Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.(Kawasaki) has placed an order with Nikkiso Co., Ltd.(Nikkiso)  for a pump unit of hydrogen-fueled ships. These will be delivered in 2026 and will be manufactured from technologies designed for LNG-fueled ships and hydrogen stations.

This project was first proposed to NEDO’s GI Fund in 2021 by Kawasaki, due to the necessity to reduce the shipping sector’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Within this project, Kawaski is one of three companies developing a Marine Hydrogen Fuel Tank and Fuel Supply System (MHFS) and all of these engines include a variety of power ranges and applications. Demonstration operations will begin for the ship which has a low speed two-stroke hydrogen-fueled engine in 2028.

Kawaski’s pump unit will act as a key component within the MHFS that provides high-pressure hydrogen to a low speed two-stroke hydrogen-fueled engine. It is essential to the system as, through various pumps, the system boosts the pressure within the process of supplying liquefied hydrogen to the evaporator from the hydrogen fuel tank, to the level that is required by the engine.

The hydrogen-fueled ship that has been selected for this installation will have a main propulsion engine that is a low speed two-stroke hydrogen-dual fueled engine and it will also be the first ship worldwide to receive an Approval in Principle (AiP) from Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK) for a ship that has the same kind of engine as its primary propulsion engine.

This project is part of the wider project, ‘Development of marine hydrogen engines and MHFS’ which was taken over by ‘Green Innovation(GI) Fund/ Next-generation Ship Development’ of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and its focus is to create the ‘world's first hydrogen-fueled ship.’

Supplying these pump units to this project, means that Nikkiso is playing an active role in helping to achieve carbon neutrality in international shipping. Clean energy & Industrial Gases Group (CE&IG) are part of Nikkiso’s Industrial division and these companies will be conducting the designing and manufacturing part of the project.