Image credit: Pharos Marine
Egyptian naval architecture firm Pharos Marine has designed a 60 meter superyacht powered by hydrogen combustion engine.
The yacht carries 220,000 liters of liquid hydrogen fuel and 170,000 liters of diesel fuel.
The sperm whale body form is stream lined and flow around its body has excellent hydrodynamic properties and therefore has been adopted as a hull model for the superyacht ORCAGENO. The yacht is based around an advanced slender hull form with an axe bow, offering lower resistance due to low angle of entrance, superior sea-keeping, minimized wave slamming, decreased level of peak vertical accelerations over conventional hull forms, and leading to long distance, range up to 13000 nautical miles. The hull design is to have a minimal surface and hull wake, thus reducing its impact on sensitive marine life as well as shoreline erosion.
The hull is propelled by hydrogen diesel-electric system used for the first time in the marine field offering totally new concept for how beneficial hydrogen fuel can be for superyachts. The superiority of hydrogen fuel is that it contains three times the energy to be found in diesel fuel as well as it has no carbon monoxide or dioxide in the exhaust (zero carbon foot print).
High safety standards are applied for hydrogen tanks to provide reliable operation conditions during loading and consumption of hydrogen fuel. The tanks are well isolated and fabricated from stress resistant material connected to each other by means of pipes and valves with sensors to indicate any leakage of hydrogen gas with reliable shut down emergency system to ensure safety all the time.
The propulsion system uses a generator driven by hydrogen-diesel internal combustion engine which can be operated by either hydrogen or diesel oil to provide power for the Azipod units, preferable due to low noise, low vibration, excellent harbor maneuvering and passenger comfort. As a result, wide ranges can be obtained for hydrogen and diesel operation modes, at speed of 10 knot, operating on hydrogen mode, it can reach more than 3500 nautical miles and at speed of 18 knot it can reach more than 1800 nautical miles. The forward slender spaces in the yacht are used efficiently for the storage of hydrogen tanks and tender boat.
Image credit: Pharos Marine
