A Comparison of Alternative Cryogenic Fuels for Regional Marine Transportation from the Perspective of Safety

Abstract

Marine industry has been forced to move towards sustainable fuels. Cryogenic gases as Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and ammonia (LNH3) can be the solution for fuel storage and transportation even for remote reservoir. Besides liquefied hydrogen (LH2) seems to be a long-term solution, but several studies are addressed to this new opportunity. To deal with intensive use of these three fuels, a detailed comparison for the technical, economic and environmental point of view is strongly needed. Nevertheless, so far, a full understanding on the complex phenomena characterizing the accidental release of LNG, LH2 and LNH3 in harbour environment has not been assessed. In this paper, a comparison of the three fuels for the safety perspective, i.e., the hazards and the consequences of accidental release, is shown, considering storage systems which can be possibly installed on small ships such as ferries, trailers, cabin cruiser, small cargos, and leisure.