Insights on the use and storage of ammonia in different vessel designs
Conference paper presented at RINA Scaling Decarbonisation Solutions: Reducing Emissions by 2030
A number of ‘green’ fuels are under active consideration by the maritime industry, including ammonia. Although shipping has extensive experience of designing, building and operating vessels that operate on hydrocarbon fuels, ammonia’s toxicity presents a new hazard and raises serious safety concerns.
Quantitative risk assessment (QRA) is an analytical tool that has been widely used in other industries, but limited use in the maritime sector to date. The technique can provide valuable insights into the risk profile of the systems studied, leading to recommendations for safety improvements.
In a recent collaborative study between Lloyd’s Register Maritime Decarbonisation Hub and Maersk McKinney Moller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, QRA has been applied to three ammonia-fuelled vessel reference designs: a containership, tanker and bulk carrier with different storage systems –fully refrigerated, semi pressurized and fully pressurized. This paper provides an outline of the QRA method used and presents examples of the results obtained.