Technical and eco-environmental analysis of blue/green ammonia-fueled RO/RO ships

Searching for a new eco-friendly marine fuel has become necessary to eliminate the adverse effects arising from ships’ emissions. The current paper investigates using blue/green ammonia as a marine alternative fuel from environmental and economic points of view. A new RO/RO vessel under construction is investigated as a case study. Three propulsion systems are considered: heavy fuel diesel engine, blue/green ammonia diesel engine and blue/green solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). Environmentally, SOFC green ammonia-fueled ship is the best selection with NOx and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions’ reduction of 93.4% and 92% compared with the traditional propulsion system. Economically, SOFC blue ammonia-fueled ship will be the best selection with total ship saving cost of 5.71% and annual levelized cost of energy 0.19 $/kWh. Finally, SOFC green ammonia-fueled ship proposes to be eco-friendly with cost effectiveness of 172.92 $/ton-emissions as a step forward to achieve IMO 2030 strategy.