A consortium including GTT and TotalEnergies has signed an agreement to develop a vessel dedicated to the transport of liquid hydrogen, a gas often considered crucial for the decarbonization of various industries, but whose development is hampered by infrastructure issues.
Liquefied gas storage specialist GTT, energy giant TotalEnergies as well as LMG Marin, a naval architecture specialist, and the inspection and certification group Bureau Veritas are part of the consortium, whose project is to transport up to 150,000 cubic meters of liquefied hydrogen by sea, according to a GTT press release published Thursday.
To reach the liquid state, hydrogen must be cooled to about -253°C, which poses new challenges for storage and especially for tank insulation. Although advocated by its promoters as a response to the need to decarbonize transportation and industry, hydrogen still faces infrastructure and cost issues. In its gaseous state, the hydrogen molecule is very volatile and escapes easily.
“In the future, some continents, such as Europe, or some Asian countries may need to import hydrogen on a large scale to supplement domestic production,” GTT said in its statement, adding that its large-scale transportation by sea in liquefied form “is one of the main technological challenges to be overcome.”
According to the press release, TotalEnergies will work on defining the specifications for the vessel, which will be called a “hydrogenerator”, and GTT will design the membrane containment system. LMG Marin “will define a hydrocarbon concept adapted to the specifications defined by TotalEnergies and taking into account the constraints related to the membrane containment system”, while Bureau Veritas “will perform a risk assessment and review the design in accordance with the latest regulatory requirements”, it adds.
“Collaboration between industrial players with complementary expertise reduces risks and accelerates the deployment of the hydrogen value chain,” said Mansur Zhakupov, vice president for hydrogen at TotalEnergies, quoted in the release. “GTT’s ability to design a breakthrough technology adapted to the size of a very large ship is a major step forward for the development of the hydrogen industry,” said Philippe Berterottière, CEO of GTT.
