Techno-Economic Modelling of Liquid Hydrogen Tankers: Capex, Opex, Scale Economies, and Emission Trade-Offs

Techno-Economic Modelling of Liquid Hydrogen Tankers: Capex, Opex, Scale Economies, and Emission Trade-Offs | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Techno-Economic Modelling of Liquid Hydrogen Tankers: Capex, Opex, Scale Economies, and Emission Trade-Offs Kamini Singh, S Viswanathan This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7404778/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract As hydrogen emerges as a key vector in future energy transitions, liquid hydrogen (LH₂) shipping is poised to play a pivotal role in enabling long-distance, low-carbon hydrogen trade. However, the lack of scalable design frameworks for dedicated LH₂ tankers remains a critical barrier to cost-effective global hydrogen shipping. This study presents an open-source, weight-based techno-economic model to evaluate scale economies in LH₂ marine shipping. The model computes ship Capex and Opex costs across four scalable ships, 70,000 m³ to 420,000 m³, and is applied to routes: Karratha and Darwin (Australia) to Singapore (~ 2500 NM), Tokyo (~ 4500 NM), and Rotterdam (~ 10,850 NM) to show the model’s efficacy for global routes. Results reveal that increasing ship capacity reduces the levelized cost of transport (LCOT) by up to 55%, reaching ~ USD 1.14/kg LH₂ for long-haul routes (≥ 10,000 NM) and USD 0.272/kg LH₂ for short routes ( ≤ 2500 NM). A Monte Carlo sensitivity analysis identifies voyage distance, boil-off gas rate, fuel consumption, and fuel price as primary LCOT drivers. While larger vessels incur higher absolute CO₂ emissions, they offer lower emissions per kilogram of hydrogen delivered, suggesting a carbon efficiency trade-off with scale. The model offers a flexible tool for evaluating LH₂ shipping economics and environmental impacts, supporting global hydrogen infrastructure planning and policy design in emerging hydrogen economies. Energy Engineering Liquid hydrogen shipping LH₂ tanker design ship Capex and Opex framework economies of scale CO₂ emission green hydrogen logistics Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7404778","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":502323153,"identity":"fed521ba-9975-48e9-80d4-b03bc21e67c2","order_by":0,"name":"Kamini Singh","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA/klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACCSA+wGDAwMAGQh8gggbEa2GcAVFNWAsMsDHzEKNFsv104uGCAgZ7Pun2a49td/xJbGBv3ibB8KcWpxZpntwNh2cYMCS2yZwpN849Y5DYwHOsTIKx7ThOLXIMQC08BgwJbBI5adK5bUAtEjlmEowNx3Br4X8L1mIP1mIJ0iL/xgzoMNxapCUgtjC2SaQfk2YE28ID1MJWg9v7M8C2SCS2SeSwSfa2GRu38aQVWyS2HcCpReJ87ubPPH9s7OVnpD+T+NkmJ9vPfnjjjQ9/6nBqgekEYh5IdLCBiASGw4S0gAD7A2QeQVtGwSgYBaNg5AAA4mNMfiGd+HcAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"NTU","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kamini","middleName":"","lastName":"Singh","suffix":""},{"id":502323154,"identity":"a07f1ff8-6c76-4616-a24b-1f09510323dc","order_by":1,"name":"S Viswanathan","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"S","middleName":"","lastName":"Viswanathan","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-08-19 05:45:07","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7404778/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7404778/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":89441985,"identity":"c00b1a28-fc0d-41ad-9590-13641e96a33e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-08-20 03:40:10","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":3105105,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"CleanmanuscriptpostedonResearchsquare.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7404778/v1_covered_1a4f1632-1d5f-4556-8403-95fd049eae70.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eTechno-Economic Modelling of Liquid Hydrogen Tankers: Capex, Opex, Scale Economies, and Emission Trade-Offs\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Nanyang Technological University","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Liquid hydrogen shipping, LH₂ tanker design, ship Capex and Opex framework, economies of scale, CO₂ emission, green hydrogen logistics","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7404778/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7404778/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eAs hydrogen emerges as a key vector in future energy transitions, liquid hydrogen (LH₂) shipping is poised to play a pivotal role in enabling long-distance, low-carbon hydrogen trade. 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