Fuel Based Dynamic Ship Resistance Analysis of a Container Ship: An Alternative Approach to Marine Fuels

In the literature, some properties of alternative fuels, such as low volumetric density (e.g. for hydrogen) and low heating value (e.g. for methanol, ammonia and etc.) have been mentioned as a “disadvantage”. However, the precise impact of this disadvantage is not clear. To clarify this situation, in this study, 11 different alternative marine fuels have been analyzed according to fuel gravimetric energy density analysis, using fuel heating value and density value. Different scenarios have been created to see the dynamic behavior of ship resistance. According to results, alternative clean fuels can have “low ship sailing range” and “increased energy consumption per distance” disadvantages. Among the most popular fuels, range of hydrogen (H2) and ammonia (NH3) fueled ships can be 87% and 68% lower than HFO fueled ship, if fuel tank volume is not changed. Alternatively, equivalent energy can be stored in the ship to ensure same sailing range with more stored fuel mass. In this situation, consumed energy per distance is increasing for some fuels (e.g., 1% increase for ammonia).