TECH NEWS

The first Seawing system has been installed on the vessel Ville de Bordeaux, chartered by Airbus and operated by Louis Dreyfus Armateurs.

Seawing Kite to Start Trials on Airbus RO/RO

AIRSEAS, A FRENCH TECH PIONEER founded by former Airbus engineers, has completed the first installation of its automated kite Seawing on a commercial vessel.

The first Seawing system has been installed on the vessel Ville de Bordeaux, chartered by Airbus and operated by Louis Dreyfus Armateurs.

The RO/RO ship, which transports major aircraft components between France and the United States, will deploy a 500-squaremeter Seawing on its monthly transatlantic voyages starting this month, conducting six months of sea trials and testing ahead of its full operation.

The deployment follows formal approval from classification society Bureau Veritas for Airseas to begin operations at sea, following three years of close collaboration on the development and early trials of the Seawing.

Airseas is unique in its integration of expertise from the aeronautical sector, including digital twin and automation technology, to the maritime industry.

It says this means that the Seawing can be safely deployed, operated and stored at the push of a button, and can be retrofitted on a ship in two days.

Airseas’ full size Seawing is a 1,000-squaremeter parafoil, which flies at an altitude of 300 meters capturing the strength of the wind to propel the vessel.

Based on modeling and preliminary testing on land, Airseas estimates that the Seawing system will enable an average 20% reduction in fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

“A decade ago, we embarked on the ambitious project of channeling our unique aviation expertise towards creating a cleaner and more sustainable shipping industry,” said Airseas CEO and founder Vincent Bernatets. “I am beyond proud to see that vision becoming reality, with our first Seawing ready to make a tangible difference for our planet. This first installation marks a significant milestone not only for Airseas, but also for wind and other renewable propulsion technologies in general.

“Given the urgency of the climate crisis, the world needs to see a drastic reduction in carbon emissions now. In shipping, we can achieve this by using the full set of tools we have available to us today. Wind propulsion is one of these and will play an essential role in helping shipping achieve its muchneeded decarbonization transition.”

Wärtsilä Partners with Microsoft to Industrialize

WITH DECADES of experience and expertise in high-end marine Internet of Things (IoT) offerings, Wärtsilä Voyage plans to accelerate its efforts to industrialize IoT for shipping through a highly scalable, cyber-secure platform that integrates Microsoft Azure IoT Edge.

Wärtsilä Voyage calls the deployment of streamlined Intelligent Edge technology “an essential enabler” to meet shipping’s decarbonization targets as well as for large-scale application of autonomous technology.

“The maritime world is entering the digital era where mutualizing our investments into common platforms and standards is a prerequisite to successful innovations for a more sustainable and efficient maritime industry,” said Sean Fernback, president, Wärtsilä Voyage and executive vice president, Wärtsilä. “The Wärtsilä common platform will act as an enabler to deploy future technology for autonomy and emissions reduction. We want to focus our efforts on those fields with commonly shared standards that give vessels easier access to innovative solutions.”

Wärtsilä Voyage will also focus on strategic themes spanning industrial remote operation capabilities, state-of-the-art cybersecurity with active monitoring, runtime, and commonly shared data standards to ease collaboration between maritime stakeholders.

Through its secured-by-design remote operation capabilities, the Wärtsilä platform will enable immediate access to the latest solutions onboard. Asset commissioning, diagnostic, updates, and upgrades will be performed remotely— streamlining maintenance, speeding up deployment, and increasing vessel uptime.

Wärtsilä Voyage will also integrate several Microsoft Security and IoT solutions to strengthen the platform with monitoring, security updates and asset management services.

MOL’s Fuel-Saving Boss Cap Sets Guinness World Record

Propeller boss cap fin installed on a propeller.

MITSUI O.S.K. LINES LTD. (MOL) reports that the propeller boss cap fin (PBCF) sold by its group company MOL Techno-Trade, Ltd. has been certified as the “Best-selling Energy-Saving Ship Appendage Brand (Cumulative)” by Guinness World Records and received an official certificate on December 23, 2021.

On sale since 1987, the PBCF was the first device in the world to be commercialized to recover the energy wasted in the vortex that forms behind a rotating propeller and increase the thrust by breaking up this vortex.

Analysis has shown that equipping a vessel with PBCF results in energy savings of 3% to 5%.

In 2017, an upgraded PBCF, offering further improvements in energy saving, went on the market.

Orders reached 1,000 in 2006, 2,000 in 2011, and topped 3,000 in 2015.

By 2021, PBCF cumulative sales exceeded 3,800 (with the number of vessels equipped with PBCF exceeding 3,600).

“Even now, about 35 years after its launch, PBCF is still selling exceptionally well as an energy-saving device for ships and has established itself as a bestseller,” says MOL.

By improving fuel efficiency, the PBCF in turn reduces CO2 emissions from vessels and MOL Tech has calculated that the expanded use of PBCF has contributed to a cumulative 46-million-ton reduction in CO2 emissions worldwide.

MOL Group says that it continues to study hybrid combinations with other energy-saving devices such as stern fins, ducts and rudder bulbs and has confirmed the synergistic effects in tests using a model.

Can Existing Scrubbers Be Used for Carbon Capture?

ON BOARD carbon capture and storage as a means of reducing ships’ CO2 emissions is rapidly moving out of the “what if?” category, with exhaust gas scrubbers emerging as an answer to the capture part of the challenge.

Exhaust gas cleaning system specialists researching the possibility include Finland’s Langh Tech. It has successfully performed its first tests on board one of the vessels in sister company Langh Ship’s fleet.

Langh Tech has now conducted several preliminary tests of capturing the CO2 emitted by the vessel’s main engine using an existing Langh Tech closed loop SOx scrubber system.

In the tests, additional alkali was added to the scrubber closed loop process water in order to provoke a reaction between the alkali and CO2, effectively capturing the CO2 from the exhaust gas into the process water.

The setup of tests was limited by the capacity of the existing alkali pump, but positive results were observed even with only a slight increase in the alkali dosing. At a main engine load of approximately 85%, a 5% increase in alkali dosing (over normal level) was able to reduce the measured CO2 emission by 3.3%. At 40% main engine load, a CO2 emission reduction of nearly 7% was observed.

During the tests, the alkali consumption remained at a reasonable level, and the effect of this on the operating expenses of the vessel would remain practicable.

The results of the tests are regarded as a tentative proof of concept and additional tests with a further increased alkali feed will now be conducted to verify this.

The CO2 capture feature could be applied to any Langh Tech closed loop or hybrid scrubber systems with relatively low cost impact, with only minor changes to the existing scrubber system. The process could be performed with readily available alkali products such as NaOH and MgOH2, which are both already being used in many SOx scrubber processes.

Langh Tech has now conducted several preliminary tests of capturing the CO2 emitted by the vessel’s main engine.