Problems of designing fuel cell power plants for submarines

This article contains an analysis of the major problem related to the development of a power plant based on fuel cells for diesel-electric submarines – hydrogen storage/production. Various options of hydrogen storage/production have been studied. The analysis shows that hydrogen production based on hydrolysis of aluminium onboard the submarine seems to be promising. The article describes a block diagram of the developed plant for hydrogen production via hydrolysis of aluminium, and the test results of the full-scale prototype. The tests confirmed the possibility to create an efficient ship system for continuous hydrogen production based on hydrolysis of coarse-dispersed aluminium powder. As a result, hydrogen can be used in fuel cells of any type without purification, and the reaction product, that is boehmite, is commercially profitable.