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Ecomotus, a UK company, has developed a hydrogen electrolyzer that enables diesel engines to burn fuel thoroughly and cleanly. They have equipped almost 40 boats—more than 20 fishing boats.

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Jason and Kirstyn Munro founded Ecomotus fifteen years ago with the aim of helping UK fishermen reduce fuel costs and make their operations more sustainable. To that end the company has patented its EcoPro Hydrogen Electrolyser.

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Adrian Bartlett, head of marine operations at Ecomotus, has taken the lead in bringing the EcoPro to commercial fishermen. “When the cost of fuel is coming out of your share, you’re very focused on lowering that cost,” he says.

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As Bartlett explains, the EcoPro starts with water and uses electrolysis to split the hydrogen from the oxygen. The oxygen gets vented out to the atmosphere, and the hydrogen goes into the engine’s combustion chamber. “When a diesel engine burns fuel, those molecules burn from outside in, and under normal conditions, that last little core doesn’t burn. That’s your pollution, unburned fuel. The EcoPro feeds enough hydrogen into the combustion chamber to burn all that fuel.”

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The EcoPro system is designed to deliver a very specific amount of hydrogen to the combustion chamber depending on engine size and fuel requirements—whether you’re steaming or hauling, Bartlett notes. “We go aboard, do a survey, and then quote a price to equip the engine with the appropriate system. The install takes around six hours and another half hour or so to set up the software.” The EcoPro sensors send system performance information to gauges on the vessel and to Ecomotus. “We don’t have AI yet, but soon,” says Bartlett.

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The typical unit takes up less than ten cubic feet in the engine room and does not require storing hydrogen aboard the vessel, Bartlett points out. “We have had it tested, and it’s never reached a flammable level of hydrogen in the system,” he says. Most important are the fuel savings delivered by the EcoPro. “Vessels are seeing a 10 percent savings on average,” Bartlett says. “Some as much as 18 percent.”

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On the exhaust end, Bartlett adds that the cleaner burn delivered by EcoPro reduces particulate matter, NOx, and other pollutants to the point that the company is seeking to have EcoPro-equipped engines designated at meeting IMO Tier III and EPA Tier IV emissions standards. “For about one-third the cost of an SCR system,” he says.

“Fishermen like it because there are no moving parts,” says Bartlett. “It’s a standalone unit that can fit easily in the engine room and can be retrofitted to any engine,” Bartlett notes. Most of the vessels equipped with the EcoPro are in the 45 to 50-foot range with engines ranging from 450 to 1200 hp. “Some of the bigger beamers have 2000 horsepower or more.” According to Bartlett, Ecomotus has installed the EcoPro system on 38 vessels total, over 20 of them commercial fishing vessels.  

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“We’d like to bring this to the U.S.,” Bartlett adds. “We’re working on that.”

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