Identification of Fire Safety of Current and Emerging Battery Technology for Marine Operations
The interest in using batteries as the sole or complementary energy source for offshore vessels has never been higher. Concerns about thermal runaway events and fire risk in the marine industry are being worked on at the Laboratory of Ocean Innovation, a collaboration between ABS and Texas A&M. Researchers are focusing on Sodium-Ion, Lithium Sulfur, Redox, Metal-Air, and Li-metal, considering battery size (energy density, capacity), state of charge (40%, 50%, 75%, 100% and overcharged) during normal operations and thermal runaway. The study also considers the type and volume of off-gas and toxicity, and the thermal runway temperature profile.
Fire suppression technologies are a big focus area. The study identifies the fire suppression agents and systems with a focus on the nuances of the marine environment that may impact batteries and their safety.
Drs. Harini Gunda, Faisal Khan, and Sreeram Vaddiraju are working on the project with student Dhananjay Swamy and ABS’ Mejdi Kammoun. The project involves laboratory experiments to investigate thermal runaway accident scenarios. The work is being conducted under a Texas A&M-ABS research agreement covering the Laboratory for Ocean Innovation