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january 12, 2022 - Yanmar

Yanmar Develops Maritime Hydrogen Fuel Cell System Towards a Carbon Neutral Society

Recent years have seen increasing efforts, all over the world, to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions towards the realization of a carbon neutral society. 123 countries and one region including Japan have already announced the goal of achieving net zero GHG emissions by 2050, and policies to reduce use of fossil fuels are being formulated around the world towards achieving this goal. For example, the European Commission recently announced its intention to ban the sale of new cars with gasoline and diesel-powered engines by 2035. At the same time, hydrogen is attracting worldwide attention as a clean energy source that can replace fossil fuels.
Yanmar has developed a fuel cell technology that uses hydrogen to produce electricity towards the realization of a carbon neutral society.
This article introduces the development of the maritime hydrogen fuel cell system for ships and its demonstration test. Behind the scenes, there was a lot of collaboration not only inside the #Yanmar Group, but also with the government, local authorities, and private corporations representing related industries.

The history of Yanmar’s maritime hydrogen fuel cell system development

In the maritime sector, the International Maritime Organization adopted a GHG reduction strategy in 2018, aiming to achieve zero emissions from international marine transportation as early as possible this century, as well as to improve emissions per unit of transport by at least 40% by 2030 and reduce total GHG emissions by at least 50% by 2050, both compared to 2008 levels. Recently, there have been discussions about moving up the schedule. At the same time, there are movements towards reducing NOx emissions in urban areas, environmentally protected areas, and large ports especially in Europe and the U.S.
Yanmar participated in projects funded by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) , and the Ministry of the Environment (MoE) to develop technology for maritime fuel cell systems, conduct demonstration tests of a fuel cell powered boat, and study shore-to-ship hydrogen refueling procedures.

Maruyama: From 2015 to 2017, #Yanmar joined a project to research the development of “Safety Guidelines for Hydrogen Fuel Cell Ships”. Then, we joined a project to develop a “Roadmap for Deployment of Hydrogen Fuels Cell for Maritime Applications” funded by the Ministry of the Environment. Building on these experiences, we started a project to develop and test a maritime hydrogen fuel cell system on a test boat in 2019, using components from Toyota MIRAI fuel cell vehicle.

Further information in the press release to download