MAN ES AENGINE TESTS SCHEDULED FOR H1 2023

Thomas Hansen, head of two-stroke promotion and customer support at MAN Energy Solutions reveals MAN ES plans to soft-launch the Ammonia engine (AEngine) development programme in an exclusive interview with The Motorship

8 Full scale engine tests at MAN ES’ Research Centre Copenhagen are expected to begin in the first half of 2023

MAN ES remains on track to deliver its first ammoniafuelled two-stroke engine in 2024, Thomas Hansen told The Motorship. However, the company expects the design of the first engine supporting systems to be refined before the AEngine is added to the company’s engine programme.

Hansen added that the first delivery of the engine from Mitsui in 2024 is expected to act almost as a demonstration project, or a ‘soft launch’.

This would allow MAN ES to monitor the performance of the first delivery over an extended period of time, gathering operational experience by the end of 2025. At this point, MAN ES would be in a position to add the design to its engine programme, and also look at developing the AEngine design for different bore sizes.

“We normally take customer demand into account when making decisions about engine bore development projects,” Hansen noted. It would be hard to anticipate how demand for ammonia-fuelled commercial vessels will evolve in the coming two years (see Ammonia Commodity Chain).

Hansen noted that customers recognised that there were few opportunities to conduct operational tests on large-bore engine. The Motorship notes that the fuel’s corrosive characteristics mean that MAN was likely to be monitoring the operational performance of the fuel on the engine’s tribology, as well as monitoring the operational performance of parts.

Above all, Hansen stressed that ensuring that the AEngine development was reliable and met the company’s objectives and customer expectations was not just a reputational challenge for MAN ES, but also an environmental responsibility.

“It is a remarkable demonstration of the trust that our customers in our record that they have expressed such an interest in buying a product before we have even finalised the product’s specifications.”

The strong customer interest requesting information of potential ammonia-fuelled solutions was by no means limited to newbuilding projects. However, Hansen stressed that MAN was focused on developing a robust solution for newbuildings before turning its attention to potential conversion solutions.

The AEngine development project was quite unlike any other engine development projects that Thomas Hansen had seen or participated in during his 30 years working at MAN ES.

“It is the first development project where we’ve begun to develop an engine solution before the fuel has been made commercially available, or the final specifications agreed,” he added. (Ammonia was a largely homogenous product globally, he added, although there were some variations in water content.)

Latest Developments

Hansen clarified that full scale engine tests at MAN ES’ Research Centre Copenhagen were expected to begin in the first half of 2023.

At the moment, the entire engine assembly was being tested using water, in preparation for the first bunkering of ammonia. When asked when we could expect to see the first bunkering with ammonia to occur, Hansen replied simply “approximately one month before the start up of the engine.”

While the project had made significant progress on a number of sub-tasks within the development project, including the identification of candidate materials for the AEngine’s components, some of the work to finalise the engine’s emissions profile and aftertreatment concepts were dependent upon integrating the results from the full-scale engine tests.

“The key challenge for the tests will be developing an engine that can run on ammonia with a decent efficiency, not least because we expect the renewable ammonia to be more expensive that current fuels. And then you need to ensure that engine can meet the efficiency requirements, while also ensuring compliance with Marpol Annex 6, Tier II and III NOx standards are met, and that other greenhouse gas emissions are as close to zero as possible.”

Additional HHI project

In addition to the existing project with Mitsui E&S Machinery to supply an AEngine engine for the engine’s first installation, Hansen revealed that MAN ES is in discussions with Korean engine builder HHI-EMD (Hyundai Heavy Industries’ Engine Machinery Division) for a parallel project.

“[HHI-EMD] has established that they want to do it, and the whole agreement framework is in place,” Hansen said, adding that the exact schedule had not yet been agreed but was targeting a delivery in 2025. The project will be for a 60-bore AEngine design.

One of the advantages of working with different licensees was that it would allow them to encourage the development of local suppliers who could deliver products to meet the specifications of the design. “Although we are working with Eltronic FuelTech on the fuel supply system here in Copenhagen, the specifications are open.”

Ammonia Slip Requirements

Hansen noted that the process of obtaining environmental permits for the ammonia engine, which is located within a densely populated residential area, represented a learning experience for Denmark’s national Environmental Protection Agency, as well as the Technical and Environmental Administration within Copenhagen’s urban administration.

The modification of the engine within the AEngine project has been treated as the installation of a new stationary power plant.

Ammonia as a Commodity

Hansen noted that significant work had occurred elsewhere in the ammonia commodities supply chain since the initiation of the AEngine development project.

The development of commodity supply chains involving green ammonia has been a development priority for AEngine development project co-sponsor Trafigura. The trading house has stated its plans to invest in ammonia production capacity, and has invested in joint development projects with suppliers of ammonia cracking technology.

The Motorship notes that it also occupies discuss Korean (Hyunda Industri Machine for

The Motorship notes that Denmark’s EPA introduced limits of 0.004 kg/GJ governing emissions of nitrous oxide (N₂O) in a September 2022 Executive Order (BEK Nr 1363), while reiterating other environmental limits for fugitive methane (CH4) emissions. The nitrous oxide emissions standards are likely to apply to specifically to the combustion of ammonia as a fuel at MAN ES’s RCC.

The bunkering and storage steps of the development have also attracted the attention of Copenhagen’s municipal authorities. Environmental safety regulations have also been developed and applied to the ammonia containment vessel, and the fuel supply system, which has been developed by MAN ES’s Danish development partner, Eltronic FuelTech.

“We have had to development countermeasures for any conceivable situation,” Hansen said, adding that this rigour “has been really bene the entire development.” development ted the attention of Copenhagen’s orities. Environmental e also been and e ammonia containment which oped MAN ES’s Danish artner, Eltronic FuelTech d to development counterany conceivable situation,” dding lly beneficial for lopment.” a leading position in the development of carbon trading, which is expected to become an important feedstock in the production of renewable ammonia from produced from green hydrogen after 2027.

The Motorship notes that a recent decision by the European Commission will help to promote the growth of green hydrogen and ammonia in the coming decade. The European Commission delayed the introduction of requirements of contemporaneous production from renewable electricity for energy carriers to be considered as renewable fuels of non- biological origin (RFNBOs) until 2027, which will help to expand the transportation of hydrogen to supply Europe’s forecast demand for 10 million tonnes of hydrogen by 2030.

The IEA forecasts renewable capacity dedicated to the production of ammonia for export is expected to reach a combined 19 GW, led by Australia, Chile, Oman and Saudi Arabia. The IEA also notes that the uncertainty about importer countries’ emissions intensity requirements for hydrogen imports to qualify for targets and support as a key unknown for potential exporters in its Renewables 2022 report.