GAMMA

Challenge
Today, long-distance maritime transport supports 80-90 percent of all global trade, and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set a goal for the maritime sector to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to around net-zero by 2050.

A significant part of the maritime challenge relates to the fossil fuels used by large vessels, so there is substantial climate-friendly potential in transitioning ocean-going transport to green fuels in the future.

The five-year GAMMA project is working on technological solutions that can be part of this transition.

Solution
The partners in the innovation project GAMMA are retrofitting a cargo ship – a bulk carrier – with innovative technologies aimed at reducing the vessel’s climate footprint. The demonstration will prove that it is possible to replace auxiliary generators with a new fuel system that runs on e-fuels.

The project plan is to install a new fuel system on the ship. Ammonia and green methanol will be bunkered on the vessel and then converted into hydrogen using cracking and reforming technologies. The hydrogen will be purified and then converted into electricity using a fuel cell, which will provide power to the vessel, thereby replacing the use of auxiliary generators that run on fossil fuel.

The partners are also addressing the fact that part of the energy needed for conversion to hydrogen will be supplied by renewable energy – in this case, solar panels that will be installed on the cargo ship’s hatch covers.

After proof of concept in GAMMA, the next step will be to prepare the main engines on a ship for a full energy transition.

Overall, the partnership expects that the ship in GAMMA could become a green game-changer for the maritime sector.

Partners

• Verkís (Iceland)
• ANT Topic (Italy)
• Fraunhofer (Germany)
• Aurelia (Netherlands)
• Ballard (Denmark)
• Sea Green Engineering (Italy)
• SINTEF (Norway)
• Solbian (Italy)
• Amethyste (France)
• Elkon Elektrik (Turkey)
• Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
• ARM Engineering (France)
• RINA (Germany)
• Amnis Pura (Portugal)
• Dotcom (Italy)
• Energy Cluster Denmark (Denmark)

More information at www.green-gamma.eu