Synergies for Green Transformation of Inland and Coastal Shipping

Project Information

SYNERGETICS

Grant agreement ID: 101096809

DOI

10.3030/101096809

Project closed

EC signature date 9 December 2022

Start date 1 January 2023

End date 30 June 2026

Funded under

• Climate, Energy and Mobility

Total cost

€ 4 623 532,80

EU contribution

€ 3 765 258,68

Coordinated by

ENTWICKLUNGSZENTRUM FUR SCHIFFSTECHNIK UND TRANSPORTSYSTEME EV
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SYNERGETICS (Synergies for Green Transformation of Inland and Coastal Shipping)

Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2024-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The extent of shipping decarbonization and reduction of air pollutant emissions remains limited, despite the development of greening technologies. This is particularly valid for existing inland vessels and coastal ships. A large scale retrofit of the fleet would accelerate the greening transformation. However, there is a wide variety of ship types with different power and energy demands. Alternative fuels require more space on board and/or more frequent bunkering. The infrastructure for such fuels is scarce, and their future price levels are uncertain. Most measures are associated with considerable investments. In addition, the existing regulatory framework does not provide an adequate support. The question arises: which retrofit solution is the most adequate for a ship of certain dimensions, type, and operational profile?

To answer this question, SYNERGETICS (Synergies for Green Transformation of Inland and Coastal Shipping):
• creates synergies between all involved stakeholders with the goal to provide a catalogue of retrofit solutions which can accelerate the green transformation of inland vessels and coastal ships.
• demonstrates the greening capacities of retrofit by implementing hydrogen and methanol usage in internal combustion engines;
• addresses the greening potential of hydrodynamics improvements;
• contributes to electrification of fleets by further developing swappable battery container services and power management systems.

The main activities of SYNERGETICS are:
• Exploration, to explore the techno-economic possibilities for implementation of alternative propulsion solutions in the waterborne transport.
• Synchronization, to build upon past, ongoing and upcoming pilots.
• Demonstration, to demonstrate the viability of retrofit solutions for different sea-going and inland navigation vessels.
• Integration, to merge the knowledge collected in Exploration, Synchronization, and Demonstration and to develop the Catalogue of the greening retrofit technologies.
• Acceleration, to accelerate the rate of uptake for innovations flowing from SYNERGETICS.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Achievements of reporting period 1:
Exploration: a comprehensive framework was established to model energy carrier pathways, with a focus on costs and emissions for the years 2020, 2035, and 2050, and a detailed inventory of technical solutions was finalized.

Synchronization: a database containing a wide range of relevant information on past, ongoing and future pilots has been created and published.

Demonstration: an overview of energy carriers and technical solutions for the Power, Propulsion, and Energy (PPE) systems of the demonstrators has been created using Ship Propulsion, Power and Energy Concepts (SPEC) analysis. Furthermore, progress has been made with the demonstration of utilization of hydrogen in dual fuel internal combustion engines, battery-electric propulsion, and further development of the power management system for ships with hydrogen fuel cells. In addition, progress has been made with respect to methanol in internal combustion engines (ICE) which concerns the experimental comparison of two different approaches to the utilization of methanol in ICE: dual fuel methanol engine and compression-ignited methanol engine.

Integration: the database for the Catalogue of the greening retrofit solutions has been finalized. The completion of the database enables the development of the fact sheets for the Catalogue.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

SYNERGETICS provides progress beyond the state-of-art on demonstration of retrofit solutions intended for reduction of GHG emissions and involving climate neutral fuels making vessels GHG emission free by demonstrating the following retrofit technologies on inland and coastal ships.

• The utilization of hydrogen in dual fuel internal combustion engines on a crew transfer vessel.
• The utilization of methanol in dual fuel internal combustion engines on an inland chemical tanker.
• The utilization of methanol in internal combustion engines by converting two marine high speed diesel engines: one to a dual fuel engine and the other to a compression ignited methanol engine. The engines were tested in a engine dyno and compared with respect to a range of performance parameters (power output, fuel efficiency, emissions, etc.).
• The electrification of the fleets based on exchangeable battery packs on an inland container vessel sailing on regular shuttle routes between inland and deep-sea ports.
• The electrification of the fleets by developing optimized power and energy management strategies and software tools to enable predictive maintenance at the propulsion system level of hybrid propulsion (hydrogen, fuel cells) vessels.
• The reduction of energy demand by means of aft-ship replacement including hydrodynamically optimised interaction of hull, propulsor and waterway.

SYNERGETICS provides progress beyond the state-of-art on establishment of an up-to-date catalogue of suitable solutions for a wide variety of ship types and operation scenarios in support of ship owners and policy makers, by developing the following tools.
• Catalogue of Greening Retrofit Solutions will describe and arrange the suitable retrofit technologies for greening of the fleets, and outline their maturity, TRL, possibilities for deployment (infrastructure), cost-effectiveness, etc.
• Handbook for Implementation of Greening Retrofit Solutions will describe: the steps necessary to technically implement a retrofit technology described in the Catalogue, the impact of the retrofit on the operational profile of vessels, the actions which vessel owners would have to undertake to obtain the regulatory approval for implementation of the selected retrofit technology.

SYNERGETICS Activities

SYNERGETICS Logo with lettering