MOL in world’s first onshore supply of ship-produced green hydrogen

Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) has claimed a world-first onshore supply of green hydrogen produced on a sailing ship.

As part of its “Wind Hunter” project, the Japanese shipowner used a demonstration yacht, Winz Maru, to produce green hydrogen from offshore wind and deliver it to the central breakwater area of Tokyo.

The successful delivery follows multiple previous tests in Omura Bay between 2021 and 2023 to produce, store, and use hydrogen onboard the yacht.

The green hydrogen produced onboard the Winz Maru is converted to methylcyclohexane (MCH) and supplied to onshore facilities.

In the next stages, MOL said it plans to produce about 100 Nm³ of hydrogen (the equivalent of about 200 litres of MCH) this year and supply electricity to a trailer home and other facilities.

The company is also working on supplying hydrogen and studying a large demonstration vessel for the Wind Hunter.

The principle behind the Wind Hunter is that when the wind blows strongly, sails capture it to propel the vessel forward. In between those gusts, turbines in the water spin and generate electricity and produce hydrogen stored in a tank in the form of MCH. When the wind is weak, the ship uses that hydrogen as a fuel cell, delivering electricity to power electric propellers and drive the ship forward.

“Assuming that the hydrogen value chain will be established domestically in the future, we aim to construct and commercialise a large demonstration vessel as early as the 2030s,” MOL said in a release.