The Motorship February 2021

FEBRUARY 2021

Vol. 102 Issue 1189

UECC first:

Hybrid PCTC vessel

WinGD interview:

Galke market overview

MAN 10.6 platform: Three more versions

ABB Turbo interview: Dino Imhof outlook

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: CII and machinery | Battery hybrid feature | Flywheels feature | Uni of Vaasa RCCI project

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CONTENTS

FEBRUARY 2021

8

4

NEWS 24 Stena Elektra project

Stena Line is to introduce a 200m-long RoPax capable of operating on battery power alone between Gothenburg and Frederikshavn by 2030.

26 Windship ZEV project

Windship Technology has developed an innovative zero-emission concept combining wind-assisted propulsion with onboard carbon capture.

16 AHC flywheel solution

NOV has launched a flywheel solution targeted at the active heave compensation (AHC) market.

10 REGULARS 8 Leader Briefing

Sotirios Mamalis, Sustainability Manager for Fuels and Technology at ABS discussed technical and market obstacles to hydrogen uptake.

10 Shipyard Report

The industry in the USA is addressing new areas of opportunity while sustaining US Navy programmes.

44 Design for Performance

Online motorship.com 5 Latest news 5 Comment & analysis 5 Industry database 5 Events

Social Media Linkedin Facebook Twitter YouTube

36

FEATURES

UECC is preparing to take delivery of the world’s first batteryhybrid PCTC in late 2021.

Weekly E-News Sign up for FREE at: www.motorship.com/enews

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

10 MAN extends 10.6 platform MAN Energy Solutions is introducing three new 10.6 versions to its Marine Engine Programme.

12 Poised for rebound

Volkmar Galke of WinGD explains how the engine designer is developing its portfolio, as it expects a modest recovery in the market in 2021.

22 The Holy Grail (of battery tech)

The quest for higher energy density battery technology is occupying the industry, as interest in alternatives such as vanadium redox flow batteries mounts.

34 Taking efficiency to the next level

ABB Turbocharging’s Dino Imhof sees scope for further advances in single-stage turbo solutions for two-stroke engines.

36 Emissions reduction potential

UK auto research suggests the inner insulation of a turbocharger turbine can passively increase the inlet temperature of aftertreatment systems.

38 Too early to call CII

The IMO’s proposed Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) may be an operational measure but could have an impact on machinery.

100

YEARS

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The Motorship’s Propulsion and Future Fuels Conference will take place this year in Hamburg, Germany.

Stay in touch at propulsionconference.com

FEBRUARY 2021 | 3

NEWS REVIEW

VIEWPOINT

STENA LINE TO PLACE ORDERS FOR STENA ELEKTRA DESIGN BY 2025

NICK EDSTROM | Editor nedstrom@motorship.com

One of the unexpected “benefits” of current travel restrictions in the UK has been the opportunity to reread histories of scientific and technological innovation. The pleasure of reading Lavoisier debunking phlogiston or following the iron-willed determination of early oil prospectors and oil company executives is not just the soothing certainty it offers.

It also offers the illusion of commercial foresight for those who were not there. Like The Big Short, readers are invited to imagine that they too would have ‘picked winners’.

Turning back to the maritime industry, we cover two areas in this month’s issue where uncertainty surrounds technology choices. The first is battery technology, which is an area where we expect to see significant advances in the next few years, even before Stena Line’s announcement of plans to place orders for two Stena Elektra-class RoPax vessels by 2025.

We include an in-depth feature looking at different battery technologies. As Dr George Crabtree, Director of the JCESR at Argonne National Laboratory puts it, “I’d like to see a little more before putting my money on the table.”

In the latest in a series of features on alternative chemistries, we look at the vanadium redox flow battery, an alternative battery design that offers a potentially distinctive solution.

However, interest in battery-hybrid installations aboard larger vessels is beginning to pick up. WinGD’s Volkmar Galke tells The Motorship in an interview in this month’s issue that the Winterthurbased engine designer will continue to offer its battery hybrid solution to interested parties on a case-by-case basis in 2021.

For energy management purposes, batteries are not the only game in town. For some requirements, the flywheel offers particular advantages and could help reduce the size of EMS capacities, as Stevie Knight hears.

We cover ship owner and operator UECC’s dual-fuel battery hybrid Pure Car and Truck Carriers in this month’s Design for Performance feature.

We also cover alternative fuels in this month’s issue. In common with battery technology, there is little certainty about which fuel (or fuels) will be adopted by the maritime industry by the mid-2030s, although the proportion of dual-fuel vessels is expected to continue to rise.

We include a feature on the first dual-fuel Newcastlemax vessels in this month’s Ship Description.

While hydrogen fuel cells are attracting significant interest, and we include a feature on Ricardo’s investment in a hydrogen facility in Shoreham, West Sussex, there is no certainty about the how fast the technology will be adopted. One company that is keen to accelerate adoption is Toyota, which agreed a tie-up with Corvus Energy to develop integrated PEM fuel cell/battery systems for the maritime market.

The IMO Symposium on Alternative Fuels, held in February, focused on different fuels and offered insights from ship owners. We include the perspective of ABS’ Sotirios Mamalis on the technical and market barriers affecting hydrogen this month.

Elsewhere in this month’s issue, Paul Gunton discusses the likely effects of the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) which were agreed upon at IMO MEPC 75 in late 2020.

4 | FEBRUARY 2021

Credit: Stena Line

The perils of picking winners

Stena Line announced plans to start operating two fossilfree battery powered vessels between Gothenburg and Frederikshavn in Denmark by 2030. The final design of the 200 metre-long 1000 person capacity vessel will be finalised by 2022, with a first order likely to be placed by 2025, Stena Line CEO Niclas Mårtensson confirmed on 4 February.

The plans were announced during a a press conference in which the Port of Gothenburg announced plans to reduce environmental emissions by 70 percent by 2030. The ‘Tranzero Initiative’ venture also included the Port of Gothenburg, Sweden’s largest container port, along with Volvo Group and Scania.

As previously reported by The Motorship, the design will be based on Stena’s Stena Elektra concept, and will be the first fossil free RoPax vessel of its size, measuring approximately 200 metres and combine a passenger capacity of 1000 with 3000 lane metres freight capacity.

The vessel will be built from high tensile steel to lower the weight and increase efficiency, and it is estimated the vessel will run on battery power for approximately 50 nautical miles.

The battery capacity will need to be approximately 60-70 MWh and the vessel will be charged in port.

“This will be a huge step towards fossil free shipping”, said Niclas Mårtensson, CEO Stena Line Group and member of the Swedish Government Electrification Commission. ”The electrification of shipping has only just began. We see a great potential for both battery hybrids and battery powered

8 The 200-metre long Ro-Pax vessels will be the first of their size to operate on battery power alone

vessels on several of our short-sea shipping routes in the future. But, it takes more than the electrical ships, we also need to develop the infrastructure and charging possibilities in the ports and terminals in the same pace and that is a reason why collaborations projects like this are so important,” said Niclas Mårtensson, CEO Stena Line.

FREIGHT FLOWS MAPPING The ‘Tranzero Initiative’ is also focused on the 1m truck transports and the 55,000t of carbon emissions generated from road transports to and from the Port of Gothenburg each year.

“No single organisation or individual holds the key to meeting the challenges ahead of us. Collaboration is crucial and we are pleased to bring on board two of the world’s largest truck manufacturers and the world’s largest ferry company,” said Elvir Dzanic, Gothenburg Port Authority chief executive.

The companies involved will introduce a series of interlinked measures designed to accelerate the switch to fossil-free fuels.

This task has already commenced with a needs analysis and mapping of freight flows as part of the commitment to offering the market the right products and establishing a fossil-free fuel infrastructure to support this development.

Gothenburg Port Authority will produce the necessary infrastructure and access to fossil-free fuels for heavy vehicles, including electric power, HVO, biogas, and hydrogen gas.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

Source: The Swedish Club Main Engine Damage Report (figures quoted are average costs)

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NEWS REVIEW

FIRST ORDER FOR MK3 MAN 23/30H GENSET

THE MAN 23/30H ENGINE The first 23/30H engine came on the market in 1965 and has a long history of operational stability. The engine is popular with shipowners for a number of reasons, not least for its broad market penetration that has ensured global recognition on account of its reliability and ‘forgiving’ service demands. Globally, well over 12,000 units have been produced over its lifetime.

Applications for the engine

BRIEFS Approval for DESMI

A new configuration of DESMI Ocean Guard’s CompactClean ballast water management system (BWMS) has been approved by both the US Coast Guard and the Danish Maritime Authority. CompactClean Bulker is designed for higher flowrates during de-ballast, solving one of the main operational issues faced by bulk carriers which often need to discharge ballast water faster than the time they spend on ballast water uptake.

6 | FEBRUARY 2021

8 A rendering of the MAN 6L23/30H Mk3 engine

Credit: MAN Energy Solutions

STX Engine has signed a contract with Daehan Shipbuilding (DHSC) for 3 × MAN 6L23/30H Mk3 GenSets for 1+1 vessels, which marks the first sale of the engine’s Mk3 version.

The engines are bound for an Aframax crude tanker ordered by Atlas Maritime, the Greek international shipping company, and will achieve Tier III emission levels with the aid of SCR. The engines are provisionally scheduled for delivery in August 2021.

Finn Fjeldhøj, Head of Small-Bore, Four-Stroke Engineering, MAN Energy Solutions, said: “This is an important order; our 23/30H GenSet is a proven workhorse that our customers have much appreciated over the past half-century, and whose new mark now prepares it for the next many years in the market.”

include tankers, bulk carriers and product tankers as auxiliary engines, with some sales as

prime movers for fishing trawlers and power plants. The engine is mostly diesel-driven, with LNG

and bio-oil also used in special environmental areas.

The new Mk3 variant is a cost-effective GenSet that complies with 2020 SOxregulations and has a power range of 500-1800 kW. Compared with its Mk2 predecessor, among other characteristics, it features: 5 an increase in power-output per cylinder 5 a reduced fuel-oil consumption 5 the longest TBO in its class 5 an improved conrod design 5 a two-part piston design for fast maintenance.

DNV EYES WINDSHIP TECH INVESTMENT DEAL Leading classification society DNV GL has agreed an investment partnership with a UK-based company, Windship Technology, for an innovative zero-emission concept combining wind-assisted propulsion with onboard carbon capture and a highly efficient diesel-electric propulsion solution.

Windship Technology unveiled its first design for a 115,000 dwt Aframax incorporating the company’s patented high performance, highly efficient triple-wing rig solution.

The company has been refining its composite triple-wing rig design for several years. The 48m Windship Technology rig is stowable on deck through a unique, innovative stowage solution to aid port navigation

and cargo handling.

However, Technical Director Simon Rogers told The Motorship that his design team had successfully designed a zero-emission vessel by combining the wind-assisted propulsion solution with a highly-efficient diesel electric propulsion solution and an onboard carbon capture system.

“By combining the solutions, we can eliminate CO2, NOX, SOX and particulate matter while operating on MDO,” Simon Rogers said. The solution has been developed and tested at the Wolfson Unit at Southampton University.

The solution included substituting the main engine aboard the Aframax with highly-efficient electric motors

fed by diesel generators.

“Although the solution includes several novel aspects, the technologies themselves are mature and in service in other sectors,” Rogers said.

Following the conclusion of a partnership investment deal, DNV GL will conduct verification of Windship Technology’s whole-ship design with a view to classifying the emission reductions, safety and operability of the solution.

Simon Rogers noted that the UK business had an ambitious programme to install the first solution aboard a 115,000dwt Aframax by 2024. Windship Technology is now looking to cement commercial partnerships with major ship owners, operators and investors.

BV ULEV notation

Wärtsilä in GCU deal

TMH buys Bergen

Bureau Veritas (BV) has developed a new notation to recognise the performance of ultra-low emission vessels (ULEVs). The ULEV notation is BV’s newest recognition for ultra-low emission vessels and covers air quality, including hydrocarbons, carbon, NOx and particulate matter, as well as particle numbers. The Jan De Nul Group’s five new trailing suction hopper dredgers have become the first ships to receive this recognition.

Wärtsilä has agreed a strategic partnership with SAACKE. The two companies will cooperate on safety, in particular with inert gas systems (IGS) and gas combustion units (GCU).

The agreement covers SAACKE’s boilers, exhaust gas economisers and air-cooled GCUs, as well as Wärtsilä’s IGS and combined IGS/GCUs. One advantage will be the potential delivery of a combined boiler and flue gas system for customers.

Transmashholding is to buy medium-speed engine builder Bergen Engines from Rolls-Royce Holdings for approximately EUR150 million (£131m). The sale fits TMH’s expansion strategy of global expansion and selective diversification and includes the Hordvikneset factory, Bergen’s design capability, and service network. Kongsberg Maritime will remain the distributor of Bergen engines to the maritime market under TMH ownership.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

Deadline for submissions 5 March 2021

The Motorship Award – The Zero Emissions Race The Motorship Award will return to the 2021 Propulsion & Future Fuels Conference, honouring and recognising innovative low emissions vessels partnerships.

What is The Motorship Award?

The Motorship Award is designed to honour innovative low emissions vessels partnerships.

To acknowledge the importance of collaboration in solving industry-wide challenges, the award is open to partnership projects featuring at least two of the following: 6 ship owner 6 shipyard 6 class society 6 naval architect 6 equipment/fuel supplier 6 academic institution The four shortlisted entrants presented their projects at The Motorship’s Propulsion & Future Fuels Conference 2021, where the overall winner was decided by a delegate vote.

For more information, to nominate a project or to discuss a submission, visit: propulsionconference.com/motorship-award email Nick Edström, Editor, The Motorship: conferences@propulsionconference.com or contact: +44 1329 825335

Organised by:

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LEADER BRIEFING

UNDERSTANDING THE POTENTIAL OF HYDROGEN AS A MARINE FUEL

Credit: ABS

Hydrogen faces challenges common to other alternative fuels; price, availability, storage and the need for renewable feedstocks, writes Sotirios Mamalis, Manager, Sustainability, Fuels and Technology, ABS

Hydrogen is one of the potentially zero-carbon fuels that is being considered for use in marine applications of the future. Also being considered are ammonia and the production pathways of the two are directly linked. Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of sources, utilizing conventional or renewable energy, which determines the cost of the fuel to the end user as well as its lifecycle carbon footprint.

Hydrogen can be extracted from fossil fuels and biomass or from water, or a combination of the two. Currently, the total energy used worldwide for the production of hydrogen is about 275 million tonnes of oil equivalent, which corresponds to 2% of the world energy demand according to a 2019 estimate by the IEA. Natural gas is currently the primary source of 'grey hydrogen' production (around 75%) , which is used widely in the ammonia and methanol industries.

The next largest source (23%) is brown hydrogen produced from coal which is dominant in China. The remaining 2% of

8 | FEBRUARY 2021

8 Sotirios Mamalis, Manager, Sustainability, Fuels and Technology, ABS is presenting on 10 February at the IMO Symposium on alternative fuels on Hydrogen as Marine Fuel

global hydrogen production is based on oil and electric power. However, the most interesting option of the future is the production of green hydrogen through electrolysis of water using fully renewable energy.

SEEKING RENEWABLE SOURCES Currently, its strong dependence on natural gas and coal means that the production of hydrogen is very carbon intensive, ranging between 10 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of hydrogen for natural gas to 19tCO2/tH2 for coal, emissions which can be reduced with the application of carbon capture and sequestration technology.

The extraction of hydrogen from natural gas is accomplished through reformation using three established methods: steam reforming, which uses water as an oxidant and a source of hydrogen, partial oxidation, which uses the oxygen in air in the presence of a catalyst, and autothermal reforming, which is a combination of the first two.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

LEADER BRIEFING In all cases, syngas (CO + H2) is formed and then converted to hydrogen and CO2 through the water-gas shift reaction. However, in order to reduce the carbon intensity of hydrogen production, biomass can be used for production of syngas though gasification, or renewable electric power can be used to electrolyze water.

Once produced, hydrogen can be stored as a gas or liquid, depending on the amount, storage time and the required discharge rate. Hydrogen use can range from small-scale mobile and stationary applications to large-scale intercontinental trade and these different applications have different storage needs.

The availability and low cost of coal and (historically) of natural gas make the production of hydrogen more economical than using renewable energy, which is reflected in the cost of the finished fuel. The cost of brown and grey hydrogen ranges between $1-4/kg, whereas that of green hydrogen currently ranges between $6-8/kg.

However, the cost of producing green hydrogen has fallen by about 50% since 2015 and this trend is expected to continue in the coming decade as the projects focused on deploying renewable energy for hydrogen production increase. Reducing the cost of green hydrogen to $2/kg can make it competitive for use in the marine sector.

STORAGE CHALLENGES The heating value of hydrogen is the highest among all candidate future marine fuels at 120 megajoules per kg. However, its energy density per unit of volume, even when liquefied, is significantly lower than that of distillates. Compressed hydrogen at 700 bar has only ~15% the energy density of diesel, thus storing the same amount of energy onboard requires tanks to be seven times larger.

This means that compressed or liquefied storage of pure hydrogen may be practical only for small ships that have frequent access to bunkering stations. The deep-sea fleet may need a different medium as a hydrogen carrier, such as ammonia or Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers, to limit significant loss of cargo space.

Ammonia has higher energy density than hydrogen which reduces the size of tanks required, but its advantages need to be weighed against energy losses and additional equipment required for conversion to hydrogen before it is used in the engines or fuel cells according to the IEA's 2019 analysis.

Alternatively, ammonia can be used directly as a liquid fuel in engines, rather than as a hydrogen carrier, and reducing the size of the tanks needed for hydrogen storage is an active research topic. the potential for hydrogen storage in solid-state materials such as metal and chemical hydrides is in the early stages of development, but it can also enable higher density of hydrogen to be stored at atmospheric pressure.

COST OF BUNKERING The cost of Hydrogen bunkering facilities is expected to be higher than that of LNG facilities, primarily because of the higher cryogenic storage requirement of liquid hydrogen and the materials required for tanks, pipes, and seals. Hydrogen is stored as a compressed gas at 350-700 bar or as a cryogenic liquid at -253˚C, by comparison, LNG is stored at -160˚C. The main cost components are therefore storage and bunker vessels, which need to be scaled based on the number of ships serviced.

On-site availability of hydrogen would be needed for small ports given the lower flows and high cost of dedicated hydrogen storage and pipelines. However, ship and infrastructure costs are a relatively small fraction of total shipping costs over a 15-20 year lifespan, with the fuel cost being the primary factor according to the IEA. Developing the hydrogen economy has been seen by policy-makers and regulators as well as leaders in the energy and transport sectors as the potential long-term solution to provide a sustainable and clean energy future.

As is clear, while interest is increasing, this will require the production of hydrogen from clean, renewable sources and the commercialization of fuel cell technology. Thus, fuel supplied directly from hydrogen sources, rather than through the reforming of other hydrogen carriers is the preferred option to produce a sustainable fuel for the shipping industry.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

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FEBRUARY 2021 | 9

SHIPYARD REPORT

CHANGING FORTUNES, NEW DIRECTIONS FOR US YARDS

Credit: MARAD

With builders starved of merchant vessel orders, the industry in the USA is addressing new areas of opportunity while sustaining US Navy programmes, writes David Tinsley

Confirmation that another two merchant navy training vessels will be constructed by Philly Shipyard is a considerable boost to US shipbuilding and the allied sectors against the backcloth of a depressed ‘Jones Act’ market.

The recent transaction covering third and fourth newbuilds under the National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV) programme, following the initial two-ship contract in April 2020, extends the value of the orderbook at Philadelphia beyond US$1.2 billion and yields fresh business across the US, for steelmakers, machinery and equipment suppliers. NSMV constitutes a home-grown, versatile class designed to offer a disaster response and humanitarian assistance capability as well as fulfilling a mainstream role in cadet training.

A fifth unit is in the frame, currently held as an option by Philly from contractual party TOTE Services of Jacksonville, acting as construction manager on behalf of the US Maritime Administration(MARAD). Steel cutting for the lead ship began in December, with commissioning and allocation to the State University of New York(SUNY) Maritime College expected by the spring of 2023. She will take over from the time-served, steam turbine-powered Empire State VI. The NSMV series as a whole will replace the existing MARAD-owned training ships assigned to the six maritime academies in California, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York and Texas.

There had been intense lobbying of government by local interests and trade unions to go the way of Philly Shipyard, so as to safeguard the yard’s future and retain the skills base, following the hiatus in shipbuilding production at the yard since the March 2019 completion of the second of two 3,600TEU container vessels for Matson Navigation.

As one example of the economic generator effect of the new work, the first pair of diesel-electric NSMV newbuilds resulted in an order for eight medium-speed main engines to be manufactured by Wabtec Corporation at its Grove City

10 | FEBRUARY 2021

8 Philly Shipyard now has four cadet training/multimission vessels on its books

plant in western Pennsylvania. Full implementation of the five-ship programme holds out the prospect of a 20-unit batch output of the GE-originated V250 engine design, in its 16-cylinder MDC version.

Despite its detractors both within and outside the US maritime community, the Jones Act’s continuation beyond its 2020 centenary year has now been assured. Incoming President Joe Biden signed an executive order in January 2021 affirming his administration’s support for the regulation.

The move and the Jones Act principles chime with the ‘Made in America’ policy which the new incumbent is championing.

Furthermore, the Biden commitment to a ‘clean’ energy future for the USA means that the Act could have wider relevance in relation to investment in specialised vessels for an emergent offshore renewable energy sector.

Within the compass of the Jones Act, one of the few large mercantile vessel contracts in hand is distinguished by being the first in nearly 40 years from a Great Lakes yard for Great Lakes trade. The 28,000dwt self-unloading bulker ordered

by Interstate Steamship Co at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding’s Wisconsin facilities at Sturgeon Bay is due to be handed over in mid 2022.

The highly automated newbuild will transport salt, stone, iron ore and other bulk materials, using a deck boom conveyor some 76m in length to discharge cargo well beyond the quayline if required. The design is also conducive to stows of steel products, long-length items of freight and project cargoes.

Fincantieri Bay’s workload otherwise includes a 5,400m3 LNG bunker barge, due for service entry with Polaris New Energy towards the end of 2021 on the US east coast. To be paired with an existing ocean tug to form an articulated tug/ barge (ATB) unit, it incorporates four 1,350m3 IMO Type C tanks manufactured in China.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

General Dynamics’ NASSCO yard at San Diego, California, has been central to the past decade’s Jones Act trading fleet revitalisation, but the December 2020 delivery of the second of two 3,500TEU con-ros for Matson Navigation signified the completion of the commercial vessel workload. The production focus has now switched to the contract for six US Navy fleet replenishment tankers, the first of which was launched in January this year.

A new chapter in US shipbuilding is starting through the implementation of a project for the first-ever Jones Act wind farm service operation vessel (WSOV). The newbuild scheme is the outcome of a long-term charter agreement between diversified US company Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO), Danish group Orsted, and US energy firm Eversource, relating to the provision of an SOV for planned wind farms off the north eastern seaboard. The 80m vessel, accommodating up to 70 technicians and other personnel, will be utilised for operation and maintenance activities.

ECO has been in the vanguard of initiatives in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico and Brazilian offshore markets and has grown its shipbuilding network in the USA and beyond.

The SOV will therefore not only be run within the ECO fleet but also constructed by the group, utilising the combined resources of yards in Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. The newbuild will have a diesel-electric installation meeting EPA Tier 4 emission standards and will feature the proprietary ECO variable frequency drive system.

Another milestone was signified by the laying of the keel of a wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) for Dominion Energy at the Brownsville, Texas, yard of Keppel AmFELS during December. The 144m jack-up type newbuild, the first Jones Act-compliant WTIV in the USA, will carry a 2,200t liftcapacity crane.

Having finally responded to the fleet enhancements effected and planned by potential adversaries, the US acted on its icebreaker renewal strategy by entrusting a US$746 million contract for a 140m polar security cutter to VT Halter Marine. If options on second and third ships are exercised, the cumulative value of the deal would reach US$1.94 billion.

The technological intensity of the project surpasses that of most mercantile vessel projects, and will provide benefits across homeland industry. To be handed over to the US Coast Guard by 2024, the lead polar cutter has been specified with a diesel-electric power and propulsion plant of some 33,700kW, the capability to navigate through ice of 1.8-2.4m, 90 days’ endurance, and accommodation for up to 186 persons.

In addition to design consultancy Technology Associates Inc (TAI), VT Halter has partnered in the project with ABB/ Trident Marine for the adoption of an Azipod propulsion system, Caterpillar for the main engines, Raytheon for command and control system integration, Bronswerk for the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), and Jamestown Metal Marine for the joinery package.

The American icebreaker fleet is in a parlous state, with only two polar vessels operational. More than 10 years ago, the High Latitude Mission Analysis Report had identified the need for six new polar icebreakers to cover year-round missions in the Arctic and support the US Antarctic Program.

In April 2020, VT Halter attracted a US$1.7 million grant for a press brake at its Pascagoula yard in Mississippi. The machine will be brought to bear on the polar icebreaker contract, in the plate shaping phases. Recently completed investments have included robotic welding plant and a PythonX plasma cutter. Furthermore, by July 2021, the shipbuilder aims to complete upgrades to the launchway area on which the polar cutter will be laid down.

The paucity of commercial vessel work for the larger yards

Credit: NASSCO

SHIPYARD REPORT

tends to overshadow the industrial and economic contribution made by, and the challenges facing, the country’s extensive network of enterprises catering to the small-ship end of the market. However, MARAD demonstrated its commitment to continuing a line of support to that sector in January this year through a new tranche of Federal funding under the Small Shipyard Grant Program. Awards under the further US$19.6 million available for yard improvement schemes are to be made by the end of April.

First introduced in 2008, the grants cover capital expenditure and equipment upgrades related to vessel construction, repair and reconfiguration, and to training in technical skills leading to improved efficiency and productivity. Allocations are limited to 75% of estimated costs, and to yards with fewer than 1,200 production employees.

The industry sustains a vigorous and targeted, collaborative R&D agenda through the National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP). The cooperation provides a framework to manage, develop and share R&D initiatives and leverage best practices in shipbuilding and shiprepair, through projects typically of 12-month duration. The NSRP schemes are co-funded by 11 yards owned by the eight shipbuilding groups involved together with the US Navy, as the undertaking’s ultimate mission is to reduce total ownership costs and raise the performance of both US-flag commercial ships and US government vessels.

The awards approved by the NSRP’s executive award towards the end of last year spanned 17 projects valued at approximately US$2.5 million, to be undertaken by research consortia encompassing partners from the wider industry as well as NSRP members. The financial allocations by NSRP in each case are relatively modest, in the order of $150,000 per project in the latest schemes.

The broad swathe of practical topics addressed under the latest round included the use of single-pass, buried arc welding to reduce time and costs associated with welding single-sided joints, utilisation of 3D ship model data for corrosion control and coatings, and development of a visual guide for non-ferrous and stainless steel surface preparation.

Other research assignments concern automated label plate generation from 3D design models, the evaluation of fusion spliced fibre optic connectors in ship construction, additive manufacturing of seawater heat exchangers, double electrode processes for precision fillet welding, and digital tooling for cable routing and installation.

While heavy reliance on naval construction will remain the industry’s bedrock business, yards are acting on opportunities for specialised civilian projects and emergent sectors within the captive US market.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

8 Con-ro Matsonia, built by General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego, and one of the few Jones Act mercantile completions in 2020

FEBRUARY 2021 | 11

TWO-STROKE ENGINES

WINGD’S GALKE CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC ON 2021 MARKET

Image courtesy of WinGD

Switzerland-based engine designer WinGD is continuing to develop its portfolio, as it positions for a modest recovery in the market in 2021, Volkmar Galke, Global Sales Director, WinGD, told The Motorship during a recent interview

In common with other suppliers to the maritime industry, WinGD had seen the newbuilding market affected by global events. However, WinGD finished the year strongly, benefiting from a number of new orders at the end of what was a “roller-coaster” year.

“We ended the year with a 36% share of the global twostroke market, measured by engine capacity - you could say it was a good year at a low level”.

The company benefited from a strong order book for its low-pressure, dual-fuel two-stroke X-DF engines, helped as expanding LNG production capacity translated into newbuild LNG carrier orders.

“We have continued our success in the dual-fuel segment and ended the year with a 59% share of the dual-fuel market.”

The company's low-pressure dual-fuel X-DF engine remains the preferred choice for large gas carriers, which helped WinGD consolidate its strong position with shipowners. “We achieved a 100% share of the market for LNG carriers in 2020,” Galke said.

While the company has continued to increase its sales of X-DF engines, deliveries of the engine are increasing steadily.

12 | FEBRUARY 2021

8 WinGD's dual-fuel engines have now accumulated over 850,000 hours of operation, Volkmar Galke noted

The company has now delivered 90 X-DF engines, and its engines have recorded over 850,000 operating hours.

The company had achieved a number of firsts during 2020, including the first deliveries of X-DF engines for two H-Line dual-fuel Newcastlemaxes, as well as the first voyage by CMA-CGM's dual-fuel Jacques Saade now recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as possessing the world's most powerful dual-fuel engine.

“The vessel's engineers have told us that the systems have been running very well. The vessel has made the round trip back to Asia, passing through tropical conditions, and the engines are running fantastically well.”

X-DF 2.0 Galke also noted that the company had received the first order for an engine, an X62DF2.0, featuring WinGD's iCER (intelligent control by exhaust recycling) after the launch of the X-DF 2.0 platform. The solution will reduce methane slip from the engine by more than 40%.

The main driver for continuing innovation was to meet market demand to minimise methane slip from marine

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TWO-STROKE ENGINES

‘‘

We have continued our success in the dual-fuel segment and ended the year with a 59% share of the dual-fuel market

SHIPOWNER INTEREST Looking ahead at the market in 2021, Galke noted that with the current market at such a low level, “it can only be better next year.”

Based on feedback from WinGD's sales network, Galke expects the global market to pick up slightly, adding that he did not expect it to go through the roof. “But it will not go down and it will not stagnate.”

Within that outlook, Galke noted that there are market segments where demand was likely to be resilient. Galke focused on the LNG carrier market, noting that a number of vessels were being ordered in connection with Total's Mozambique Project. The growth in this sector is anticipated to continue this year: a substantial number of slots have been reserved at Korean and Chinese yards for LNG carrier newbuilds in connection with the North Field Expansion (NFE) programme.

However, when asked about interest in LNG as a fuel from outside the LNG carrier sector, Galke noted that the market was slower than in early 2020. Neither container ships nor the bulker market were near a tipping point, where supportive economics might encourage the segment to switch fuel type.

Rather than focusing on vessel segments, an individual vessel's suitability for dual-fuel propulsion should be considered from an employment perspective. Regardless of the vessel type, whether its a bulker or a container vessel, vessels operating on long-term charters or liners are more likely to opt for an LNG engine than spot market vessels.

“If you have a long-term charter for exporting iron ore from Australia to China, you also know exactly where you can bunker as the same goes with boxship liners so that I would say these employment segments are where you will see faster movement on LNG than in others.”

Although the proportion of the global fleet operating on LNG remains quite small, Galke noted that he expected further growth.

“We think that we could see around 10% of the global orderbook fitted with dual-fuel engines quite soon.”

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS Galke concluded by noting that WinGD was focused on developing solutions to meet the demands of future technology coming into the market.

Image courtesy of WinGD

engines. However, simple comparisons between the emissions from an Otto Cycle low-pressure X-DF engine and a high-pressure dual-fuel Diesel Cycle alternative can be misleading, Galke noted. “If you take into account the entire energy consumption from all of the machinery on the vessel, including the main engine, generators, pumps, electric motors, boilers and everything else, the emissions from the two systems, high pressure and low pressure, are equal.”

The market response to the X-DF 2.0 has been extremely positive, Galke noted, from ship owners, shipyards and the engine builder. “One of the reasons that the solution is so attractive to the market is that the next generation iCER design will allow for the removal of other equipment from the engine room.” The effect is to offer emissions reductions with lowest possible increase of CAPEX.

Among the newest areas for WinGD was the extension of its product range to include hybrid solutions which include shaft generators, batteries, and auxiliary engines as well as other energy sources. The solution, which is still being offered on a case by case basis to interested shipowners, offers an alternative approach to greenhouse gas emission reduction.

WinGD is continuing to act as the designer and the system integrator but is not planning to move into the hardware supplier space today.

“By placing the two-stroke engine at the heart of the vessel's energy configuration, you can look at the energy mix on board, and look at the equipment specifications and make recommendations about optimisation - whether that means specifying a main engine with fewer cylinders, or by reducing the number of gensets and introducing a battery pack and a smart power management system.”

That is one of the new technologies that WinGD will be exploring in 2021. "We are already in discussions with potential ship owners and ship yards," Galke concluded.

8 The engine designer is offering hybrid solutions on a case-by-case basis. It is one of the new technologies that WinGD will explore in 2021

THE ROLE OF ALTERNATIVE FUELS Galke noted that while battery hybridisation integrating shaft power solutions represented one approach to meeting IMO 2030 standards, the potential efficiencies offered by other solutions, such as waste heat recovery, were limited.

Leaving aside operational responses, such as speed reductions, Galke noted that the industry was approaching the technical limits of the efficiencies offered by other solutions. Technologies like air lubrication, as well as further hull form optimisation, offered benefits but would be insufficient to meet upcoming emission reduction targets.

“In order to meet the IMO 2030 and IMO 2050 targets, I don't think there is any alternative to future fuels.” However, Galke noted that none of the alternative fuels under consideration apart from LNG were currently commercially available on a large scale globally with the infrastructure and safety standards required.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

FEBRUARY 2021 | 13

TWO-STROKE ENGINES

MAN ES ADDS THREE VERSIONS TO ME-C 10.6 PORTFOLIO Initial details of these new engines were revealed via a ‘Market Update Note’ (MUN) issued by the company on 16 December, which reported that the new versions offer improved specific fuel oil consumption (SFOC) across their entire load range.

That note positioned these new 10.6 machines as complementing its G95ME-C10.6 engine, which was launched in February 2020, but Thomas Hansen, head of the two-stroke promotion and customer support team at MAN Energy Solutions, told The Motorship that it was “still very early” to release detailed technical specifications of these latest applications of its 10.6 generation.

But he said that the engines will be included in the next edition of MAN ES’s Marine Engine Programme, which will be released “during the first months of 2021”, according to the MUN. In that case, more technical data should be available shortly.

Meanwhile, material he provided to The Motorship included some specific details of the improvements made to the S50ME-C10.6, which include a new type of low force exhaust valve and a change to the material used for the exhaust valve spindle, both of which will reduce weight. A summary of that engine’s upgrade is in the box on this page.

Mr Hansen also provided more general information about the other two engines, which revealed that, in common with the G95ME-C10.6, both will be compatible with the Triton engine control platform that MAN Energy Solutions introduced last year eventually to replace its multi-purpose controller (MPC), which has been in use since 2003. Triton is a modular system, making it future-proof and compatible with such innovations as data exchanges, but it is arranged to be familiar to those already using the MPC. SEQUENTIAL FUEL INJECTION A key change to the earlier versions of these engines is that these 10.6 models will include sequential fuel injection - a technology that was pioneered for two-stroke engines on the G95ME-C10.6 - and exhaust gas bypass tuning, which will give them a new low-load tuning for optimising SFOC and for NOx emission compliance, the MUN noted.

Sequential fuel injection allows each fuel valve on a cylinder head to be controlled individually, which makes it possible to “achieve the best possible trade-off between SFOC and NOx formation,” Mr Hansen said during a customer webinar on 28 January.

They will not, however, be offered with sequential turbocharging, which is another innovation found on the larger engine design. Kjeld Aabo, MAN ES director of new technologies for two-stroke promotion and customer support, said during the webinar that although sequential turbocharging could theoretically be applied to these engines, a cost-benefit analysis persuaded the enginebuilder not to offer it for these smaller sizes.

For sequential turbocharging, one turbocharger of a smaller size than the others is fitted to an engine, with large engines having up to four turbochargers, Mr Hansen said.

The smallest one would not in use at loads below about 65%-

14 | FEBRUARY 2021

Image: MAN Energy Solutions

More details have emerged of three new low-speed w-speed engine variants from MAN Energy Solutions - S50ME-C10.6, S60ME-C10.6 and d G80ME-C10.6, reports Paul Gunton

70% of full load, making it possible to match an engine’s turbocharging to a broader load range. At low loads, this gives a smaller turbine area and a higher scavenging air pressure, giving i i ““possibilities ibiliti tto optimise ti i th the SFOC without ith t jeopardising any emissions regulations,” he said.

Asked whether sequential turbocharging could be retrofitted to these new engines, he said that the cost would be prohibitive: all their turbochargers would probably have to be replaced, along with upgrading the engine control system, piping and valves. In any case, sequential turbocharging can only be applied to engines with more than one turbocharger, which excludes the 50- and 60-bore versions of the new 10.6 platform, which are always equipped with a just one turbocharger.

This is an evolution, rather than a step-change in technology. “It is basically the same as turbocharger cut-out,” Mr Hansen said, although the process is automatically controlled by the engine control system. He credited this development not only on the experience it has gained from using turbocharger cut-out on many other engines, but also on input from its cooperation partners, ABB and Mitsubishi.

The result, he said, is “a really clever system.”

January’s webinar was focused on future propulsion options for large and ultra large container vessels and concentrated primarily on the G95ME-C10.6 engine. The first unit is due to be delivered in Q1 of next year, Mr Hansen told The Motorship, but he declined to identify its destination yard or vessel, apart from confirming it would be within its target market of large container ships. It is one of 12 of these engines on order at the time of the webinar, when six more were on option.

8 To achieve sequential fuel injection, a control valve has been added to operate the fuel booster injection valve

S50ME-C10.6: MAIN UPGRADES A number of changes have been made to create the 10.6 version, including: 5 New cylinder cover 5 New type of low force exhaust valve 5 Sequential fuel injection system 5 New hydraulic cylinder unit 5 Modified high pressure pipes for fuel valves 5 Modified hydraulic pipe for exhaust valve

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

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PORTSTRATEGY INSIGHT FOR PORT EXECUTIVES

TWO-STROKE ENGINES

SPIN DOCTORS: A NEW TAKE ON PEAK SHAVING

16 | FEBRUARY 2021

vessel show up to 80% energy recovery during active heave compensation. Further, as with other ESS, if incorporated at build, the technology allows resizing the power plant instead of scaling it for peak demand.

Most importantly, it promises to soften wear and tear for much of the onboard kit. “The endless ups and downs on the distribution bus aren't good for any of the components,” comments Verhoef. This gives you a more stable system.”

The PowerBlade is to be offered as a fully boxed solution in a standard ISO container that can be dropped onto the deck. “The installation philosophy is that it can be fitted between jobs with the pre-wiring carried out during operations and just a day or two allocated for putting this onboard while offshore - so the ship doesn't have to come into port,” says Verhoef.

8 Flywheels can pick up energy and return it endlessly, making them suitable for fast cycle, peak shaving applications

OTHER APPLICATIONS It will likely find a wider audience than the drillships. Guido Van den Bos, business development director for vessel designer GustoMSC, (a NOV subsidiary), has been considering other potential applications. For example, he sees advantages for “large jackups or other semi-submersible vessels.”

8 The PowerBlade has a 3.25MW maximum charge absorption, while it can also belt out a sizeable 4.75MW at peak output

Photo: NOV

Boring into a seabed 3,000m below means the drawworks onboard a drillship - those sizeable winch systems controlling the drill lines - will be responsible for handling thousands of tonnes. But while active heave compensation (AHC) is key to keeping the drill head stationary, “each lift of the string asks a couple of megawatts of the generator load” explains Richard Verhoef of NOV. An energy storage system could smooth out the power peaks and pick up the wasted kinetic energy - but the question is, what kind of ESS could handle not only the scale, but also the frequency of these cycles?

The more familiar solutions used in the industry weren't capable of meeting the demands. Firstly, “as a rough rule of thumb, a battery can only absorb around half of its energy capacity in one go”, says Verhoef. Secondly, even scaled to cope with this challenge, the work schedule of a drillship could result in a million AHC-driven cycles in a couple of years. “That's enough to destroy any battery,” he points out, and it would also likely kill a supercapacitor.

By contrast, there's nothing better than a flywheel if cycle life is the issue.

However, these are not merely big lumps of metal as there are huge forces to contend with: take the 1,500mm, 3.5 tonne flywheel developed by NOV and set it spinning at 2,000 rpm, and there will be tremendous stresses at its perimeter.

Therefore, the manufacturing must be tightly managed.

But the mass is, after all, what makes it work. As Verhoef explains, NOV's flywheel “can absorb a lot of power - 1.75MW peak - and give out the same amount for around six to ten seconds”.

That may seem like a short period of time, but it has been tailored to tally with the length of demand from the active heave, “which is basically the wave period,” he points out.

Admittedly, this differs a little from region to region and the response is affected by the vessel's shape, but he adds that “generally, it's around eight seconds.” This brevity also simplifies the technology by, for example, allowing the design to stick with spherical roller bearings instead of specialised magnetic varieties designed to 'spin out' the energy retention.

However, there are longer spans of demand such as when raising the drill bit. While it's theoretically possible to scale up the flywheel to meet these operations, it would entail an unfeasible rise in diameter and motor size.

Therefore, NOV has added a more conventional 450kWh lithium-ion battery system linked by two 1,100 hp motors to create the PowerBlade kinetic energy recovery system. The neat thing about this pairing is that the flywheel can push the power either back to the winch or to the battery where it also acts as a buffer, giving the cells an easier ride. The combination lends the PowerBlade a 3.25MW maximum charge absorption, while it can also belt out a sizeable 4.75MW at peak output.

It is effective: the theoretical figures from a Norwegian

Image: SK

Energy storage solutions (ESS) are turning up onboard an ever-increasing range of vessels, but batteries are not the only, or even the most suitable, solution for peak shaving a supersized demand. Flywheels might do better, writes Stevie Knight

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

TWO-STROKE ENGINES

evenly around the perimeter. Balancing these systems is essential; since, as Rumney underlines, “centripetal acceleration at these flywheel speeds can be 10,000G or more”.

Further, fully composite designs can be completely integrated; high tensile strength carbon fibre rotor/flywheel being a single assembly. It's lighter, and, not to put too fine a point on it, potential failures are better contained.

It makes for a much more complex system than the PowerBlade - but getting all these elements right yields a longer energy storage window, with significantly reduced envelope and mass. “Typically this sort of flywheel has an energy storage half-life of several tens of minutes,” explains Rumney: that's a big enough window for a range of 'peaky' consumers.

It might not be long before both types of technology start putting their own spin on short-term regeneration and peak shaving applications.

CONSTRUCTION IS LIKEWISE EVOLVING. While steel versions generally tend toward utilising a separate motor to convert spin into electrical energy, others neatly double up the flywheel's role, turning it into a motorgenerator's rotor. These use permanent magnets rather than coil windings for strength and higher power density.

Because a high moment of inertia (that is, mass times radius) is no longer the most important feature at very high rotational speeds - seen in the land based and automotive market units - these flywheels can take advantage of either part or full composite construction, embedding the magnetic material

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

8 High speed flywheels are already finding a place in both automotive and landside power industries

8 The main components of a high speed flywheel

8 The active heave compensation onboard big drill rigs will add a couple of megawatts to the load on each lift of the string

Photo: NOV

SPIN Other developments utilise another aspect of the flywheel principle.

As kinetic energy is proportional to mass times velocity squared, doubling the mass doubles energy storage... but doubling the rotational speed quadruples it. So, increasing the spin speed yields a far more compact unit explains Tim Rumney of Inetic.

Imagine a package “less than a 50cm cube with a mass of around just 100kg”, says Rumney, who was involved in a development project exploring flywheels for naval vessels.

He added: “The brief included getting it through any doorway on the ship.”

The focus wasn't so much about regenerating energy, but using the technology for a typical ESS application: peak shaving the onboard load, with motors 'charging up' the flywheel.

The advantages also align neatly with commercial vessels' challenges, especially since, like battery cells, flywheels lend themselves to a modular approach. As a result, “you can pick the amount of energy and power you need and arrange the units in a series or parallel configuration”, Rumney explains, so they can act in concert, or take up the load sequentially.

A typical naval application would see half-a-dozen of these modular packages distributed around the ship, making it suitable for managing “short, but large bursts of power inside a particular area” he says, without recourse to huge capacitors or main grid cabling. Further, this makes it's possible to shunt the energy between nearby consumers enabling zonal power management.

However, reducing the size in this way requires spinning the flywheel at up to 40,000 or 50,000rpm. Therefore, friction is the enemy: “At that rate, the air drag resistance alone can lose tens of kilowatts of energy if not managed,” explains Rumney. As a result, all high-speed flywheels need to be enclosed in a vacuum.

There's also another challenge for developers: the spin creates a considerable gyroscopic effect. As a ship will experience pitch and roll movement, there's a need for “fairly robust bearings” to deal with these generated forces says Rumney, potentially entailing magnetic or low-friction precision systems, though some recent automotive developments have put gimbals beneath their installations.

Photo: Geni

While the active heave draw will still be linked to the wave period, Van den Bos points out that the installation would likely have to be sized for the lifting capacity. Therefore, massive crane vessels would likely require a scaled-up version as two cranes working in tandem can have a combined lifting capacity over 14,000 tonnes. Additional flywheels, (rather than a single, oversized mass) make a neater, more flexible package.

Further, Verhoef adds the energy storage capacity can be tailored to suit. If the system is only designed to accommodate the AHC for a few seconds, it could even be installed without the battery, significantly cutting costs.

FEBRUARY 2021 | 17

FOUR-STROKE ENGINES

FINLAND LOOKS TO DEVELOP DUAL-FUEL RCCI ENGINE TECH The upcoming Clean Propulsion Technologies project aims to develop flexible fuel solutions based on Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition (RCCI), advanced aftertreatment and hybridization technology for fast and medium-speed combustion engines

ROADMAP FOR 2030 A technology map has been prepared for technical solutions targeting 2030 emissions goals, and the key research streams are: 5 Develop new intelligent machine learning algorithms for virtual sensors, digital twins and control technologies (for use by the subsequent research streams) 5 By combining engine and after-treatment measures, demonstrate a minimum 20% reduction in GHG emissions and ultra-low NOx and particulate matter emissions 5 Design and implement an optimal control architecture for a hybrid system including batteries which will account for the characteristics of different energy and power sources 5 Build full-scale hybrid demonstrators of propulsion systems, targeting at least a 30% reduction in GHG emissions.

“This project shifts the paradigm from the time and resource consuming incremental improvement method used in earlier projects in favour of fast-tracking completely new systems by the use predictive simulation models,” says Mikulski. “The challenge is the calibration time of the new systems that need to be developed.” To realise the project’s objectives then, physics-based models, 3D CFD simulations and optical engine studies will be used to fast-track the dual-fuel lowtemperature combustion RCCI engine technology which he anticipates will increase engine efficiency by 2% and reduce methane slip by 90% compared to current dual-fuel LNG engine technologies. Further progress towards near zero emissions will be achieved through advanced after-treatment and hybridization technologies developed in the project.

18 | FEBRUARY 2021

Credit: Riikka Kalmi, University of Vaasa

The two-year project will give Finland a leading position in low-carbon technology for shipping, off-road vehicles and stationary power applications. It will be led by Maciej Mikulski, Associate Professor of Combustion Engine Technology, and operationally managed by Merja Kangasjärvi, both from Finland’s University of Vaasa. It is expected to commence in Q1 this year if further funding is secured from Business Finland.

The project originates from the CleanShip co-creation project which brought together a consortium of six universities and research organizations (University of Vaasa, Tampere University, Aalto University, Åbo Akademi University, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and LappeenrantaLahti University of Technology LUT), nine companies (Wärtsilä Finland, AGCO Power, Dinex Finland, Proventia, Bosch Rexroth, Geyser Batteries, APUGenius, Napa and Meyer Turku) and four international partners.

“The common goal is to secure the global technology leader position for the Finnish powertrain industry by creating a common vision and sustainable business solutions,” says Mikulski. “The reason that marine and off-road propulsion manufacturers can work efficiently together on this project is that both sectors are currently facing dramatic change in tightening GHG and emissions legislation.”

A holistic view of the project’s power train solutions will be complemented by route planning algorithms for operating conditions with large uncertainties, using ship-level simulations for the marine modelling. Together with sustainable fuels, these technologies form a promising short-term solution for decarbonization of energy production and heavy transport while satisfying future emission legislation, says Mikulski.

8 Maciej Mikulski, Associate Professor of Combustion Engine Technology

RCCI RESEARCH RCCI technology was originally developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Engine Research Center laboratories.

It is a variant of Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) that uses in-cylinder fuel blending by first injecting a low reactivity fuel such as natural gas, methanol or hydrogen combined with air and recirculated exhaust gases followed by injection of a high reactivity fuel such as biodiesel directly into the combustion chamber.

Recent research by Mikulski and a team from the University of Vaasa and Lublin University of Technology has led to the development of the concept of using part of the engine cycle to act as a poly-generation reactor altering the reactivity and thermal state of the fuel-air mixture on a cycle-to-cycle basis. The research, published in Applied Energy, indicates that using natural gas as the low reactivity fuel results in high knock-resistance and a reduction in nitrogen oxides emissions, particulate matter and carbon dioxide emissions.

However, this leads to relatively low combustion efficiency at low engine loads, causing unacceptable methane slip.

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FOUR-STROKE ENGINES

ADVANCED ENGINE CONTROL As the research explained the mechanisms of improved combustion efficiency and translated them into control strategies, it bridges the gap between fundamental research on RCCI/HCCI and its industrial application and indicates that the technology can be successfully implemented in next-generation marine and power plant engines to reduce methane slip and sensitivity to fuel quality. The overall concept is based on new, yet proven, engine components, and it accommodates the latest advantages in combustion control, says Mikulski.

Thus, engines operating in RCCI combustion mode will require extensive use of advanced engine hardware such as waste gate - controlled multi-stage turbochargers, fully variable electro-hydraulic valve actuation, exhaust gas recirculation, proportionally controlled charge air coolers and multi-pulse injection capability. “Most of the challenges related to this new combustion system relate to controllability and calibration time,” says Mikulski. “This roughly doubles the number of parameters that need to be controlled independently and calibrated compared to a traditional combustion engine.

Model-based development makes this leap possible where incremental development would otherwise make it unobtainable. The development includes cutting edge control protocols necessary for robust RCCI engine operation.”

In the high-speed (off-road) engine domain, two technologies (aside from advanced after-treatment and novel fuels that will also be developed as part of the project) form a short-term solution for reaching ultra-low emissions at superior efficiency, he says. The first is advanced engine hardware like variable valve actuation in combination with cylinder deactivation. This enables efficient engine thermal management to support aftertreatment systems in reaching their peak efficiency. This will be explored experimentally and by simulations.

The second technology is related to advanced engine cycles. “The split cycle engine concept - where separate cylinders realize compression and expand the combusted mixture - is another radical idea offering a step-change efficiency increase combined with higher power density,” says Mikulski.

FUEL CHOICES Natural gas, biogas methanol will be fuels focused on in the project, along with a biogas/hydrogen mix. “These fuels are

Credit: Riikka Kalmi, University of Vaasa

The researchers used numerical simulations to show that the application of negative valve overlap would resolve the issues by varying the timing and amount of fuel injected directly into the recompressed hot exhaust gases while simultaneously controlling for pressure rise. This on-demand reactivity allowed efficient low-temperature HCCI-like combustion to be maintained across the whole range of engine loads.

Further research showed that two key variables are crucial for closed-loop control: the crank angle of 50% fuel burnt and the combustion duration. These variables are closely coupled and can be calculated in real-time using wellestablished algorithms, making their management feasible.

Almost 99% combustion efficiency and ultra-low methane emissions were achieved under optimal conditions. Net indicated efficiency was 40.5% at 15% load. Low-load net efficiency was 5.5% above the lean strategy baseline and 3% better than the exhaust gas recirculation baseline simulations.

The required pressure rise rate control can be achieved by supervisory control despite the negative valve overlap’s substantial pumping losses, and the researchers formulated a workable strategy to manage this based on trade-offs between pressure rise rate and efficiency and emissions.

8 A Wärtsilä test engine at the University of Vaasa VEBIC energy lab

considered short-term low carbon transition fuels for shipping instantly reducing engine-out CO2 emissions by approximately 25%,” Mikulski says. “For both fuels, (L)NG and methanol, the worldwide bunkering infra is already majorly developed and IMO Stage II/ III engine technology is already there. Energy density satisfies the need of long-haul sea transport, and both fuels have similar, efficient routes towards full sustainability with CO2 capture/hydrogen synthesis and already now biogas and hydrogen can be, and are, added to natural gas to make it more sustainable. The use of (L)NG, in particular, is expected to scale up rapidly in the marine domain - we thus need future proof solutions to support this transition.”

FUTURE CHALLENGES The use of 100% hydrogen will be considered. The Clean Propulsion Technologies project will build a high-speed offroad demonstrator engine for this, while another project the University of Vaasa is leading, CHEK, will scale it up for use in the marine domain. “The technological readiness of the 100% hydrogen solution in the Clean Propulsion Technologies will be rather low. We will show that we can do it, yet without particular targets in terms of emission conformity and efficiency, the initial-step ambition, in our opinion, fits into the current infrastructural maturity of the 100% hydrogen as fuel concept.”

While the roadmap for the project is developed for 2030, there is still uncertainty beyond that, and therefore more mapping work required once the project focuses on 2050 emissions reduction targets. According to Mikulski, the current energy transition is a big challenge, but also a big opportunity for further research. “To meet the challenge and seize the opportunity, broad community support is necessary, and various stakeholders need to start working together on a common and unbiased vision. In Finland we have taken an important step towards this success.”

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

FEBRUARY 2021 | 19

FOUR-STROKE ENGINES

SOGAVS MEET THE MULTIFACETED CHALLENGES OF CHANGE With new developments come challenges for tried-and-trusted components.

Rick Boom of Woodward talks to Stevie Knight

8 New fuels have called for a lengthy research and development process: Woodward’s SOGAV250 and SOGAV65 on the testbench

Woodward’s solenoid-operated gas admission valves (SOGAV) are the well-established ‘go-to’ for the industry, but they’ve recently had to adapt to new realities.

To return to basics for a moment, these SOGAVs are a family of electrically actuated, fast-response gas valves for port fuel admission on four-cycle, turbocharged natural gas or dual-fuel engines. They work by pressure loading the metering plate to the ‘closed’ position; it’s opened on demand by the valve’s ecore solenoid, which has a short travel and high output-force designed to deliver consistent and precise cylinder-to-cylinder control.

It’s a rather elegant design suited to a broad swath of applications: that’s the reason they’ve been so successful in the past, and why they’re in the frame for the gaseous fuels of the future, Rick Boom of Woodward tells MS. But getting everything lined up for the new fuels is by no means straightforward.

While the IGF-Code came into force in 2017, frankly “the industry as a whole was just not ready at that moment”, admits Boom. It was especially challenging for the SOGAV design, sitting in the critical ‘Zone 0’ as described by the IGF Code - right inside the gas flow.

20 | FEBRUARY 2021

Part of the issue was technical: while the code sets the goals for the safety levels required for compliance, it leans heavily on the international IECEx 60079 (explosive atmospheres) standard: this details “the ‘how’ and ‘what’,” he explains.

However, this standard is primarily designed from a pure explosion risk perspective: according to Boom, creating a marine gas admission valve product that fulfilled the sometimes conflicting criteria pushed the team into “largely unexplored” territory.

Take apparently simple items such as cable glands or solenoid encapsulation materials: these have to be both compatible with CH4 and also cope with the heat and vibration that comes with the SOGAV’s position right on top the cylinders. “There were products that looked good on paper but couldn’t survive this environment,” he says, “some of them failing within minutes of initiating a test”.

Further, just occasionally a suitable alternative couldn’t be found, which meant going right back to the drawing board and devising a solution that could sit within the boundaries of both the IECEx requirement and IGF code.

Moreover, not many ‘notified bodies’, (that is, those able to award the necessary listing) had any familiarity with marine

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FOUR-STROKE ENGINES engine room conditions. “So, finding one that was able to help us work out a solution was quite a challenge,” he admits.

Material compatibility wasn’t the end of the issue: there were also design conflicts.

For example, Woodward’s SOGAVs have integrated leak detection: this has been developed to address safety concerns around low-flashpoint fuels - but it relies on being accessible from the surface of the double-walled piping.

That didn’t sit well with the IECEx requirement which wants the whole thing completely isolated; the notified body wanted the leak detection functionality entirely removed.

“Class - well, they weren’t happy,” says Boom. It was eventually sorted out, but it took work.

And at this point, others stakeholders come into the mix.

Resolving such conflicts might be relatively easy if there’s an unlimited palette of optional extras, but that just not going to wash with the OEMs: their requirement is for valves that sit in the same space, with the same characteristics as before. In short, “neither OEM customers nor class societies wanted to make alterations to proven designs or features”, says Boom: “They want a tested, fit and functional product”.

So, compliance been a lengthy business, “taking many sessions with OEMs, Notified Bodies, CIMAC and IACS before we even settled on the specification and started the design work”, but the concerted effort has paid off.

It’s not the end of the evolution for either the IGF-Code or Woodward. In fact, a recently emerging fuel has caught the SOGAV team’s attention.

Ammonia appears to be breaking ahead of the pack because it has better energy density than many of its competitors, and it promises a route forward into power-to-X fuels: “You hear about ammonia almost daily,” says Boom, pointing out that big players, including Maersk, have been paving the way for take-up. It’s not the only candidate by a long chalk, but “low-pressure ammonia gas admission is a realistic option,” he says, “and we have to make it work”.

Like others, ammonia will need to be embraced by the IGF Code to become a useful alternative. As such, it has many of the same considerations at other low-flashpoint fuels, explains Boom, who happens to be one of the code’s original architects.

Interestingly, ammonia - NH3 - and natural gas (largely CH4) belong in the same group as far as their flashpoint is concerned, and while combustion characteristics diverge there are useful potential mixes and possibilities for dual-fuel technology crossovers.

But once again, there are further demands which don’t sit easily with each other, planting manufacturers like Woodward squarely between conflicting requirements.

Things start to get tricky because SOGAVs need to retain their safety within the aggressively corrosive (and toxic) ammonic atmosphere.

‘‘

The new diagnostic element also allows an accurate prediction of the remaining time before it has to be replaced entirely. While these SOGAVs are built for a typical 16,000-24,000 hour life, it’s very useful for the operator to know if the valves are good for the next 5,000 hour

“We’ve had to identify potential weaknesses for ammonia operation, and replace them - especially the elastomers,” says Boom. However, the first problem has been sourcing the alternatives and sadly, there’s been “a fair amount of disappointment” along the way, he adds - though the team have won through before, so he’s confident they will do so again.

8 Fulfilling conflicting criteria: Woodward’s revisions of marine SOGAV products entails satisfying stakeholders and design issues as well as material compatibility

INSIDE INFORMATION Alternative fuels aren’t the only spur to innovation.

“Our SOGAVs do have a good track record. But there’s a growing focus on things like carbon emissions and methane slip, and this translates into heightened accuracy, a tightening of the mechanical tolerances,” says Boom: that, in turn, can drive up costs. However, he explains another, effective method to help mitigate these growing requirements’ impact is to apply a diagnostic system and electronic support.

That means getting inside information on the operation.

The ECU triggers the mechanism on demand, but there’s been no feedback to precisely ascertain how it responds. So, recent developments have added current profile monitoring, which plots exactly when the valve opens and closes.

“A drift in performance - usually from wear and tear - can usually be compensated by control algorithms,” says Boom.

The new diagnostic element also allows an accurate prediction of the remaining time before it has to be replaced entirely.

While these SOGAVs are built for a typical 16,000-24,000 hour life, he comments that “it’s very useful for the operator to know if the valves are good for the next 5,000 hours”.

Finally, Woodward’s SOGAVs are almost ubiquitous but this can be a double-edged sword. As a result of the valve’s market penetration, “we are dealing with every OEM and every engine, each of which has its specific validation requirements”, he explains, adding: “We are steadily working our way through them all.”

It’s obviously a protracted, detailed business. However, these adaptations already cover around 99% of all applicable engines between a 17cm and 54cm bore size - so it’s pretty sure they will be ready to meet the new demands.

Will there now be a pause for breath in the round of modifications? Possibly not - partly because the industry shows no sign of settling the fuel contest anytime soon: in fact, it might be just beginning, predicts Boom: “The whole journey toward zero emissions is leading a lot of R&D... there’s a high number of combustion recipes and potential systems, which will have to boil down over time.” This, of course, impacts both material and electronic development of a range of components.

However, “the SOGAVs’ longevity stems from the company’s efforts to meet the needs of the market”, he concludes. “We’re always innovating.”

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FEBRUARY 2021 | 21

BATTERY/HYBRID

NO WINNER YET IN QUEST TO UP BATTERY ENERGY DENSITY Many start-ups have announced developments in lithium-ion battery technology, but, says Dr George Crabtree, Director of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR) at Argonne National Laboratory, “I’d like to see a little more before putting my money on the table.”

8 As part of the FLO-MAR project, the operation of a a Gosport ferry in the UK using a flow battery was simulated

It takes five years in the laboratory to prove that you really have a solution, he says. It takes another three to five years to reach commercial scale. And, in the quest for higher energy density in lithium-ion batteries, there’s one problem that scientists have been trying to solve for over 50 years.

The anode is made up of layered graphite layers, and the lithium is loaded (intercalates) between the layers. The maximum is one lithium for every six carbons, so only one seventh of the atoms are storing and releasing energy, and the graphite takes up a lot of space. One potential solution is to use pure lithium metal as an anode. This would increase energy density by a factor of 10. The trouble is that, over time, the lithium forms dendrites through the electrolyte that eventually reach the cathode and short out the battery. A solution is being hotly pursued, says Crabtree, but not a lot of information has been made public by the start-ups involved.

An alternative is to use silicon in combination with graphite.

Silicon intercalates lithium at a higher rate: four lithium atoms for every silicon atom. The catch is that in doing this, the silicon expands to about four times its volume. Eventually it cracks and starts to react with the electrolyte - a showstopper.

Using silicon nanoparticles prevents the cracking, but it eventually loses reactivity anyway. “So nowadays, probably every commercial lithium-ion battery has maybe three, four or five percent silicon. Even a small increase in energy density is really valuable.” There are start-ups that say they can reach 50%, but a time scale for commercialisation is very “drafty,” says Crabtree.

Another potential way of increasing energy density is to change the electrolyte to a solid rather than the organic liquid typically used today. This removes the risk of thermal runaway if the liquid electrolyte reaches 150oC. However, many of the solid state electrolytes are polycrystalline with lots of crystal grains jumbled together which are vulnerable to dendrite formation. There are start-ups claiming developments with glassy solids, so it’s a solution that is on the horizon, says Crabtree.

“The big problem with solid state electrolytes is that lithium doesn’t move very fast in solid materials of any kind.

It moves much faster in liquids,” he says. “It turns out there are a couple of families of solid state electrolytes where lithium does move about as fast, even maybe y a little bit faster, in the solid d as it does in the liquid electrolytes, and those are the ones that are being looked ked at. Most of these have five or six elements ements in them.

So, there’s a lot of opportunity rtunity to tweak the composition and try to get the best conductivity.”

An alternative is to use an aqueous electrolyte. The problem m with water is that it electrolyses at very ery low voltage. “You can pull some ome tricks and maybe get the e operating voltage up to two volts, but not any

8 George Crabtree is an Argonne Distinguished Fellow and the Director of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research

Credit: Argonne National Laboratory

22 | FEBRUARY 2021

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higher. And the lithium-ion batteries that we have now operate at 4.3 volts because the organic electrolyte is more stable.” If the lithium ions are dissolved at very high concentrations in water, it is possible to get up to three volts and avoid the potential for thermal runaway, but this still doesn’t match current technology. It does lead, though, to the proposition that very high concentrations in organic electrolytes might also increase voltage, and this is being researched at present. Crabtree notes that using water as the electrolyte or using a solid state electrolyte means that existing anode and cathode technology could remain much the same as it is now.

Another approach to improving energy density is to change cathode technology. The original cathode developed

by Sony in 1991 was cobalt dioxide. Cobalt is expensive, and the majority of global supply comes from mining operations in the DRC (formerly Zaire), which has a 60% market share. As an alternative, equal amounts of manganese, nickel and cobalt have been used (NMC technology). Today, a ratio of 8:1:1 is becoming standard. The more nickel that is used, the higher the energy density. However, nickel is more unstable which can affect battery lifetime.

Crabtree says that for heavy transport covering long distances, an energy density of around 800Wh/h per kilogram is needed. Lithium-ion is about 275. “And no matter what you’re doing with lithium-ion, it’s not going to get to 800. That’s where you need something like lithium-oxygen or perhaps lithium-sulphur technology.”

Multivalent ion technology is another alternative. Metals such as magnesium and calcium give up two electrons rather than one, giving twice the energy density of lithium.

Magnesium doesn’t form dendrites as rapidly as lithium, and being less reactive means it poses less of a fire risk. The problem is that none of the cathodes that work for lithium work for magnesium. “You’re still faced with finding an electrolyte and a cathode that ideally you could intercalate the magnesium in. There are several electrolytes that work with the magnesium anode, but they are not the ones that work with the cathode.” This is just one of the many areas of research that JCESR is currently engaged in.

ADVANCING LFP TECHNOLOGY Lithium, nickel and cobalt demand could rise 20-fold by 2050, driving a chemistry change that Lithium Australia subsidiary, VSPC, believes has the potential to make Australia a battery manufacturing hub.

Australia is already the world’s leading producer of lithium, and VSPC manufactures high-quality lithium-ion cathode powders, including lithium ferro phosphate (LFP). The market for LFP technology is expected to grow five-fold by 2030 as a result of its advantages over lithium nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) and lithium nickel cobalt aluminium (NCA) technologies.

Already widely available, LFP batteries offer superior thermal stability, longer life, wide operating temperature range and lower cost. Additionally, they contain less lithium, no nickel and no cobalt.

Currently, around 98% of all LFP cathode powders are produced and used in China, but Adrian Griffin, Managing Director of Lithium Australia, says LFP is likely to be the dominant chemistry globally within a few years. He says his company is ideally situated to meet the expected increase in demand from Europe, India and North America which is being driven by electric vehicle, renewable power and 5G communication applications, with marine applications also anticipated to increase.

“Over the last 12 months, global demand for LFP has increased over 25%, bringing Chinese LFP cathode powder

24 | FEBRUARY 2021

Credit: Marine South East

BATTERY/HYBRID

manufacturing up to over 100,000 tonnes per annum,” he says. VSPC is positioning itself as a major alternative supplier through the development of patented optimised acid digestion production methods that reduce chemical costs by up to 10%. “The ability to utilise low-cost feed materials for the production of LFP batteries puts Australia one step closer to becoming a competitive location for battery production,” says Griffin.

The main drawback of LFP is that its energy density is lower than other lithium-ion technologies, but the situation has been improved through more efficient cell geometry and through the addition of manganese (LMFP). As well as reducing the cost of manufacturing powders, VSPC has now also successfully produced LMFP battery cells which have up to 25% higher density than LFP cells due to their higher voltage. The technologies are currently being scaled up.

VSPC is also working on a new generation of rapid charge batteries based on the “olivine” crystal structure that gives LFP many of its superior properties including unparalleled safety. With so much capital invested in lithium technology, Griffin says it will remain dominant in the market for at least the next 10 years despite the emergence of other chemistries and technologies such as vanadium flow batteries.

8 A flow battery generates electricity by pumping electrolytes through the stack of power cells

FLOW BATTERY ADVANTAGES Flow batteries have electrolyte liquids stored in separate storage tanks, not in the power cell of the battery system.

During operation, the electrolytes are pumped through the stack of power cells to produce electricity.

The theoretical redesign of a small diesel-powered ferry undertaken delivered unexpected results to the project partners involved in FLO-MAR, a UK-government and 8 Far left: Narve Mjøs, Director Battery Services & Projects at DNV GL and Henrik Helgesen, Senior Environmental Consultant at DNV GL

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industry funded project to develop flow batteries for marine applications. Naval architects Houlder, energy storage specialists Swanbarton and classification society Lloyd’s Register, brought together by innovation cluster Marine South East (MSE), found that not only did replacing the diesel electric propulsion system with a flow battery save space, it also improved operational performance.

“Flow batteries don’t have particularly good energy density, so we’d expected the massive battery would reduce the payload of the vessel. This was not the case,” said Dr Jonathan Williams, CEO of MSE. The original ferry design had a large bunker tank so the vessel only needed to be taken off-duty to bunker once a week. For the flow battery variant, it is charged at berth overnight by pumping out the electrolyte and replacing it, so the electrolyte tanks could be smaller.

The battery stack fitted into a void space, and smaller ballast tanks could be used because there was no diesel consumed and subsequent ballasting required.

The FLO-MAR project partners anticipate the technology will be well suited to a variety of vessels including domestic passenger vessels, work boats and wind farm vessels, and coupled with renewable energy and a containerised battery, such as that being trialled by MSE at the Port of Portsmouth, port bunkering infrastructure can be kept to a minimum.

Williams notes that the risk of thermal runaway with lithium-ion technology can mean that these batteries need to be located above deck, “not an ideal position for putting 100 tons of batteries. It obviously affects stability and can get in the way of operations.” Flow batteries are not susceptible to thermal runaway, so they don’t require the same level of ambient temperature control, and unlike lithium-ion batteries they don’t need to be replaced in 10 years’ time - something that can involve a major drydock refit.

Energy capacity can be scaled in a flow battery by adding more electrolyte. “With a lithium-ion battery, you basically get the package, and it has a certain discharge rate (C-rate), which varies a little bit, but it’s not very adjustable. So, you often end up putting in more batteries than you really need, because you either need to have very high power or you need very high endurance. With a flow battery you can adjust those two parameters independently, so you’ve got more design flexibility.”

The project partners have plans for installing a demonstration flow battery in a small harbour maintenance vessel, and a barge project is anticipated. At this stage, Williams says the choice of electrolyte is still uncertain. Vanadium flow batteries are the current technology, but organic, non-toxic electrolytes are being evaluated with the University of Southampton.

QUEST FOR ORGANIC ELECTROLYTES The quest for higher energy density using organic electrolytes for flow batteries is also being taken up by the SONAR Project led by Professor Jens Noack of the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT, in Germany. In this case, the search is focused on flow batteries for stationary, renewable energy power storage which would take advantage of the technology’s ability to store energy for longer than the four to eight hours achieved with lithium-ion batteries. SONAR will integrate models from the atomistic scale up to the battery stack, and use techniques such as machine learning to evaluate different prospective materials.

Noack notes that the search for alternatives to vanadium or iron flow batteries is particularly relevant in Europe, as the continent doesn’t have any vanadium resources or indeed many inorganic minerals. “In organic chemistry, there are millions or even billions of possible candidates for active materials,” he says.

Credit: ANL

BATTERY/HYBRID

ALL FUELS ARE DANGEROUS Asked if the potential for thermal runaway was enough of a safety risk to move away from lithium-ion batteries, Narve Mjøs, Director Battery Services & Projects at DNV GL, says all fuels can be dangerous if not managed carefully. “Even fossil fuels are very dangerous with an enormous energy density.

It’s important then to handle with care. We see better battery products today compared to yesterday. There are better safety rules based on new research and also more experience.” However, batteries that offer a high degree of safety, in some cases compromise on energy density and lifetime of the battery, he says. “We think that lithium-ion will still be the dominant technology in the near future, since it offers a reasonable compromise between safety, energy density, lifetime and costs.”

Mjøs says costs are coming down all the time, and all ships may have a large or small battery in the future. He notes an operational advantage: “You really have power when you need it. The acceleration is much higher than with, for instance, a traditional engine.”

8 The Electrochemical Discovery Laboratory at Argonne National Laboratory

THE FUTURE BATTERY MIX Henrik Helgesen, Senior Environmental Consultant at DNV GL, anticipates that solid state lithium technology and lithium sulphur batteries will be introduced in around 3-5 years. It is very uncertain whether technologies like lithium air batteries will be commercialized at all, even when it has the largest theoretical energy density. The end result will be a mix of different types of batteries with different energy densities “depending on how much you want to pay.”

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8 An Argonne National Laboratory researcher testing an electrochemical cycling performance at ANL’s Battery Laboratory

FEBRUARY 2021 | 25

BATTERY/HYBRID

CORVUS TO DEVELOP PEM FC SYSTEMS WITH TOYOTA STACKS Toyota and Corvus Energy have announced plans to develop hydrogen fuel-cell systems, with the intention of making maritime-certified fuel cell systems commercially available by 2024

8 Corvus Energy’s factory in Bergen

The development project has received €5.2m in funding from state agency Innovation Norway, and also includes energy major Equinor, shipowners Norled and Wilhelmsen, ship design company LMG Marin, the NCE Maritime CleanTech cluster and R&D institution the University of South-Eastern Norway (USN).

Many of the project collaborators are also participating in the Topeka PEMFC-powered Ro-Ro demonstration project, as part of a wider Norwegian project to develop hydrogen supply chains along the Norwegian coast.

“Adding fuel-cell modules to our product portfolio is a natural step for Corvus and advances our vision to be the leading supplier of zero-emission marine solutions. Fuel-cell technology has reached a maturity level where scale-up of systems will be the next step. Toyota is in the forefront of the development and is by far the best partner for us to make this a success,” said Corvus Energy CEO Geir Bjørkeli.

LT PEMFC SYSTEM The development project’s first target is install a LT PEMFC marine fuel-cell system onboard a vessel in 2023. This is intended to be succeeded by the delivery of a first Corvus type-approved PEM fuel cell system by 2024.

Corvus intends to follow a modular approach, developing a scalable product that can be produced in large volumes, in its fuel cell development.

“We will ensure that the first system solution provided in this partnership will be scalable for vessels requiring everything from 200-300kW to 10,000+ kW of installed power,” Corvus’ Project Director, Kristian Holmefjord told The Motorship.

Toyota will supply both the individual LT PEM fuel cells, and the LT PEM fuel cell stacks, along with the fuel cell controls as a modular solution. Corvus will supply a fuel cell system to operators, including a unified marine control system covering both battery and fuel-cell operation.

Corvus is also identifying alternative solutions, as there is no “one size/type/FC-chemistry fits all” for marine and other

26 | FEBRUARY 2021

fuel cell solutions might be better suited to larger vessel requirements.

The company already has an objective to develop a second fuel cell system solution, drawing on alternative Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) or High Temperature PEM FC technologies by 2025.

The SOFC technology offers opportunities in the deep-sea market, as the fuel cell can operate on lower-purity hydrogen or other fuels, such as ammonia or LNG, unlike Toyota’s LT PEMFC technology. “The space requirements of hydrogen storage aboard deep-sea vessels remain an obstacle to the use of compressed hydrogen at present,” Bjørkeli commented.

FC SYSTEM ASSEMBLY HUB As part of the announcement, Corvus confirmed that it plans to establish a production hub producing commercial marine LT PEM fuel cell systems at scale in Bergen.

The production centre will be eventually oriented towards both the export and domestic Norwegian markets although initial demand is expected to come from the domestic Norwegian market.

“As fuel-cell technology has reached a maturity level where the scaling-up of systems will be the next step, a key advantage to partnering with Toyota was the ability to move straight to industrial production to scale up,” said Corvus Energy CEO Geir Bjørkeli. “Toyota is at the forefront of the development and is by far the best partner for us to make this a success,” Geir Bjørkeli added.

While Toyota has a comparatively short history in the marine market, and only announced plans to develop fuel cells for marine applications in 2020, it has a long track record in developing fuel cells for the passenger vehicle market. It is also the largest manufacturer of LT PEM fuel cells in the world, in what remains a comparatively small market. Sales of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCEV) in 2020 were below 10,000 units globally.

The ramp up of production of Toyota’s LT PEMFC stacks at

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BATTERY/HYBRID Toyota’s manufacturing site in Honsha in Toyota City in Japan from 3,000 units to 30,000 units per year, was also expected to lead to significant economies of scale.

Toyota launched a second generation of its LT PEMFC stack technology for the Mirai hydrogen fuel cell passenger automobile in Japan in December 2020. Compared with the preceding generation of LT PEMFC stack, the Gen 2 stack achieved weight savings, production cost efficiencies and also increased power density, Freddy Bergsma, Senior Manager Strategy and Business Development, Fuel Cell Business Group, Toyota Motor Europe confirmed.

Concurrently, further advances in LT PEMFC technology were planned, which were likely to build on recent improvements. Plans to develop a Gen 3 stack were already underway.

In other words, the agreement secures Corvus access to proven fuel-cell technology while enabling large-scale production and competitive pricing, Corvus CCO Halvard Hauso said.

NEW BUSINESS UNIT FOR CORVUS ENERGY As part of the project, Corvus is intending to develop a world leading maritime fuel cell centre in Bergen. Corvus Energy’s Project Director, Kristian Holmefjord, told The Motorship that the initial team will number about 20 dedicated roles, while drawing on the company’s engineering expertise from its R&D facilities in Porsgrunn, Norway and Vancouver, Canada.

One of the key aspects of the project will be to develop a series of optimised solutions for customers, drawing on Corvus’ extensive experience of the operation of battery

systems aboard vessels, as well as Toyota Motor Europe’s insight into the PEM FC modules.

“The optimisation here is crucial and a big differentiator in the market. We will strive to make the best solution for our customers, not strive to only supply batteries or only supply fuel cells,” Holmefjord said.

Finally, Holmefjord added that Corvus did not have any plans to enter the hydrogen storage system production or delivery space, or to become involved in compressed or liquid hydrogen (LH2) production or supply chains.

The Motorship notes other companies within the development consortium have expertise in those areas: Equinor is currently developing a LH2 production facility at Mongstad near Bergen, while Norled and LMG Marin are participating in a project to develop an LH2-fuelled ferry.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

8 Corvus Energy CEO Geir Bjørkeli: ”a key advantage to partnering with Toyota was the ability to move straight to industrial production to scale up”

FEBRUARY 2021 | 27

BATTERY/HYBRID

CINDERELLA ‘SHOE’ THAT TURNS A TUG INTO AN ICEBREAKER

Image: ILS

Icebreakers are big, expensive beasts but they can be lazy, “sometimes only working three or four months of the year”, says Jyrki Lehtonen of ILS Ship Design & Engineering.

It’s left people wondering if there’s not a more cost-effective answer

And now there is. It’s a rather surprising alternative from ILS: a removable bow which, when fitted to a suitably robust vessel such as an ice-class pusher tug, allows it to take on icebreaking duties. In summer the bow can simply be unpinned, leaving the tug to return to more typical operations.

The design itself is reminiscent of a horseshoe (albeit with hefty bracing connecting the two sides) that fits quite snugly around the vessel’s form, conferring both strength and extra forward height.

However, it was clear the addition also needed to bring substantial power along with it. Thus, the self-propelled removable ice breaking bow (SRIB) was born: Lehtonen explains it’s almost a complete vessel in its own right, with engines, ballasting unit, and full automation.

Interestingly, the very first of them is already out there and working the waterways around Lake Saimaa. This is a somewhat smaller 25.3m version with a 12.5m beam and designed for inland operation: paired with its ‘other half’ - a tug called Calypso - the combined length comes to around 40m, with a total installed engine power of 2.6MW. Hooking up was another challenge: it was necessary to create a single, rock-solid unit from the two halves and moreover, achieve it “inside a working day” says Lehtonen.

The solution, a three-point connection developed by

28 | FEBRUARY 2021

8 Ship Design & Engineering’s removable bow fitted to suitable pusher tug would allow it to take on icebreaking duties

partner ACM Trading, is a sophisticated ATB crossover with a central solid steel pin and sleeve amidships, plus hydraulically operated pins on the port and starboard wings. Interestingly, this allows the mating to be accomplished well within the timescale: if the trim and draft need attention in order to match up with the tug, the onboard ballasting system of the SRIB will compensate, possibly taking a couple of hours. If that isn’t necessary, he explains “the connection can be as fast as 10 minutes”.

FULL-SCALE However, while the ‘pint-size’ version is operating successfully, the larger, Baltic-capable SRIB is a significant step up in scale. The first of these designs will likely have a waterline breadth of around 24m, and the length, when united, could easily double that of the pusher tug alone.

The idea is that taken together, the ice strengthened removable bow and the total power combination will yield capabilities “corresponding to those of present Baltic icebreakers,” he explains. Therefore, the duo should be able to achieve a 6kn progress in 0.8m level ice - a speed high enough for escort duties.

As a result, the combined pusher and SRIB will likely require a total installed power around the 11MW mark.

There are some givens. The candidate vessels will

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BATTERY/HYBRID

8 Slipping into the icebreaking bow

necessarily be of 1A Super ice class notation, and it’s most effective if “the bow and tug divide the power about fifty-fifty”, says Lehtonen: therefore the vessel will ideally already have 5MW or so of installed power - though there’s some flexibility.

The balance may develop differently for the full-scale builds, depending on the pusher and local characteristics: “Each case will need a separate design,” he adds.

Like its smaller sister, the first of these larger SRIBs will likely incorporate diesel generators inside the hull - although battery power systems are under consideration for the future, it will require further development.

There are a number of elements governing the choices, says Erno Tenhunen of Danfoss Editron, the company supplying the power and distribution for the inland SRIB. For example, a DC bus gets rid of the need for AC/DC converters and so on, and it also allows the gensets to run at variable speeds.

‘‘

Unlike batteries which usually start failing below 20degC - and which can be impaired by low-temperature recharging - supercapacitors will continue working happily even when deep into sub-zero conditions. It also helps that they can be designed to meet very high shock and vibration requirements: icebreaking can be a jarring business The permanent magnet motors on each shaft line are also very compact, as are the DC/DC inverters which, usefully, don’t require locating in an isolated area: as a result they can be positioned directly inside the machinery space. Further, while it’s plausible that the 6MW or so of power for the fullsize SRIB could still be supplied by two generators, efficiency might best be served by divvying up demand between four of them.

But most importantly, icebreaking operations have a very high, rapid power demand. In order to avoid over-sizing the generators an energy storage unit will peak shave these spikes, as well as enabling open water transits on just one genset. Significantly, it’s not a battery: it’s a supercapacitor.

Although batteries can hold a charge for much longer, supercapacitors are far superior when it comes to sheer power output as they store energy in a static electric field rather than electrochemically. As a result they are able to

both absorb and release large amounts of power pretty much instantly, without degradation.

However, the 10.4F/650V DC/DC converter-controlled supercapacitor onboard the inland SRIB, developed by Danfoss itself, has a sizeable (for a supercap) 3.1MJ/ 0.86kWh energy density in order to cover blackout and spinning reserve.

But the choice of ESS answers another concern: the cold.

Unlike batteries which usually start failing below 20degC - and which can be impaired by low-temperature recharging - supercapacitors will continue working happily even when deep into sub-zero conditions. It also helps that they can be designed to meet very high shock and vibration requirements: icebreaking can be a jarring business.

Lastly, Tenhunen points out the SRIB necessarily relies on “a highly automated power system”, with the control interface located inside the pusher tug’s wheelhouse.

VARIATIONS It’s worth noting the design embraces a number of alternatives.

To start with, the straightforward scaled-up version of the inland SRIB has two, aft-facing, 3MW fixed pitch reaming propellers in skegs on both sides of the horseshoe.

But double-acting icebreakers have a hull optimised for running ahead in open waters and thin ice, turning around and proceeding astern to take on thicker chunks: this allows the propellers to bite into the ice and flush it aft very effectively.

Therefore other solutions on ILS’ drawing board lean further toward this kind of operation. One of the designs positions a 6MW, fully azimuthing ‘pulling’ pod at the bow: another places a pair of smaller, similarly oriented 3MW units on each side, and there is a fourth version which extends the two, straight shaft lines and propellers forward. Further, Lehtonen explains these are just the base designs: it’s possible to incorporate more pods or propellers to adapt to different challenges.

Moreover, some of these options - such as the single pod - can reduce the beam, tailoring the SRIB to narrower approaches: therefore the signature horseshoe shape could be swapped for something closer to a slipper.

Finally, how does the bottom line add up?

The main costs accrue from the installed power level, says Lehtonen. But, he points out, it’s much cheaper than building an entire vessel: there’s no bridge or associated kit, and likewise, no accommodation or crew facilities, “so the bow doesn’t come to more than 30% of the cost of buying a complete icebreaker”.

It’s already gaining interest, and there appear to be contracts waiting in the wings. Certainly the SRIB looks like becoming a cost-effective choice for regularly ice-bound, industrial locations, making them navigable year-round.

It might not be that long before more pusher tugs find an alternative winter identity by slipping their bow into an icebreaking ‘shoe’.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

FEBRUARY 2021 | 29

BATTERY/HYBRID

RICARDO INVESTS IN UK HYDROGEN RESEARCH CENTRE Fuel cells are likely to prevail over internal combustion engines (ICEs) in the long-term quest for carbon-free marine propulsion, believes Andrea Trevisan, chief engineer at the UK-based engineering consultant, Ricardo.

It is exploring the potential of hydrogen and ammonia as zero-carbon fuels for both ICEs and fuel cells and Mr Trevisan told The Motorship that fuel cells’ dominance will be because they are more efficient than ICEs, making them cheaper to run. ICEs, meanwhile, will provide an “interim solution ... to support hydrogen and ammonia adoption.”

He was speaking in early February, just a few days after Ricardo announced it was investing £2.5M (US$3.4M) in a hydrogen development and testing facility that will “form part of a global centre of excellence for hydrogen, defossilised fuels and electrified transport engineering,” a company statement said, with a focus on hydrogen, fuel cells and green alternative fuels. It is due to open early next year.

Ricardo is also hoping to establish a development facility for hydrogen-fuelled ICEs, but this will depend on securing government funding. A decision was expected as this issue of The Motorship went to press, but the company’s test operations director Richard Murphy was confident that funding would be granted. Once that has been confirmed, it can be in operation within four-six months, he said.

These are not Ricardo’s only recent ventures into hydrogen-fuelling: in mid-January, it formed a strategic collaboration with alkaline fuel cell specialist AFC Energy specifically to create hydrogen fuel cell products and services, initially focusing on marine, rail and stationary power applications.

Although fuel cells may be the eventual winner over ICEs, scaling them up for high-power applications will not be straightforward. With current technology, an individual fuel cell can be up to 60% efficient, which is about 10% more than for an ICE but that optimum figure is reached at around 2535% load and reduces when cells are stacked together for higher outputs, Mr Trevisan said.

However, Ricardo has developed an advanced control system that can boost the efficiency of such a stack, restoring its efficiency to 50-60% and Mr Trevisan is confident that fuel cell technology is improving rapidly and that its efficiency will improve in the future.

Its planned development and testing facility is expected to support further development for Ricardo’s hydrogen transport technology using what the company described in a statement as a ‘systems-led’ approach. This, Mr Murphy explained, differed from a conventional approach in which various parts of a system, for example, an engine, transmission and other components, would be developed separately and then brought together.

Fuel cell systems, however, have more complex interdependencies, he said, so if that approach were used for their development, “you would then find a whole new set of learning” when they were combined. Because of this, developing systems as a whole “means a faster route to

30 | FEBRUARY 2021

Image: Ricardo

As Ricardo expands its research into hydrogen storage and fuel cells, efficiency and operating costs give FCs an edge over internal combustion engines, Ricardo’s experts tell Paul Gunton

market and cheaper development time, which gives a competitive advantage,” he added.

Ricardo’s new centre will combine highly-detailed models with components to enable this ‘hardware-in-the-loop’ approach. “Swapping [between] the real and the virtual is one of the challenges for modern test facilities,” he added, but Mr Trevisan said this approach has a significant benefit: it reduces development time by 30% and a systems-led approach “makes sure that the customer’s needs are really met.”

8 Ricardo is investing £2.5m to expand its hydrogen-related research

Hydrogen fuelling challenges However, hydrogen faces a significant challenge, particularly for marine use: storage volume. Even when compressed to 700 bar, it takes up nine times the space of the equivalent diesel fuel, Mr Trevisan said. This comes down to a multiple of five if it is held in liquid form and to three times the volume if the hydrogen is provided in the form of liquid ammonia. Other benefits of ammonia are that it can be transported relatively easily and it is already a familiar commodity, he noted.

But now, Ricardo is exploring a storage option that might bring the ratio down even more, by holding hydrogen as a metal hydride, which would absorb and then release hydrogen from its surface, requiring neither high pressurisation nor liquefaction.

In a UK government-funded joint project with London’s South Bank University, Ricardo is exploring the potential of this technology for fuelling buses, for which hydrogen’s cost, safety and on-board storage are significant obstacles to its commercial use, a Ricardo statement about the project said in December. It went on to suggest that metal hydrides would therefore provide a safer storage method with lower operational and maintenance costs.

Reflecting on its potential for marine use, this could be “quite a breakthrough,” Mr Trevisan commented.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

.R TVMRX WMRGI 5SVX XVEXIK] QEKE^MRI TVSZMHIW OI] MRWMKLXW MRXS XLI MWWYIW ERH HIZIPSTQIRXW EǺIGXMRK XLI TSVX STIVEXMSRW and port maintenance industries.

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BATTERY/HYBRID

BENEFITS OF VANADIUM REDOX FLOW BATTERY TECHNOLOGY Vanadium redox flow batteries are being developed for shipping applications by corporate and research partners in Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and Canada, and cost-competitiveness could be enhanced by leasing the 100% reusable electrolyte to shipowners

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT In January this year, Canada-based VanadiumCorp Resource Inc., with its wholly owned subsidiary, Germany-based VanadiumCorp GmbH, announced engineering partnerships for the application of zero-emission ships using design nextgeneration vanadium redox flow batteries and electrolyte suitable for mobile applications. The move comes after VanadiumCorp’s research and development cooperation with CENELEST, the German-Australian Alliance for Electrochemical Technologies for the Storage of Renewable Energy, which combines the research and engineering strengths of both UNSW Sydney and the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology.

Generation 1 vanadium redox flow batteries contain vanadium dissolved in acid, typically sulphuric acid.

Generation 2 technology uses a vanadium bromide solution instead and next generation technology being developed by

32 | FEBRUARY 2021

CENELEST for VanadiumCorp will involve a further development of this to achieve higher energy density. The partners conducted work in 2020 that is anticipated to increase stored energy potential to around two times as much as a conventional vanadium redox flow battery. The technology can be scaled to any size, says VanadiumCorp CEO Adriaan Bakker.

He says recent key advancements in energy density have helped form a strong business case for the technology, targeting higher than 50 watts per litre (Wh/l), that can be obtained with vanadium bromide electrolyte. Along with advances in stack architecture, such as the development of wedge-shaped cells and additive manufacturing techniques, this means that the advantages of vanadium redox flow batteries, which include higher range, reusable electrolyte, simple management, fuelling instead of charging, and no risk

8 A vanadium drill core from Quebec, Canada

8 Vanadium flow redox battery research

Image courtesy of UNSW and VanadiumCorp

REDOX FLOW BATTERY TECHNOLOGY Vanadium redox flow battery technologies date back to the 1980s, with work led by Professor Maria Skyllas-Kazacos of the University of NSW (UNSW Sydney) in Australia. The first patent for the All-Vanadium Redox Flow Battery was filed in 1986, and this was the start of a 35-year program at UNSW that continues today.

Unlike conventional batteries, redox flow batteries have electrolyte liquids stored in separated storage tanks, not in the power cell of the battery system. During operation, the electrolytes are pumped through the stack of power cells to produce electricity.

Vanadium redox flow batteries are non-flammable, reusable over hundreds of thousands of cycles (compared to several thousand for lithium-ion batteries) and last more than 20 years. They can be scaled up to deliver energy for a wide range of applications without generating significant waste heat, and they can extend energy storage time well beyond lithium-ion’s typical four to eight hour operating time.

However, so far, researchers have not been able to match the power density of lithium-ion technology.

Credit: Vanadium Corp

Vanadium is a soft, grey, plentiful metal mainly produced from magnetite. It has the highest strength to weight ratio of any metal, and it also defies the Wiedemann-Franz Law which states that good conductors of electricity are also good conductors of heat.

Use of vanadium dates back to the third Century BC when high-strength “Damascus steel” was used for forging swords.

The first wide-scale industrial use of vanadium occurred in 1905 when Henry Ford used vanadium-enriched steel to make the Model-T stronger and lighter. Today, it continues to be used to strengthen steel rebar, to dissipate heat in engines, computers, robotics and energy storage and as a key component in the manufacture of smart glass, aviation alloys, manufacturing and health formulations.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

BATTERY/HYBRID

TECHNOLOGY ADVANTAGES In conventional generation 1 vanadium redox flow batteries, two tanks of vanadium, one containing the negative electrolyte (V2+ and V3+ ions) and the other containing the positive electrolyte (V4+ and V5+ ions) are connected to the battery stacks. Pumps are used to circulate the electrolytes through the battery stacks where power conversion takes place. Most batteries use different chemicals in the positive and negative half-cells which can cross-contaminate and therefore degrade over time. This does not occur in conventional vanadium redox flow batteries as the single element, vanadium, is used to store and release charge.

“The electrolyte never actually degrades,” says Associate Professor Chris Menictas, Head of the Energy Storage and Refrigeration Research Group at UNSW. “It doesn’t change physical state or be used up. When you start from a discharge state, you have V3+ on the negative side and V4+ on the positive side. When you charge it up to 100%, V3+ will be converted to V2+ on the negative side, and V4+ will be converted to V5+ on the positive side. Those processes can just keep going, almost indefinitely. You’re only changing the oxidation state in the electrolyte, you aren’t actually degrading it.” In the Generation 2 technology, the electrolyte is composed of vanadium ions in mixed chloride and bromide acidic solutions. This allows for potentially higher energy density due to higher concentrations of vanadium and utilisation of the bromine reaction.

Having a common electrolyte flowing to every cell is advantageous because it allows all cells in the battery system to be at the same condition, Menictas says. “Quite often, when you have other technologies where you’ve got thousands of cells, some cells may be 60%, some may be 100%. This can cause issues such as imbalance and cell reversal in larger battery arrays.

Additionally, power and energy can be scaled independently. “If I had, say, 2,000 lithium-ion batteries, the amount of power and the amount of time that I can use that power for is fixed, and if I want to add more capacity, for example I need a few extra hours, I’ve got to add more batteries,” explains Menictas. “With the vanadium flow battery, because all the energy is stored in liquid form and the battery stacks are only used for power, if I need more energy or I need power to be provided for a longer time, I can just add more electrolytes. Take a 10 megawatt battery and storage for four hours, so 40 megawatt hours, and if I need 60 megawatt hours, I don’t have to change the battery stacks, I just add more volume of electrolytes. No other system can really do that, other than a flow battery.”

ONBOARD MANAGEMENT Menictas says most batteries need to be recycled after their useful lifetime, generating an end-of-life financial and environmental cost. “However, in flow batteries, your

Image courtesy of UNSW and VanadiumCorp

of thermal runaway or fire, can be realised in marine propulsion systems, says Bakker.

Phase I of his plan will see the formalisation of a trilateral partnership with Conoship International Projects from the Netherlands and Vega Reederei and Partners from Germany.

VanadiumCorp will contribute new flow-battery designs, a high-energy-density electrolyte formulation, manage research and development and provide its network of manufacturing partners. Conoship will contribute marine engineering designs to integrate a compact redox flowbattery into propulsion systems, and Vega will arrange project financing, contribute fleet operations expertise and conduct field testing of the prototype.

electrolyte could be worth more and be an asset at that time than it was in the beginning, which is a huge benefit.” Bakker and Menictas anticipate that shipping companies could lease electrolyte, bringing the cost of the technology down dramatically.

Another costly issue for other types of batteries is thermal management, Menictas says. The liquid electrolyte going through the stacks of a vanadium redox flow battery can be used to cool the stacks. “It doesn’t have flammability or explosion issues, so it can be used in a contained environment where it would be an issue with other battery technology that has a flammability limitation that you need to be careful of.

“With lithium-ion, lead acid, or other types of sealed systems, you get heat build-up in the different stacks, especially when you’re drawing a lot of current. And the problem is you need ventilation, active cooling and a lot of active management, which becomes very expensive. In a closed environment, such as a ship, the need for this equipment means the battery system can actually take up more space than an equivalent vanadium redox flow battery.”

The vanadium electrolyte can be stored in a different part of a ship to the stack, making for a flexible installation that facilitates change out of the electrolyte, which could be much like any other bunkering operation. The electrolyte could then be charged using renewable energy sources without the need for costly portside infrastructure and without the vessel needing to remain alongside in port while it occurs.

8 Vanadium redox flow battery research

A SUSTAINABLE RESOURCE Despite its advantages, the use of vanadium in energy storage technology has been held back by a lack of supply of high-purity metal and by a lack of green production technology. Conventional pyrometallurgical processes are capital intensive, have high operating costs and emit significant amounts of greenhouse gases. “You can’t really have renewable energy unless you have a truly renewable and sustainable energy storage technology,” says Bakker.

As well as owning one of the largest and most metallurgically favourable vanadium mineral deposits in the world, located in Quebec, Canada, VanadiumCorp owns a novel chemical process, invented by Dr. Francois Cardarelli, that overcomes production problems by digesting feedstocks into concentrated sulfuric acid. “Vanadium redox flow battery technology is 100% green when the contained vanadium is produced sustainably,” says Bakker.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

FEBRUARY 2021 | 33

TURBOCHARGERS

NEW FUELS, TARGETS DRIVE 2-STROKE TURBO EFFICIENCIES Dino Imhof, Head of Turbocharging Solutions, ABB Turbocharging sees scope for further advances in the two-stroke turbocharger segment as dual-fuel demand rises Advances in turbocharging technology and machinery will continue to play an important part in the industry’s efforts to meet challenging upcoming IMO greenhouse gas emission and carbon intensity targets.

“Everything is about reducing emissions at the moment,” Imhof said as the industry is focusing relentlessly on meeting upcoming IMO greenhouse gas emission and carbon intensity targets. “The [relative reduction of carbon intensity by 40% compared with 2008] 2030 target is just around the corner.”

The impact of energy efficiency design index (EEDI) requirements was also increasing shipowners focus on fuel efficiency.

ADVANCES IN TURBOCHARGER EFFICIENCY ABB Turbocharging had responded to shipowner requirements by reducing footprint and increased the power density of its products.

Imhof gave the example of the company’s A255-L and A260-L turbochargers to demonstrate how these advances offered a solution for shipowners operating vessels below 40,000 dwt.

The turbochargers offered a 2% improvement in turbocharger efficiency, and a 30% reduction in space requirements and 50% in weight, compared with the preceding generation of turbochargers.

These efficiency savings were significant in themselves.

“We estimate that every 1 percentage point increase in turbocharger efficiency is equivalent to a fuel efficiency improvement of 0.35g/kWh.” DUAL-FUEL ENGINE DEMANDS The high efficiency of ABB Turbocharging’s A255-L and A260-L solutions also offered combustion optimisation and higher efficiency advantages for engine designers developing solutions for LNG and other new fuels, Imhof said.

Operating Otto Cycle low-pressure dual-fuel engines efficiently at high loads introduces high requirements for efficiency in scavenging air pressure, Imhof noted. The airfuel mix can make it challenging to maintain combustion stability and avoiding knocking or excessively fast combustion. High-efficiency turbochargers help overcome these issues while contributing to higher break mean effective pressure need to achieve efficient high-load operation.

Imhof noted that a key engine designer of 400mm and 500mm bore low-pressure dual-fuel low speed engines specified a minimum turbocharging efficiency of 69% for turbocharging solutions. “With our A255-L and A260-L turbochargers, we could already meet those requirements.

In fact, we have proven on an engine that we can fulfil these requirements,” Imhof said.

However, the turbochargers also meet requirements for increased efficiency at low and partial loads. “We have made an improvement to turbocharger efficiency when the vessel is operating in diesel mode, at low to medium loads.”

34 | FEBRUARY 2021

The applicability to dual-fuel engines is important as LNG remains the most likely alternative fuel to HSFO and IMO 2020 fuels at present. This is particularly the case in the twostroke segment, where LNG is steadily gaining market share.

One potential area of development focus is the further reduction of emissions from low-pressure dual-fuel twostroke engine solutions. On the engine side, improvements such as reduced crevice volumes, have already led to reductions in methane slip. A further reduction through technical improvements will follow in turbocharging as well as in engine design, Imhof noted.

“A high turbocharging efficiency can ensure a high lambda is maintained in high-load operation, under any condition, thus minimizing the potential for fast combustion,” he explained. “As such, turbocharging can facilitate engine efficiency improvements, by supporting higher mean effective pressure. An improved engine efficiency directly reduces total GHG emissions.”

Looking ahead, Imhof stressed that the technological limits of single-stage turbocharging for two-stroke engines had not yet been reached.

“Turbocharger development is far from plateauing. We expect to see major steps in turbocharger technology for two-strokes in the coming years.”

8 Dr Dino Imhof, Head of Turbocharging Solutions, ABB Turbocharging

WIDER SOLUTIONS From a broader perspective, improving the overall efficiency of turbomachinery is just a part of one of three main routes to reducing greenhouse gas emission: power conversion technology improvements, hydrodynamic advances and better fleet utilisation. Across all these routes, digital solutions are likely to play a role. ABB Turbocharging’s engine optimisation platform ABB Ability™ Tekomar XPERT is already well established and recent digital advances have focused on turbocharger service.

“These solutions include offering data-led intermediate inspections and introducing a fixed price for customers for complete overhaul at dry dock,” Imhof noted. These offerings represent a major step towards reducing lifecycle costs and enhanced ease of service.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

MOTORSHIP

THE

INSIGHT FOR MARINE TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONALS

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TURBOCHARGERS

THERMAL INSULATION OFFERS TURBO TURBINE BENEFITS

Picture courtesy of BorgWarner

Automotive research has demonstrated that the inner insulation of a turbocharger turbine can passively increase the inlet temperature of aftertreatment systems, reducing the need for other optimising options that increase fuel consumption

The research is focused on hybrid automotive drive trains, but increasingly stringent maritime emissions reduction goals mean the results could provide future research potential for marine engine systems. In both cases, the increasing efficiency of internal combustion engines could significantly lower exhaust gas temperatures.

“Heat flowing down the exhaust is wasted from an engine perspective,” said Dr Richard Burke, head of the research team at the Institute for Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems at the University of Bath in the UK. “An insulated turbocharger reduces the heat losses so that the engine can run at a more efficient point whilst maintaining the same aftertreatment temperatures compared to a standard turbocharger.

“In automotive applications, the benefits of the increased inlet temperature are most notable during engine warm-up where the engine will be calibrated to take measures that ensure that the aftertreatment warms up relatively quickly.

These measures include throttling the engine, injecting additional fuel or recirculating exhaust gases and all come at a cost of lower efficiency (higher fuel consumption) in order to generate the heat in the exhaust.”

36 | FEBRUARY 2021

8 The insulation consisted of an inner and outer metal shell with silicate fibre in between

Burke and his research partners conducted an experimental study comparing a standard turbocharger to one with an inner insulated turbine housing. They tested a range of transient conditions applied to a 48V hybrid two-stage boosted diesel engine system on a test rig developed by the Institute for Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems.

The insulation consisted of an inner and outer metal shell with silicate fibre in between. The addition of the insulation was checked to ensure that it did not affect the aerodynamic performance of the turbine. Using 3-D CFE/FEM simulation, it was predicted that external heat losses between the engine and the aftertreatment would be reduced by 70% compared to a standard, non-insulated turbocharger.

The results of the transient experiments demonstrated a 1-3% reduction in fuel consumption and NOx emissions, and a 2kRPM turbo speed benefit was achieved due to the increased turbine inner gas temperature.

The results were used to parameterise a 1-D, lumped capacitance model that could be used to predict the behaviour achieved in the lab. The model matched well for high temperature and low-frequency transient processes.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

TURBOCHARGERS For NOx emissions, the benefit of the insulated turbocharger turbine is the increase in temperature, especially during warm-up, for the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst.

In the hybrid vehicle system analysed, the electrically heated catalyst uses energy from the battery that could otherwise have been used to propel the vehicle. Using it to heat the catalyst to control emissions could be seen as a parasitic loss, but the insulated turbocharger turbine reduced the amount of heat required for this.

A reduction in fuel consumption could also be achieved during particulate filter regeneration which would therefore require less fuel to raise the temperature of the exhaust.

“There will be a further benefit because the NOx aftertreatment can be more effective due to the increase in temperature, so some of the NOx mitigation measures such as late fuel injection and high exhaust gas recirculation rates that usually penalise fuel consumption and increase particulate emissions can be relaxed,” says Burke.

The turbocharger is a primary source of heat loss in the exhaust system, as it is cooled to protect the bearings. This means there is a significant heat loss inherent to the turbocharger that needs to be considered at a system level, says Burke. “Is there a chance that we are creating too much cooling to protect the bearings which is compromising the exhaust emissions? There could be some interesting thermal designs to consider here that try to block heat conduction into the bearing housing.”

He says the research results on the 48V hybrid system open up the potential for new electrical technologies that could reduce emissions including electrically-assisted

boosting systems, electrically heated catalysts and electric thermal management systems. It also offers the potential for collecting energy via regenerative braking.

Burke’s research team is focussed on improving the modelling further such that the thermal insulation effects can be characterised accurately from minimal or no test work using higher order models. “This is essential as hardware decisions will be increasingly made based on simulations in the future. It is essential that we can generate suitable models that truly reflect the behaviour of the technology.”

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

8 Dr Richard Burke, head of the research team at the Institute for Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems at the University of Bath

FEBRUARY 2021 | 37

REGULATIONS

CII’s IMPACT ON ENGINES REMAINS UNCLEAR

Image: MAN Energy Solutions

The IMO’s proposed Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) may be an operational measure but could have an impact on machinery, Paul Gunton reports

Uncertainty about the impact of IMO’s proposed Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) on ship operations was voiced in The Motorship in December by Lars Robert Pedersen, deputy secretary general of the international shipowners organisation BIMCO. Now, engine builders and a leading organisation representing machinery manufacturers have added their voices to concerns about a lack of information about the new measure.

In his commentary, Mr Pedersen described the amendment to Marpol Annex VI that will bring in CII as “a novel piece of regulation” for which his members “are certainly not prepared”. CII, he said, “[has] not been clearly defined.”

Now a leading figure in the ship machinery sector, Peter Müller-Baum, secretary general of CIMAC, has told The Motorship that, with no details about how the CII will be calculated, “we do not yet know ... what adjustments might be made to the engine.” He said that to make any comments on CII’s impact on ship’s machinery would be “like looking into a crystal ball” and it was impossible “to say if, or to what extent, existing engines will have to be modified.”

He pointed out that since CII is an operational index, it is more of a measure of how machinery is used, rather than the hardware itself and its “first targets will probably not involve machinery conversion,” although “mid- to long-term targets will likely require ... onboard machinery modifications” in relation to fuel supply changes.

38 | FEBRUARY 2021

8 Implementing CII must be linked to design-related measures, says Dr Gunnar Stiesch

Zero-carbon fuels will certainly be necessary alongside “other technical and operational efficiency measures,” he explained, if shipping is to achieve the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions in line with IMO’s GHG strategy and the Paris Agreement.

Dr Gunnar Stiesch, senior vice president and head of engineering engines at MAN Energy Solutions, also stressed the significance of new fuels on calculating CII, which he said “incorporates in its numerator fuel-related specifics” that are “influenced by the engine design and the fuel used on board.”

MAN Energy Solutions has a “standing development target” to lower OPEX while reducing CO2 emissions, he said, stressing that its own engines and systems can operate on a variety of fuels to “pave the way for a use of low and zero carbon fuels.”

But implementing an operational measure such as CII “has to go hand in hand with a further development of designrelated measures [EEDI and EEXI] to foster improvement of ship design and engine technology development,” he added.

And he acknowledged that there are “pros and cons to several methodologies being considered for CII” and that “practicable implementation of CII is important to ship owners and operators.”

Nonetheless, he welcomed IMO’s decision to introduce CII, describing it as “an important step to assess operational performance of ships” and echoed Mr Müller-Baum by saying that this will help meet the goals of IMO’s Initial GHG Strategy.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

REGULATIONS

‘‘

WORKING GROUP TO REPORT TO MEPC 76 Behind the scenes, a correspondence group set up by the delayed Marine Environment Protection Committee’s 75th meeting (MEPC 75) in November is working on a number of CII-related tasks, including drafting guidelines on operational carbon intensity indicators and their calculation methods, and will submit its report first to the next Intercessional Working Group on Greenhouse Gasses (ISWG-GHG 8), which is due to meet in May, before it goes to the delayed MEPC 76 in June.

The correspondence group’s full terms of reference can be found in IMO’s document management system, IMODOCS, where MEPC’s outcomes can be found in document MEPC 75/18. However, a separate addendum to that document, MEPC 75/18/Add.1, suggests that when the various proposals for CII reach MEPC 76, they may not simply be rubber-stamped for adoption.

That document includes some statements that delegations asked to be minuted, including one from the US delegation. This says that “the United States continues to have concerns over the rush to approve operational carbon intensity requirements before developing core aspects of the measure, including the basic metric to be used for measuring carbon intensity.”

Image: VDMA

Zero-carbon fuels will certainly be necessary alongside other technical and operational efficiency measures

8 It is impossible to say whether CII will require engine modifications, says Peter Müller-Baum

It goes on to warn that, when the proposals reach MEPC 76, “our final view on the measure will depend upon these elements being developed to ... reassure ourselves that they do not disproportionally impact ships in the US fleet.”

Assuming they are adopted in June, the amendments could come into force 16 months later, in October 2022. They include a review date of 1 January 2026 “at the latest” by when IMO must review “the effectiveness of the implementation of the CII and EEXI requirements ... and, if necessary, develop and adopt further amendments,” an IMO summary of MEPC 75 notes.

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FEBRUARY 2021 | 39

BWTS

PRACTICAL BWMS INSTALLATION AND REGULATORY INSIGHTS

Credit: ABS

Installation, operation and maintenance issues continue to be a challenge, but experience gained is helping operators make progress towards BWM compliance, writes William Burroughs, Senior Principal Engineer, ABS

The COVID-19 pandemic has not spared vessel owners from compliance requirements with national and international ballast water management regulations. The pandemic has exacerbated the delays previously observed with retrofits.

For new vessels delivered with systems fitted and for those vessels already retrofitted, officers and crew must make special efforts to understand operations, maintenance and repair - and what to do when things go wrong, or Port State Control comes onboard.

The US Coast Guard is providing ”COVID-19” extensions for vessels with no BWMS installed and some vessels with Alternate Management System-accepted BWMS at or nearing the end of the vessel's five-year AMS periods. The USCG's Marine Safety Information Bulletin (MSIB) 14-20 provides 12-month extensions for vessels with compliance dates (either original or extended) between 1 April 2020 and 1 April 2021, though for some vessels with substantiation, longer extensions might be granted depending on the persistence of the pandemic.

Extensions of the AMS periods granted by the USCG could help thousands of vessels continue operating in US waters until the pandemic subsides. These ships, with their AMS accepted BWMS and 2008 G8 Type Approvals, are compliant with the BWM Convention and with the short-duration AMS extensions, could operate in US waters and internationally until the BWMS can be upgraded.

40 | FEBRUARY 2021

8 The USCG expects contingency measures to be included in the BWM Plan to cover cases where the system is nonoperational or fails

Many BWMS vendors have 2016 G8/BWMS Code Type Approvals necessary to complete the USCG and BWMS Code approved reconfigurations. However, some BWMS vendors continue struggling to complete either their USCG approval or BWMS Code Type Approval due to the pandemic.

The USCG's COVID-19 extensions provide an important compliance strategy until the pandemic subsides.

The bigger challenge is that some shipyards, required to observe social distancing, are being forced to limit the scope work that can be accomplished until the pandemic is over.

This could prevent some vessels from completing their BWMS retrofits leading to challenges when the vessel's IOPP Renewal Survey is completed.

Some accommodations should be provided by Flag Administrations to support vessels struggling to get a BWMS installed on the ship or not completed due to limited vendor technical assistance because of restrictions on international travel.

While the USCG's extension policy provides extensions for vessels affected by the pandemic, the IMO BWM Convention does not and missing a retrofit deadline creates a noncompliance problem. There is limited guidance from IMO to date on how vessels that cannot retrofit BWMS will be treated though it is possible that IOPP Renewal Survey dates could be delayed for three months to allow some breathing space.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES For shipowners operating installed systems, ABS held a series of workshops providing practical guidance and advice for Best Management Practices (BMP) with BWMS under IMO and USCG regulations. The feedback received from owners demonstrated that operation of BWMS continued to be challenging. In addition to installation issues, training, commissioning, operations and maintenance, planning for inspections, outages and the development of contingency measures continue to be key topics.

The most recent update to the BMP included a survey of owners' experience in practice. It found that between 2017 and 2019 - with more systems in service - the number of inoperable units fell by more than half, though the number of owners who found operations problematic doubled. A minority of systems were not subject to monitoring or testing and a quarter were regularly operated and subject to monitoring and testing.

Installation of a BWMS requires a well-planned timeline and a focus on training of the crew, ideally from before the system is installed. Crew rotation means that sophisticated understanding can simply walk off the ship so Proper training records should include video of the installation and commissioning if possible.

In operation, the burden is shared between the senior officers, the crew and even shore staff. Likely pressure from the owner to return the vessel to service puts pressure on the engineering crew to understand not just the facets of BWMS operation but its maintenance and breakdown procedures.

After installation and commissioning, technical support may disappear which means the vessel must rely on its approved BWM Plan which itself must be updated regularly; crew must also understand how to produce data records, especially in US ports.

Sooner or later, an inspector will want to come onboard and sample the output of the BWMS. Guidelines (G2) to the BMW Convention provide design and installation guidance for the sampling facility but there remains limited training and know-how for keeping the G2 facility clean and how to obtain a sample to avoid cross-contamination that could falsely indicate non-compliance. This requires additional training for the crew.

It is advised that the crew practice for Port State Control inspections to better understand requirements they will sooner or later have to meet. Even when the BWMS is not targeted in an inspection, they will need to understand how to prove that they can they produce compliant ballast water including sampling procedures to avoid potential false results.

It is important to recognise that different administrations could have different requirements thus there needs to be communication with shipmanagers on sailing routes and the applicable rules in different locations should be understood by port engineers and communicated to the vessel's crews.

PLANNING FOR SUCCESS Despite the rise in the number of systems in operation, it is important to understand what happens if the system fails and the fastest way to restore it to normal operations. In the case of failure, the water onboard might not be considered properly treated and it may be necessary to stop cargo operations.

Interpreting alarms and alerts is critical as well as understanding the system design limitations (SDL). When the ballasting port's ambient water is outside the water quality suitable for treatment, the crew must be trained to know what to do next. Ballasting rates can vary by the design of each system's computer-based controls and cargo operations may need to be repeatedly started and stopped if BWMS repairs and resets are required.

Credit: ABS

BWTS

8 The US Coast Guard is providing "COVID-19" extensions for vessels with no BWMS installed

Maintenance intervals should be planned based on other equipment maintenance schedules and spare parts acquired in the most cost-effective ways to maintain the system in operation. The Type Approval certificate granted to the system will be valid for the lifecycle of vessel, but the use of unverified spares or mis-repairs can invalidate the warranties.

This can be exacerbated by the likelihood that some parts will become obsolete through the vessel lifecycle.

Another issue for vessel operators is the preparation of contingency measures in case of system is non-operational or fails. Though initially optional for the BWM Convention, the USCG expects measures to be included in the BWM Plan for when something goes wrong. These contingency measures should be practical and feasible to provide protection to the port.

The IMO's MEPC and USCG have published high level guidelines covering equipment redundancy and crew training but in reality, vessels may need to use ballast water exchange (BWE) if they have non-compliant water onboard.

Owners using the BWMS bypass need to be aware that regaining compliance for all ballast water on the ship may become more complicated. The use of potable water is still only allowed for US compliance.

Numerous other complicated operations including transitions between light and heavy weather ballast conditions and the potential impact on vessel air draft should also be considered. Testing the vessel's ability to produce compliant ballast water discharges during commissioning following installation may be the most important pre-operational validation of the readiness of the crew and vessel to meet both USCG and BWM Convention compliance. The crew should be thoroughly trained and compliance tested often enough to reduce chances of failing a PSC testing challenge.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

FEBRUARY 2021 | 41

BWTS

PETER SAHLÉN SEES DEMAND FOR MORE BWTS TRANSPARENCY Speaking on the first day of the Chinese New Year, Peter Sahlén, Head of Alfa Laval PureBallast, was keen to share his perspective on the outlook for 2021.

In common with other suppliers, Alfa Laval expects to see a surge in new orders over the course of 2021, as ship owners book in ballast water management system installations to meet compliance dates falling due in 2022, Sahlén said, citing DNV and ClassNK analyses.

“One of the unusual characteristics of the peak is the proportion of ship owners of smaller sized fleets who will be booking in installations,” Sahlén said.

Alfa Laval has been preparing to meet this expected surge in orders from an operational perspective. Sahlén noted that the company had been building up inventories at its main production facility in Aalborg, Denmark in order to meet expected demand.

The company has a fast track solution for a limited number of the most popular PureBallast 3 model sizes.

“We know that some of the ship owners are likely to delay ordering until the last minute and we are prepared to meet requests for short lead times.”

Alfa Laval has been operating with higher inventory levels at Aalborg following the introduction of production changes in 2020 during an earlier stage of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The changes, such as segregated shift patterns, have helped us to maintain production over the course of 2020. In fact, we set a new production record in 2020, delivering over 1,000 units, and we have started 2021 in similar fashion.”

NEED FOR TRANSPARENCY Sahlén also noted that owners were likely to be looking for a reliable source of information regarding different systems, as well as the specific operational requirements of their own vessels. Back in August 2020, Alfa Laval set up an online portal, Compliance Navigator, to bring together the certification of different BWMS producers. The data source also allows ship owners to compare the operational requirements of their fleet, by comparing their vessels' route planning with the characteristics of the waters they are passing through.

“This allows ship owners to compare any hold time, salinity, temperature or UVT limitations based on their operational profiles,” Sahlén said.

Compliance Navigator offers transparency around system design limitations or system performance for customers.

“Even if a ballast water treatment system is certified, it may not get your vessel where it needs to go,” Sahlén said.

He cited the example of a number of large LNG carriers, which had opted for Alfa Laval's UV-based system rather than competing EC-based solutions on the basis of the system's performance in cold, low salinity waters at higher latitudes, as an example of the advantages of transparency for Alfa Laval itself.

Turning to specific vessel solutions, Sahlén noted that Alfa Laval's Bulker Fit solution was attracting significant interest from ship owners and operators in Europe and Asia.

42 | FEBRUARY 2021

Credit: Alfa Laval

Peter Sahlén, Head of Alfa Laval PureBallast, takes the temperature of the ballast water treatment system market and sees the advantages of transparency.

The solution was tailored to the specific requirements of bulker vessels, where the variation between ballasting and deballasting requirements can significantly affect BWMS system requirements.

“We recently signed a major fleet agreement with a Greecebased premium bulk carrier,” Sahlén said, “and have also signed orders from smaller operators in Asia and China.” The asymmetric capacities offers operating capacity advantages.

In the tanker market, where Alfa Laval offers a tailored Tanker Fit solution. The Alfa Laval PureBallast 3 Ex deckhouse solution offers a practical solution for tankers equipped with submersible cargo pumps. “It also offers a convenient onestop solution for ship owners, rather than having to manage the logistics of ordering and managing various components themselves.”

The solution has attracted strong interest, particularly from the MR tanker segment, where Alfa Laval has a long standing reputation for flexibility.

8 Peter Sahlén noted Alfa Laval's PureBallast UV-based system had received orders from LNG carriers on the basis of the system's performance in cold, low salinity waters at higher latitudes

SERVICE NETWORK Sahlén concluded by briefly looking back at Alfa Laval's experiences in 2020. While the pandemic had accelerated a trend towards remote services, and Alfa Laval had seen demand increase for its services, such as Compliance Service and PureBallast Connect, there was no alternative to physical attendance for some services.

Alfa Laval's global network of 160 service engineers had allowed services to continue, avoiding the impact of global travel restrictions on centralised pools of engineers.

“This meant that we were able to conduct service calls on our systems. We are always available for our customers through our 24/7 with our global service network.” The advantages also extended to the installation and commissioning processes, many of which Alfa Laval was able to manage itself, Sahlén concluded.

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DESIGN FOR PERFORMANCE

UECC’s HYBRID PCTC TO USE BATTERY FOR BOW THRUSTER

Credit: UECC

European ship operator United European Car Carriers (UECC) has successfully operated a pair of LNG-fuelled short-sea PCTCs since 2016. The company is now building a series of three further vessels that will be the first LNG battery hybrid PCTCs in the world

The vessels are being built by China Ship Building Trading and Jiangnan Shipyard Group, with the design work done in conjunction with DNV and ship Designer Shanghai Merchant Ship Design & Research Institute (SDARI). The first vessel is scheduled for delivery later this year, with the other two following next year.

The energy storage system (ESS) system will be charged by a permanent magnet, directly driven shaft generator or dual fuel generators. The ESS won’t normally need charging in port, as the energy management system will automatically interface to AIS and voyage routing systems to ensure it is charged and ready for use when it is needed to power the bow thruster for harbour manoeuvring or supplying the ships’ general power demand.

As part of the total power system, which includes a WinGD 6RT-Flex50DF dual-fuel engine, a controllable pitch propeller, a bulb rudder, two dual-fuel gensets and a dual-fuel boiler, the ESS will provide power to the main switchboard, peak shaving capabilities for the main engine and auxiliaries and

44 | FEBRUARY 2021

8 UECC ceo Glenn Edvardsen noted that the newbuildings qualified for green financing from Svenska SkeppsHypotek

offer black-out prevention. The vessels will only require two auxiliaries, as the ESS and the shaft generator eliminate the need for one more that would otherwise have been required.

The highly-efficient design means that ESS is expected to have a payback time of five years.

The vessels will achieve DNV’s Battery Safety notation. WE Tech of Finland is providing its WE Drive direct drive permanent magnet shaft generator, the DC-link power distribution system and the ESS, with Corvus Energy providing the battery package. Kongsberg Maritime is providing the energy management system which acts as a supervisory and control system for the overall production and consumption of energy onboard the vessels, ensuring flexibility and optimal operations at sea, in port and during manoeuvring.

The capacity of the battery is based on the design of the hybrid solution for operation of these short sea vessels, says UECC Head of Ship Management, Jan Thore Foss. The battery capacity has been sized to optimise utilisation, based on detailed modelling of the vessels’ expected operational

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

Credit: UECC

DESIGN FOR PERFORMANCE

profile, to maximise the economics of the installation.

Furthermore, the vessels will be shore-power ready.

Availability of the service is expected to grow and will provide power whilst the vessels are alongside in port to reduce SOx and NOx emissions and PM.

make the vessels extremely flexible, enabling them to accommodate a multitude of high and heavy, breakbulk and mobile loading platform (mafi) cargoes, which are cargo segments, in addition to cars, that UECC has built a significant portfolio for over the years since its establishment in 1990.

MARKET EDGE UECC, jointly owned by NYK and Wallenius Lines, is a leading short-sea operator and logistics provider for the transportation of cars, vans and high and heavy cargo in Europe and currently has operates a fleet of 18 purpose-built vessels. The new vessels are part of a fleet renewal program designed to boost environmental performance. They will sail predominately in the UECC Atlantic trade and will meet the Tier 3 IMO NOx emission limitations coming into force for the Baltic and the North Sea for newbuildings with keel laid on or after 1 January 2021.

UECC ceo Glenn Edvardsen is proud of the vessels’ pioneering design, which is an integral part of the improved efficiency. “We have done extensive model testing to achieve the very best hull performance, so we believe it’s an improved design compared to other PCTCs today,” says Edvardsen. The vessels won’t have conventional bulbous bow as a sharper waterline at various drafts is better suited to the sea conditions. Their pioneering design will take UECC beyond the IMO target of 40% reduction in carbon intensity by 2030 through the combination of optimal hull design and the LNG battery hybrid solution.

“Added to that, LNG is currently the most environmentally friendly marine fuel there is. It has been for some years already. And, of course the battery installation will further reduce the emissions, he says.

“In our market, in our region, UECC is currently the only shipping company that is actually investing in environmentally friendly and sustainable newbuilds. So, we have big hopes that they will bring a lot to the marketplace by providing help to the customers to lower their emissions. Everybody is interested in lowering emissions in their logistic chains, and we are there for them.”

At a time when many financial institutions are paying considerable attention to the environmental credentials of newbuilding projects, the highly efficient PCTC newbuildings secured green financing from Svenska SkeppsHypotek. As the project met green criteria, the loans were offered at a reduced cost.

CARGO FLEXIBILITY The new vessels will have a length overall of 169 metres and a width of 28 metres. They will have a car carrying capacity of 3,600 units on 10 cargo decks, two of them hoistable using electric hoists from TTS/MacGregor. The vessels will have a quarter ramp of 160 metric tons safe working load and a side ramp of 20 metric tons safe working load and can accommodate cargo units up to 5.2 meters high. This will

THE LNG ADVANTAGE UECC’s two existing LNG-fuelled vessels Auto Eco and Auto Energy are the biggest 1A super Finnish/Swedish ice classed PCTCs and the first PCTCs in the world capable of operating on LNG. They are capable of sailing a 14-day round trip in the Baltic solely on LNG, storing approximately 800cbm in a cylindrical Type C tank, and were the first clients of the world’s first seagoing LNG bunkering vessel, ENGIE Zeebrugge, which is home ported at Zeebrugge.

Edvardsen is confident of on-going ready access to LNG bunkering services in Europe, and he anticipates that LNG will remain competitive in price. “We have seen that LNG fuel has become very competitive in terms of pricing,” he says. “As we’re moving ahead, we will really improve environmental performance, so we’re very excited.”

“We are very keen to move on with dual fuel engine technology, not only because of LNG,” says Foss. “In the future we will be in a good position because we can also run on biogas and low emission fuels. As we speak, we are testing alternative fuels. Last year, for example, UECC trialled GoodFuels’ biofuel oil on the AutoSky. The fuel was bunkered at Rotterdam and tested successfully on the vessel’s normal route between Zeebrugge and the Spanish port of Santander.

UECC is waiting for the right time to switch over to nonfossil fuels, seeing LNG as part of a roadmap that will lead to zero emissions. “We are continuing on that journey, blending in biogas, which reduces the CO2 even further than what we will be achieving with the LNG battery hybrid solution,” says Edvardsen. “That’s the beauty with the dual-fuel setup.

We are able to burn many other alternative fuels as they become available and are sustainable. We’re not stuck with LNG. LNG is what we are using today, because it is the most environmentally friendly marine fuel available on the market.”

Foss adds: “We have to keep our eyes open for new future technologies. Our mission is always to be a leading provider of sustainable short sea transportation in Europe, and to achieve that mission, we have to operate a sophisticated fleet.” Asked if he anticipated challenges with the newbuildings, Foss says: “It’s not new technology as such, it’s just the combining of everything which make it very special and efficient. But of course, to be at the front and to be pioneering, there are sometimes things you don’t expect. We’re willing to take on that risk. The experience we have from the existing vessels is that dual-fuel operation really pays off. So, we are ready to take the challenges if they come.”

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

8 Integrating an ESS and shaft generator into the hybrid dual-fuel PCTC design allows the vessel to reduce the number of auxiliaries to two

FEBRUARY 2021 | 45

SHIP DESCRIPTIONS

NEWCASTLEMAX TRANSITION TO LNG FUEL

Credit: POSCO

A seminal event in the move towards the use of LNG fuel in the deep-sea bulk trade lanes is signalled by the handover of two Korean-owned and -built vessels, writes David Tinsley

South Korea’s shipping and shipbuilding sectors have opened a new chapter in deep-sea bulk carrier design and trading through the completion of a pair of LNG-fuelled newbuilds of 180,000dwt. The Newcastlemax-class HL Eco and HL Green are the largest bulkers commissioned to date with the capability to use LNG as the primary fuel.

Powered by dual-fuel machinery throughout, covering both propulsion and auxiliary systems, each 292m bulker is expected to make about 10 round-voyages per annum between Australia and South Korea. The prospective impact in terms of emission reduction is substantial, as operation in gas mode with the type of engines installed promises the virtual elimination of SOx and particulate matter (PM), and up to 85% less NOx and a 30% curtailment of CO2 compared to existing mainstays of the trade.

Constructed by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (HSHI) to the order of Seoul-based H-Line, the HL Eco and HL Green reportedly commanded a per-ship price of around US$62 million, reflecting the significant premium entailed with a dual-fuel specification relative to conventional powering arrangements. Indicative of the cost gap, brokers currently put the representative newbuild price for ‘standard’ Newcastlemax bulkers at about US$48 million, down somewhat from the US$50 million or so that pertained when the H-Line tonnage was ordered in October 2018.

Acknowledging the extra cost burden associated with building gas-fuelled ships, the Korean government has proved supportive to the marine industries by incentivising domestic investment in such tonnage from home yards.

46 | FEBRUARY 2021

8 At point of handover, HL Eco and HL Green

H-Line’s initiative in committing to LNG power for large bulkers has been followed by a succession of LNG-fuelled newbuild projects in the Newcastlemax sector by owners worldwide, for raw material flows into the east Asian industrial powerhouses of South Korea, Japan and China. A particularly important development came last September when Australian miner BHP awarded Eastern Pacific Shipping a five-year timecharter contract covering five LNG-fuelled, 209,000dwt Newcastlemax newbuild bulkers to carry iron ore from Western Australia to China.

The H-Line ships made their debut on the Australian coast during January. On her maiden voyage, HL Green put in to Port Hedland, Western Australia, to take on iron ore, while HL Eco shipped a cargo of Hunter Valley coal via Port Waratah’s facilities in Newcastle, New South Wales. In both cases, the destination on the Korean peninsula was Gwangyang, the site of one of POSCO’s steelmaking complexes.

South Korea had put down a marker for the industry in 2018 when Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) delivered the 50,000dwt LNG dual-fuelled bulker Ilshin Green Iris into the coastwise traffic carrying limestone under POSCO charter.

Ilshin Green Iris had been built to dual Korean Register of Shipping (KR)/Lloyd’s Register (LR) class, HSHI parent Hyundai Heavy Industries signed a joint development agreement with LR in 2017 for the design of LNG-fuelled bulkers in the 180,000dwt category. HL Eco and HL Green have come into being under dual class assignment, although in this case with DNV notations alongside those of KR. Each of the new vessels is equipped with two Korean-

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

Credit: Pilbara Ports Authority

SHIP DESCRIPTIONS

manufactured, 1,600m3 Type C LNG fuel tanks, among the most capacious at sea to date. The tanks were fabricated using POSCO’s 9% nickel steel, ensuring the requisite containment temperature of minus 163degC. POSCO has provided the industry with another option by developing a high-manganese steel that can be used in the production of LNG fuel tanks. The company’s austenitic manganese tank technology had its initial application in the Ilshin Green Iris. The high manganese-content (26%) steel offers benefits in weldability and cost-efficiency relative to nickel, while affording comparable quality. The extended product range is salient to POSCO’s preparations for an expected surge in demand for LNG tank material during the next few years as more and more shipowners and operators turn to LNG-fuelled vessels.

POSCO’s involvement in the H-Line bulker newbuilds otherwise entailed the supply of 42,000 tonnes of steel plate for hull construction.

Whereas Korea’s milestone LNG-fuelled bulker Ilshin Green Iris had provided a showcase for MAN’s ME-GI high-pressure DF propulsion engine technology, H-Line’s Newcastlemax duo employs low-pressure DF two-stroke machinery from the Winterthur Gas & Diesel (WinGD) stable. Each vessel’s sixcylinder X72DF engine achieves Tier III compliance in gas mode without extra measures, and is rated for a maximum continuous output of 16,180kW at 72.5rpm. The engines were produced at the Ulsan works of licensee HHI. The auxiliary outfit comprises three aggregates based on dual-fuel prime movers from HHI’s in-house HiMSEN fourstroke range. The engines are of the H22CDF type in five-cylinder layout, driving 1,262kVA gensets. Both the oil/ gas-fuelled main boiler and the economiser are of Alfa Laval (Aalborg) design.

H-Line awarded HSHI a repeat contract in July 2019, such that third and fourth examples of the HL Eco type are to be

8 HL Green at Port Hedland, to take on her first cargo

handed over by the end of March 2022. Two newbuild membrane-type LNG carriers are also on the books at the Yeongam-Samho yard to H-Line account, and are scheduled to enter service during the early part of 2022.

The H-Line fleet comprises over 40 bulkers and seven LNG tankers. Most of the bulk carriers are engaged in the transportation of raw materials for long-term clients POSCO and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO). The highestcapacity units are the very large ore carriers (VLOCs) HL Tubarao and HL Brazil.

Split off from bankrupt Hanjin Shipping in 2014, H-Line had been Hanjin’s bulk cargo division and was acquired by South Korean private equity firm Hahn & Co. As the controlling shareholder, Hahn & Co subsequently augmented H-Line’s interests and scope through the purchase and assimilation in 2016 of Hyundai Merchant Marine’s dry bulker operations. The LNG carriers deployed by H-Line serve traffic flows from Indonesia, Oman and Qatar under long-term KOGAS contracts.

PRINCIPAL PARTICULARS - HL Eco/HL Green Length overall 291.9m Length bp 287.0m Breadth, moulded 45.0m Depth 24.8m Draught 18.0m Gross tonnage 97,000gt Deadweight 179,650t Cargo holds 9 Propulsion + auxiliary engines LNG dual-fuel Main engine power 16,180kW Speed 14.5kts Main gensets 3 x 1,262kVA Class (dual) KRS/DNV Flag Panama

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FEBRUARY 2021 | 47

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FEBRUARY 2021 | 49

50 YEARS AGO

DECLINING SHIPBUILDING AND VLCCs MOTORSHIP THE

INSIGHT FOR MARINE TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONALS

The international magazine for senior marine engineers EDITORIAL & CONTENT Editor: Nick Edstrom editor@mercatormedia.com News Reporter: Rebecca Jeffrey rjeffrey@mercatormedia.com Correspondents Please contact our correspondents at editor@motorship.com Bill Thomson, David Tinsley, Tom Todd, Stevie Knight, Wendy Laursen Production Ian Swain, David Blake, Gary Betteridge production@mercatormedia.com SALES & MARKETING 8 The 280,420 dwt VLCC ‘Berge King’ -1971’s largest motor ship

8 Bedplate for a 10-cylinder Fiat 1060s engine, seen at the new GMT plant in Trieste

The February 1971 issue of The Motor Ship reminded us that this title’s ethos was not only to provide news of the marine engineering world, but to fly the flag for British Shipbuilding.

That was brought home by an editorial opinion piece, in which the writers highlighted the removal of investment grants by the government of the day - in other nations as well as Britain. But it was noted that with the exception of one or two yards, and despite a high level of completed tonnage, the British industry was facing rapidly rising material and labour costs in the face of a backlog of unprofitable fixed-price contracts, signed with official backing in a relatively recent, economically happier, climate. “However can any government, especially of a large maritime nation, be disinterested in the future of its own shipyards?” asked the article. As we now know, it didn’t take long for the effects of this disinterest to become apparent. Indeed, another editorial mentioned that Britain had just fallen behind Spain in terms of orders.

Elsewhere, the industry had cause to celebrate, with the delivery of the latest contender for the ‘world’s largest motor ship’ title. This was the 280,420 dwt VLCC Berge King, for the Norwegian owner Bergesen, which had been built at the new Chiba yard of Mitsui in Japan. Like most of the company’s fleet, the 342.9m long Berge King was powered by a B&W diesel plant, in this case a 9K98FF main engine rated at 35,300 bhp. The design was largely conventional, though the piping and pump system serving a total of 18 cargo tanks was arranged so that loading and ballasting could be carried out

50 | FEBRUARY 2021

simultaneously, meaning that as soon as the cargo was loaded, the ship was ready to sail. In line with current practice, all main systems were arranged for automated operation, with the engine controlled directly from either the bridge or a dedicate soundproofed control room. Nevertheless, a crew of 47 was needed to keep this giant afloat.

Other main features included a review of propulsion engines from 1970, noting the growth in bore dimensions of the still-dominant two-stroke power plant, as well as the trend towards multipleengine installations, of both low speed and medium speed types, with the growing container sector providing most of the references for the former.

Demand for compact engine rooms, optimising cargo space, was fuelling the high-power mediumspeed market, while the potential of gas turbines for merchant vessel propulsion - not to mention nuclear power - was still being regarded seriously.

One major engine development was the new diesel engine factory - which, being able to turn out 1 million hp annually, was described as the world’s largest and most efficient of its type - for Grandi Motori Trieste, a joint venture between the Fiat group and the Italian state.

An interesting experiment reported on in February 1971 was Europe’s first ocean-going integrated tug and barge system. The Swedish Neptun company was hoping to put into practice what was (and still is) common practice on the North American waterways, with two 5,600bhp tugs and a pair of 10,000dwt self-unloading barges. The barges were built at HDW in Kiel, and the tugs at Ulstein in Norway and Asiverken in Sweden. The tugs - believed to be the first such vessels to be fitted with bow thrusters and stabilisers - would operate with a crew of 12, considered low for the volume of cargo carried.

Initial contracts were for pulpwood and coal in the Baltic, though Neptun envisaged various cargoes, including liquids, throughout NW Europe, using further barges that were on order or being designed.

t +44 1329 825335 f +44 1329 550192 Brand manager: Toni-Rhiannon Sibley tsibley @mercatormedia.com Marketing marketing@mercatormedia.com EXECUTIVE Chief Executive: Andrew Webster awebster@mercatormedia.com TMS magazine is published monthly

by Mercator Media Limited Spinnaker House, Waterside Gardens, Fareham, Hampshire PO16 8SD, UK t +44 1329 825335 f +44 1329 550192 info@mercatormedia.com www.mercatormedia.com

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No part of this magazine can be reproduced without the written consent of Mercator Media Ltd. Registered in England Company Number 2427909.

Registered office: Spinnaker House, Waterside Gardens, Fareham, Hampshire PO16 8SD, UK

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