that they are too costly for this purpose, so here we present the Generation IV SMR technologies that have the potential to commercially enable zero-emission shipping. Indeed, some Generation IV SMRs may outcompete HFO on costs (Emblemsvåg 2021). The paper will end by discussing the challenges to solve.
References
Emblemsvåg, J. (2021). "How Thorium-based Molten Salt Reactor can provide clean, safe and cost-effective technology for deep-sea shipping." Marine Technology Socieity Journal55(1):pp.56-72.
Emblemsvåg, J. (2024). Electricity is Easy – Fuels are Hard: Lessons from the Maritime Industry. Handbook of Power Systems. M. Freunek and O. Doleski: Accepted for publication.
Jacoby, M. (2022). The shipping industry looks for green fuels.Chemical & Engineering News, American Chemical Society.100: https://cen.acs.org/environment/greenhouse-gases/shipping-industry-looks-green-fuels/100/i108.
King, A. (2022). Emissions-free sailing is full steam ahead for ocean-going shipping. Horizon - the EU Research & Innovation Magazine, European Commission. https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/horizon-magazine/emissions-free-sailing-full-steam-ahead-ocean-going-shipping.
| Country OR International Organization | Norway |
|---|---|
| Email address | jan.emblemsvag@ntnu.no |
| Confirm that the work is original and has not been published anywhere else | YES |
