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Welcome to the 1^st newsletter of the NAUTILUS project. The first year of NAUTILUS project coincides with the introduction of the European Union’s ambitious strategy to make Europe a climate neutral continent by 2050 – The European Green Deal. This vision encompasses all aspects of our society, how the energy is produced and used at the heart of it. The ambition of the project NAUTILUS aligns with this vision. It aims to develop a highly efficient energy system for large passenger ships to curb their emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants, to comply with the targets of the International Maritime Organisation for 2030 and beyond. As local emission standards, both for CO₂ and pollutants in several regions in the EU such as Fjords are getting more stringent than the global targets, NAUTILUS also examines the possibility of fully sustainable energy solution for vessels.

The main fuel of the NAUTILUS project is LNG. However, since it is often seen as transitional fuel, we are also interested in the application of other fuels for Solid Oxid Fuel Cells (SOFC) in cruise ships. A shortlist of four other future fuels is established as alternatives of LNG, which will be used in the consortium for a technical-, economical-, emission- and life cycle analysis.

Working with partners from industry and research, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) is developing a climate-friendly energy supply system for ships. It is based on a highly efficient fuel cell system designed to generate heat and power on board. A notable benefit of the cells is that they work with many different fuels. To test the technology, the EU's NAUTILUS (Nautical Integrated Hybrid Energy System for Long-haul Cruise Ships) research project, led by the DLR Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics, is producing a demonstrator suitable for ships.