Fuel cell and hydrogen solutions providers HyAxiom, Inc. (HyAxiom) and Doosan Fuel Cell Co., Ltd. (DFCC) announced their Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) cell stack has passed a critical environmental test by Det Norske Veritas (DNV), the classification society and a recognized advisor for the maritime industry.

This is the first SOFC cell stack to pass such a test; the stack is a core component of the marine SOFC under development by HyAxiom and DFCC.

Electrical equipment installed on vessels must pass extreme environmental testing under actual operating conditions, including temperature, humidity, vibration, inclination and electromagnetic interference.

The next milestone will be to achieve overall SOFC certification and conduct full-scale demonstrations.

HyAxiom and DFCC signed a consortium agreement in 2022 with Shell PLC and HD Korea Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, an intermediate holding company in the shipbuilding sector of HD Hyundai Group. The consortium aims to develop, manufacture and install a 600 kW SOFC Auxiliary Power Unit (SOFC APU) on a Shell-chartered LNG vessel, which will undergo a year of testing in 2025 to demonstrate the technology’s ability to reduce carbon emissions from maritime transport, a sector which is vital to trade and economies worldwide but is considered hard-to-abate.

Last year, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) approved an amendment to its greenhouse gas emissions goal, which now aims to reach net-zero GHG emissions from international shipping by or around 2050, along with a commitment to ensure an uptake of alternative zero and near-zero GHG fuels by 2030. This strategy, along with the economics of carbon and fuel reduction, sets the stage for HyAxiom’s and DFCC’s SOFC technology.

HyAxiom and DFCC are developing and manufacturing solid oxide fuel cell technology in collaboration with Ceres, a leading developer of clean energy technology.

As a core technology provider, HyAxiom is a key pillar in the Doosan Group’s hydrogen vision. HyAxiom’s flagship product, the PureCell M400, is based on proprietary phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC) technology. The world’s first and largest hydrogen fuel cell power plant (50 MW) running on direct hydrogen, which entered commercial service in 2020 in Korea, is powered by a hydrogen-fueled variant of the PureCell M400.