Marine high-temperature fuel cell power and propulsion system with integrated carbon capture: A techno-economic study

Samuel Berry; Dibyendu Roy; Sumit Roy; Anthony Paul Roskilly

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.126504

Marine high-temperature fuel cell power and propulsion system with integrated carbon capture: A techno-economic study

Samuel Berry
, Dibyendu Roy
, Sumit Roy
, Anthony Paul Roskilly

Centre for E-Mobility and Clean Growth

Durham University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

45 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This study proposes a retrofit energy system for a marine diesel oil (MDO) container vessel, integrating a methanol-fuelled internal combustion engine (ICE), molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), carbon capture system, and organic Rankine cycle (ORC). The main goal of the paper was to reduce a large container vessel's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by retrofitting the traditional MDO ICE propulsion system. Comprehensive thermodynamic and economic analyses were conducted to evaluate its performance and feasibility. The system captures 93.2 % of CO2, reducing the CO2 emission intensity (EMI) from 358.7 to 32.1 kg/MWh. While carbon capture equipment lowers the electrical efficiency by 8.4 %, the system achieves overall electrical and exergy efficiencies of 49 % and 56 %, respectively. The system meets the vessel's propulsion demand (39.9 MW) and supplies the required 4 MW auxiliary and 6 MW heating power. The levelised cost of energy (LCOE) is 0.16 $/kWh, with fuel costs accounting for 73.5 % of the LCOE. Annual revenues from CO2 sales and carbon credits are projected at $12.35 million, surpassing carbon capture costs.

Original language	English
Article number	126504
Number of pages	18
Journal	Applied Energy
Volume	400
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.126504
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2025

Bibliographical note

This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Funding

This work was supported by the UK Department for Transport, as part of the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) Programme and the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) [grant number EP/Y024605/1]. For the purpose of Open Access, the authors have applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.

Funders	Funder number
Department for Transport
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council	EP/Y024605/1
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 14 Life Below Water

Keywords

MCFC
Technoeconomic analysis
CCS
ORC
Energy system
Waste heat recovery
Hydrogen

Access to Document

10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.126504Licence: CC BY

Roy2025VoRFinal published version, 2.75 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Marine high-temperature fuel cell power and propulsion system with integrated carbon capture: A techno-economic study",

abstract = "This study proposes a retrofit energy system for a marine diesel oil (MDO) container vessel, integrating a methanol-fuelled internal combustion engine (ICE), molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), carbon capture system, and organic Rankine cycle (ORC). The main goal of the paper was to reduce a large container vessel's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by retrofitting the traditional MDO ICE propulsion system. Comprehensive thermodynamic and economic analyses were conducted to evaluate its performance and feasibility. The system captures 93.2 \% of CO2, reducing the CO2 emission intensity (EMI) from 358.7 to 32.1 kg/MWh. While carbon capture equipment lowers the electrical efficiency by 8.4 \%, the system achieves overall electrical and exergy efficiencies of 49 \% and 56 \%, respectively. The system meets the vessel's propulsion demand (39.9 MW) and supplies the required 4 MW auxiliary and 6 MW heating power. The levelised cost of energy (LCOE) is 0.16 \$/kWh, with fuel costs accounting for 73.5 \% of the LCOE. Annual revenues from CO2 sales and carbon credits are projected at \$12.35 million, surpassing carbon capture costs.",

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AU - Roy, Dibyendu

AU - Roy, Sumit

AU - Roskilly, Anthony Paul

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PY - 2025/12/1

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N2 - This study proposes a retrofit energy system for a marine diesel oil (MDO) container vessel, integrating a methanol-fuelled internal combustion engine (ICE), molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), carbon capture system, and organic Rankine cycle (ORC). The main goal of the paper was to reduce a large container vessel's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by retrofitting the traditional MDO ICE propulsion system. Comprehensive thermodynamic and economic analyses were conducted to evaluate its performance and feasibility. The system captures 93.2 % of CO2, reducing the CO2 emission intensity (EMI) from 358.7 to 32.1 kg/MWh. While carbon capture equipment lowers the electrical efficiency by 8.4 %, the system achieves overall electrical and exergy efficiencies of 49 % and 56 %, respectively. The system meets the vessel's propulsion demand (39.9 MW) and supplies the required 4 MW auxiliary and 6 MW heating power. The levelised cost of energy (LCOE) is 0.16 $/kWh, with fuel costs accounting for 73.5 % of the LCOE. Annual revenues from CO2 sales and carbon credits are projected at $12.35 million, surpassing carbon capture costs.

AB - This study proposes a retrofit energy system for a marine diesel oil (MDO) container vessel, integrating a methanol-fuelled internal combustion engine (ICE), molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), carbon capture system, and organic Rankine cycle (ORC). The main goal of the paper was to reduce a large container vessel's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by retrofitting the traditional MDO ICE propulsion system. Comprehensive thermodynamic and economic analyses were conducted to evaluate its performance and feasibility. The system captures 93.2 % of CO2, reducing the CO2 emission intensity (EMI) from 358.7 to 32.1 kg/MWh. While carbon capture equipment lowers the electrical efficiency by 8.4 %, the system achieves overall electrical and exergy efficiencies of 49 % and 56 %, respectively. The system meets the vessel's propulsion demand (39.9 MW) and supplies the required 4 MW auxiliary and 6 MW heating power. The levelised cost of energy (LCOE) is 0.16 $/kWh, with fuel costs accounting for 73.5 % of the LCOE. Annual revenues from CO2 sales and carbon credits are projected at $12.35 million, surpassing carbon capture costs.

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KW - ORC

KW - Energy system

KW - Waste heat recovery

KW - Hydrogen

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DO - 10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.126504

M3 - Article

SN - 0306-2619

VL - 400

JO - Applied Energy

JF - Applied Energy

M1 - 126504

ER -

Marine high-temperature fuel cell power and propulsion system with integrated carbon capture: A techno-economic study

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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