The Motorship May 2020

MAY 2020

Vol. 101 Issue 1181

New lube injector HJL innovation

TC special

ABB Turbo references

Modular solutions From engines to vessels

Wärtsilä ammonia Kaj Portin interview

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: WinGD’s Andreas Schmid | Dutch H2SHIPS interview | Ropax design | FuelSave targets 2-strokes

A smarter perspective on marine propulsion Sustainable solutions driving engine efficiency and performance to deliver a low carbon future.

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CONTENTS

MAY 2020

10

4

NEWS

24 Wärtsilä 2-stroke optimisation

Wärtsilä has launched a two-stroke engine optimisation technology for selected Wärtsilä RT-flex and earlier deliveries of X-type twostroke engines after successfully trialling the technology. The Fuel Efficiency Boost improves

26 Japanese ammonia consortium

A Japanese consortium including Mitsui, Imabari Shipbuilding, Itochu and ClassNK is collaborating in a project to develop ships designed to use ammonia as fuel, using a MAN ES ammoniafuelled engine as the prime mover.

30 First ABB Turbo deliveries

The first delivery of ABB Turbo’s new A255-L was scheduled to take place in early May

31 First THS2 reference

Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding’s (MES) has achieved a first reference for its updated turbo hydraulic system (THS2). The order was received in February for installation on a Mitsui-MAN B&W 7S65ME-C8.5 engine for a 208,000dwt bulk carrier.

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

Social Media Social Media Linkedin Linkedin Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter YouTube YouTube

FEATURES

40 REGULARS 8 Leader Briefing

Carlo Cecchi of Yaskawa/ The Switch offers a personal perspective on the transformation in Asian shipowners’ attitudes towards hybrid technology.

38 Design for Performance

Amid constraints on further expansion for ropax dimensions, ship designers are looking at other approaches to improving efficiency to meet looming targets, Kari Reinikainen hears.

40 Ship Description

Two advanced new ethylene-capable liquefied gas carriers from Jiangnan Shipyard will feature bilobe cargo tanks, affording considerable scope as to liquefied gas cargoes, writes David Tinsley.

Propulsion & Future Fuels Conference will Weekly E-News up for FREE at: 19 Sign November 2020 in Hamburg, Germany. www.motorship.com/enews ropulsionconference.com Weekly E-News Sign up for FREE at: www.motorship.com/enews

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

20

10 T he MIDAS touch

Modular approaches offer advantages but definitions of modularity vary upon whether you are addressing engine designers, system integrators or class society engineers, Stevie Knight discovers.

14 S tep change

Hans Jensen Lubricators’ new lubrication system for two-stroke engines eliminates the need for cylinder lubrication pumps and offers a significant reduction in CLOC rates.

17 Fuel flexible injection

WinGD is refining a fuel flexible injection system to explore various liquid alternative fuels.

18 F uelSave’s commercial bow

As FuelSave’s air port injection technology receives its first orders, the company eyes the 2-stroke market.

20 Hydrogen vector R&D

Wärtsilä’s Kaj Portin discusses the progress of Wärtsilä’s ammonia and hydrogen research, and identifies some of the technical challenges as the company targets initial tests by 2022.

100

YEARS

2020

The & Future FutureFuels FuelsConference Conferencewill will TheMotorship’s Motorship’sPropulsion Propulsion & take 2020ininHamburg, Hamburg,Germany.

Germany. takeplace placeon on17-19 17-19 November November 2020 Stayinintouch touchat atpropulsionconference.com propulsionconference.com Stay

MAY 2020 | 3

NEWS REVIEW

VIEWPOINT

WÄRTSILÄ SUPPLIES TWOSTROKE ENGINE OPTIMISATION SOLUTION FOR KOTC VLCCs

NICK EDSTROM | Editor nedstrom@motorship.com

I became personally interested in how heuristics, or mental short cuts, could have real-life impacts on businesses while covering the iron ore trade in China. Well-established traders marketing ore from India to China were affected when an export ban was introduced in India.

Why did some well-established traders fail to heed the warning signs? Specific answers might relate to misjudgements about FMG’s likelihood of ramping up production, or shifts in the domestic Indian steelmaking raw materials supply/demand balance, or northeastern Chinese mills’ appetite for low grade ore. But the wider point is the innate difficulties we experience accurately assessing the likelihood and effect of high probability/low impact and low probability/high impact risks.

The concept has entered popular culture, where tail risks, Black Swans and the like have entered common parlance. Author Michael Lewis has returned to our tendency to ‘misprice’ risks and opportunities, touching on the theme repeatedly in books from Moneyball to The Big Short.

While shipowners and operators need no introduction to risk management, the impact of uncertainties about the types of fuel that the industry will use in the future is a concern. Potential regulatory changes, such as the Green Deal in the EU, could also alter the basis of calculations.

One of the potential solutions to the challenge of preparing vessels for the emergence of new fuel types after 2030 would be for the industry to embrace greater modularity. Stevie Knight examines moves towards including greater flexibility in fuel types in engine design, alongside DNV GL’s MIDAS project.

Advances in engine design are leading to demands for more tightly controlled fuel injection systems, as well as driving evolution in cylinder lubrication systems.

Hans Jensen Lubricators’ shared the details of its newly launched cylinder lubrication system. Although the system offers operational benefits for existing two-stroke customers, its precise control over cylinder oil distribution is designed to meet the challenges of potential low lubricity alternative fuels.

We also discuss the progress of an alternative emissions reduction technology, FuelSave, which injects an accelerant under pressure into the air intake. The company plans to extend the solution from four-stroke engines to two-strokes bv the end of 2021, and notes that the solution could be applicable to alternative fuels.

Two of these fuels are the focus of an interview with Wartsila’s Kaj Portin, in which he discusses Wartsila’s progress in testing ammonia engines and outlines the continuing progress in developing hydrogen-fuelled engines.

WinGD’s Andreas Schmid provides an interview in which he describes the engine designer’s development of a fuel-flexible injection system, which could be used to develop more tightly controlled fuel injection options in the future.

While ammonia is attracting the majority of attention in alternative fuels, research into hydrogen is continuing. We feature an interview with TU Delft’s Klaas Visser about the progress of a project to operate a PEM fuel cell on hydrogen from a metal hydride (sodium borohydride).

We hope you find something to interest you in this issue.

4 | MAY 2020

Copyright: KOTC

Modularity and tail risks

Wärtsilä has been contracted to retrofit an engine optimisation solution, Wärtsilä Fuel Efficiency Boost, to the main engines of four vessels owned by Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC), a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Company (KPC). The order with Wärtsilä was placed in the first quarter of 2020.

The Wärtsilä solution is based on two-stroke engine optimisation technology for selected Wärtsilä RT-flex and earlier deliveries of X-type two-stroke engines. The four KOTC very large crude carriers (VLCCs) to be retrofitted operate with 7-cylinder Wärtsilä RT-flex82T two-stroke main engines. The retrofitting of the vessels with the Wärtsilä Fuel Efficiency Boost will take place over the coming six months.

The Wärtsilä Fuel Efficiency Boost is a well-balanced combination of an increased compression ratio and modified injector nozzles. By installing a higher compression shim, the solution allows higher compression ratios and firing pressures. The modified injection nozzle features a bigger bore to shorten the injection duration.

Together with optimised engine tuning parameters, it allows fuel savings of up to 4%. The solution is available for vessels with Wärtsilä X82, RT-flex82T or RT-flex58T-D/E engines with Tier II. The pilot installation showed around 10~12 tons per day lower fuel consumption than a sister vessel operating the same route,

8 The M/T Al Funtas is one of four KOTC VLCCs to be retrofitted with the Wärtsilä Fuel Efficiency Boost

and resulted in 1195 tons of fuel savings over the 9 months pilot period. The pilot installation was undertaken in April 2018, and the piston running condition of the upgraded engine has also been monitored since the retrofit. To date many of the pistons have run without issues beyond the recommended time between overhauls.

“Our smart marine approach is dedicated towards raising efficiencies and improving the environmental sustainability of marine operations. The Wärtsilä Fuel Efficiency Boost is completely aligned with this philosophy, while at the same time lowering operating costs,” says Mr Riad Belaid, Area Sales GM, Middle East & Asia, 2-stroke & Specialised Services, Wärtsilä Marine Business.

“By modifying the main engines of these carriers, we are assured of operating with the latest technology and having the best operational efficiency. We know and trust Wärtsilä’s high quality products and systems, and we appreciate the excellent support they offer,” says KOTC’s Acting CEO, Mr. Ali Shehab.

In 2019, Wärtsilä successfully installed the company’s Intelligent Combustion Control and Fuel Activated Sacless Technology (FAST) upgrades on these same four vessels.

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

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NEWS REVIEW A Japanese consortium is collaborating in a project to develop ships designed to use ammonia as fuel, using a MAN ES ammonia-fuelled engine as the prime mover.

The Japanese consortium brings together ClassNK, a leading shipyard (Imabari Shipbuilding) and an original equipment supplier (Mitsui E&S Machinery Co. Ltd), as well as MAN ES. Itochu, a Japanese trading house (shosha sogo), and its fuel trading subsidiary, Itochu Enex, will help to develop ammonia bunkering infrastructure and an ammonia fuel supply chain.

Mitsui will work with MAN to develop an ammonia-fuelled engine, and will also represent the equipment supplier’s perspective, verifying the safety and reliability of the entire life cycle of the propulsion system, including manufacturing and commissioning at the factory.

Imabari will develop a vessel that equips a ship with an ammonia storage tank as a marine fuel, a fuel supply system, and a series of main engine systems. The shipyard has extensive experience of designing and building gasfuelled as well as alternative liquid-fuelled ships, such as LPG. ClassNK will carry out a third-party hazard identification (HAZID) assessment to understand the risks involved with using ammonia as a marine fuel. The class society expects to develop guidelines around the use of ammonia as a marine fuel.

BRIEFS QP opts for CSSC

Qatar Petroleum signed a US$2.86bn agreement with CSSC subsidiary HudongZhonghua Shipbuilding for the construction of LNG carriers in April, beating off strong competition from Korean shipbuilders. The agreement reserves newbuilding capacity at the shipyard until 2027. QP’s LNG carrier fleet program, the largest in the history of the LNG industry, may eventually exceed 60 vessels, with a value of US$10bn.

6 | MAY 2020

JAPANESE CONSORTIUM TO DEVELOP AMMONIA-FUELLED VESSELS 8 Imabari Shipbuilding is participating in a new Japanese consortium to develop ammonia-fuelled vessels

The Motorship notes the existing regulatory framework, such as the IMO’s IGF Code (International Code of Safety for Ship Using Gases or Other Low-flashpoint Fuels) needs to

be revised to cover the use of ammonia as a fuel.

Itochu Corporation expects to own and operate ammoniafuelled ships but also plans to play a wider role in developing

partnerships with ammonia producers and other supply chain participants.

Itochu Corporation will also jointly develop a facility for supplying ammonia fuel for ships with Itochu Enex. Itochu Enex is a bunker supplier with operations inside major Japanese ports, as well as overseas, which will supply ammonia for the project.

MAN ES is already involved in several other projects connected with its new ME-LGIP ammonia-fuelled engine.

VAISALA LAUNCHES HIGH-END TRANSMITTER SOLUTION Vaisala, the climatic, NOx, and industrial sensor manufacturer, is launching an upgraded industrial transmitter solution in June 2020.

The new Indigo 520 Transmitter will be able to accommodate up to two probes simultaneously, the company has announced.

Vaisala, the industrial and emissions measurement specialist, is launching a new durable, metal transmitter, the Indigo 250. The transmitter can be used with Indigo compatible smart probes for humidity, temperature, dew point, carbon dioxide, vaporized hydrogen peroxide, and moisture in oil measurements. It can accommodate up to two detachable measurement probes simultaneously, measuring the

8 The Indigo 520 Transmitter transmits live Vaisala sensor measurements to automation systems via analogue relays, or digitally over an ethernet connection

same, or different, parameters at the same time. The probes can be swapped quickly and easily whenever needed. The transmitter has an IP66- and NEMA 4 -rated robust metal enclosure, and a touchscreen display made of hardened glass.

The Indigo 520 Transmitter displays live measurements and transmits them to automation systems through analogue signals and relays, or digitally using Modbus TCP/IP protocol over the Ethernet. The transmitter’s Ethernet connection also provides a web interface and cybersecurity that meets modern standards.

“The Indigo compatible products are the premium choice for providing high-quality data from a multitude of industrial processes. The new transmitter has what it takes to perform even in the harshest and most extreme industrial environments,” said Product Manager Jarkko Ruonala from Vaisala.

Stadt VariAC

Burckhardt expands

Voith eVSP reference

Norwegian power specialist Stadt has added a variable generator, or VariAC, option to its existing Lean Propulsion solution. The option enables the system to accommodate varying engine speeds for diesel or LNG gensets fitted with variable speed-control.

The power load is regulated by regulating the RPM and the pitch of the CPP. The new solution was developed with PON Caterpillar to meet the operational requirements of variable-speed MaK and Caterpillar gensets.

Burckhardt Compression has completed the acquisition of Japan Steel Works’ global compressor business.

Burckhardt Compression’s technology is widely used on board LPG and LNG carriers and LNG-fuelled vessels.

JSW’s compressor business including after service support is being transferred to Burckhardt Compression and its global affiliates. JSW had a strong relationship with shipyards in Japan.

Norwegian ship operator Østensjø Rederi has ordered a pair of commissioning service operation vessels (CSOV) from Spanish shipyard Astilleros Gondan. The CSOVs feature twin Voith Schneider eVSP 1,900 kW propulsors, in the first reference for Voith’s new eVSP propulsor, according to the shipyard. The propulsor features an integrated permanent magnet electric motor, lowering the weight of the unit, and improving fuel consumption significantly.

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

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26/11/2018 08:49

LEADER BRIEFING

MEETING THE POWER CHALLENGE IN ASIA As we move deeper into the green shift globally, around 80% of vessels in the future will be either fully electric or powered by hybrid systems Many will have multiple power sources in addition to main engines and gensets running on diesel, LNG or a combination of both.

Renewable power from hydrogen and potentially fuel cells, solar and even wind may increasingly be part of the mix as shipping adapts to the changing energy landscape to combat emissions. Other onboard power sources will include stored power from batteries, power from shore, and shaft generators converting mechanical power into electricity.

If we are serious about meeting the IMO’s emissions reductions objectives, these solutions need to be adopted by ship owners and operators where the largest number of ships are owned and operate. The good news is that this shift is already occurring in Asia, as we speak. We expect that over 60% of the world’s hybrid vessels will be operating in Asia by 2024.

From my perspective in East Asia, I have seen a major increase in the sophistication of discussions about power management issues from shipowners and the wider market in recent years. I don’t just mean larger more sophisticated shipowners from the main hubs, but also smaller private owners from Southeast Asia.

The starting point for commercial discussions has shifted from discussions about discussions about peak shaving to the specific advantages of different solutions for individual vessels’ operating profiles.

To pick just one example, we are seeing a lot of interest in the energy efficiency possibilities offered by variable speed frequency conversions. There are of course people out there offering solutions for variable speed frequency conversion more cheaply. But it is hard for lower cost suppliers to guarantee performance. But in Asia, just like elsewhere in the world, shipowners still prefer to deal with suppliers who can demonstrate a track record of successful projects.

Managing and distributing all that energy effectively is an intricate business amid a proliferation of load demands ranging from main propulsion and thruster drives to all sorts of electric auxiliaries, such as winches, cranes, pumps, chargers and other. Not to mention onboard data systems and hotel demand.

Of course, one of the reasons people approach us because of our well-known DC grid offering. Switching from an AC to a DC grid delivers better fuel consumption and other cost savings, along with unbeatable reliability.

A future-proof system requires components that can produce, transmit and consume energy as efficiently as possible. Our DC-Hub uses standardized independent power drives (inverter and rectifier modules) fully integrated into one coherent solution. The DC-Hub works with any power source giving new meaning to the word flexible. This is cutting-edge, multi-megawatt technology that’s unique in the industry and helping owners achieve new levels of energy efficiency.

Frequency converters ensure a constant supply of power that is 100% reliable, which is absolutely essential for specialized tonnage such as offshore vessels and wind

8 | MAY 2020

turbine service vessels using dynamic positioning for precise steady-state operations. Our innovative modular design offers unparalleled malleability in that module cabinets can be added in series to match changing requirements. Before, that would have required a complete electrical redesign, now it’s as easy as arranging Lego bricks and scalable to any number of auxiliaries.

The rectifiers in a DC system convert the AC generator voltage to the DC main bus voltage resulting with a very fast power-generation response. DC-Hubs are also especially efficient for DC energy sources like batteries and fuel cells, minimizing the number of conversions required. Managing stored electric power effectively is particularly important when vessels need to sail pollution-free, that is in electric mode. This could be, for example, a superyacht sailing into a protected bay, ferries carrying passengers in emission-free zones or a cruise ship navigating an urban port.

But beside the economic aspects, our solutions are also helping to lower the carbon footprint. Any solution developed by our industry will need to reach the region where most vessels operate if we are going to meet emissions reductions targets overall. Helping to make that happen motivates all of us every day at Yaskawa Environmental Energy/The Switch.

8 Carlo Cecchi

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

MODULARITY FOCUS

A FUTURE-PROOF FLEET: MODULAR ADAPTABLE DESIGN

Image: ABB

Owners may have a dilemma when picking an energy technology capable of lasting a vessel’s 20 or 30-year lifetime, writes Stevie Knight

Eco-legislation ensures shipping has to move on, but “being locked to a single option could make it tough to adapt” says Kjetil Martinsen of DNV GL: he points out that the fuels of today may not be those of tomorrow and choosing a lowemission alternative that turns out to be extortionately priced or unavailable “could result in stranded assets”.

But there is already a dizzying array of potential solutions “and everybody is considering everything... so all the cards are in play” he adds. Therefore, some believe the answer may lie in judicious spread betting.

MODULAR DESIGN Modular design may provide an answer: it certainly stands to relieve owners of a lot of drudge work as maintenance could be performed by the OEMs themselves, the result assured by the class societies. But it also holds the potential for shaking the industry to its foundations.

As Martinsen’s colleague, Knut Erik Knutsen of DNV GL remarks, “there’s been a gradual move by the big manufacturers toward ‘power-by-the-hour’... a service agreement rather simply selling an engine”.

Modularity could be seen as a logical extension of this approach, especially as it paves the way for greater standardization. That in turn broadens the appeal of remote, condition-based monitoring, “something that’s been held

10 | MAY 2020

8 ABB/Hydrogène de France PEM cell stacks will be almost ideally suited to modular, distributed energy configurations

back by the number of unique, custom-built ships” he adds.

The potential is already being explored. The MIDAS project, that experiments with modules installed on Subsea7’s PSV Seaway Moxie and the Norwegian Coastal Administration ship OV Ryvingen, have navigation, communication and propulsion modules operating onboard to yield “continuous monitoring and specific health indicators”, says Knutsen.

But what’s so different about it, really? “At the moment the mechanical drives, the electrical lines and the control systems are not just in different packages but also different disciplines,” he remarks. “Instead, we suggest tying it all together into one module with one, single concern, how to maintain the function.”

This approach has a number of advantages. Firstly, “embedding a propulsion system inside a standardised unit gives you a much better idea of its performance and reliability”, he explains. “If something goes wrong, it’s far easier find out who’s responsible for putting it right.”

Follow the implications through and logically, this puts as much emphasis on defining the boundaries as system integration, inherently tightening up the scope for each OEM. In itself that will yield efficiency benefits for manufacturers.

But further, standardised interfaces “allow freedom to design alternatives” to meet the specified demand, says Martinsen.

This, in turn, ushers in a still more radical concept - what

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

MODULARITY FOCUS about swapping out the onboard kit if another solution appears more appropriate? After all, a defined output within a particular footprint appears supremely well-matched to a ‘plug-and-play’ approach.

DNV GL’s laboratory ship concept does just that. Envisioned as a vessel to test, qualify and benchmark new maritime technologies, Experior is designed to be flexible in terms of interchanging onboard components and systems. Therefore, it holds the potential for interrogating a vast array of alternatives, from superstructure and cabins to power and manoeuvring kit, to comms and control, mostly by sitting them in dedicated containers with monitored interfaces.

Although not a commercial vessel, the ideas behind Experior may hold a clue to the future: its set up allows clients to calibrate and optimise their own innovations against the lab ship’s digital twin before installation.

ANALYSIS In fact, according to Knutsen, a digital twin may be part of a modular delivery, allowing systems to be pretested in the factory.

There’s a further advantage. “So far full vessel reliability modelling has been challenging,” he says. However, since each module will have a health check element, it’s possible to network these together, creating a “system of systems”. It would, he remarks, gradually build up over time, being far less costly and troublesome to implement than dropping an entirely new, ship-wide layer into place.

It may also help resolve another niggling issue: cybersecurity. There’s often persistent doubt that the vessel’s onboard systems are as watertight as the hull, so modularity should provide more reassurance - firstly, it could potentially reduce shared weak points, secondly it “ensures that software systems are always up to date and robust in the face of challenges”, says Sverre Torben of Kongsberg Maritime Digital.

COMPLEXITY However, the MIDAS project has shown there are a few knotty issues to overcome - not all purely technical in nature.

Knutsen explains: “You can create a health indicator for a bearing with no problem, but doing the same for the power management involves thousands of signals. If the manufacturers are tasked with keeping their modules running, they will need to be able to pull the data out in the same way from any ship.” And, he adds, without it being “the labour-intensive process” it is at present.

It’s not just the OEMs: the information will have to be shared with owner, systems integrators and last but not least, the classification societies. As Knutsen underlines, “there are more than 10,000 ships on DNV GL’s books so we’ll need a good, sanitized way of sorting it all out”.

Although there is “some movement” toward developing an industry-wide ISO standard, he admits rather than trying to make existing arrangements line up, it’s far easier to accomplish coherency on a newbuild where a useable format can be implemented from the very start.

SAFETY Any module worth its salt would need to cover all the bases: “Besides the monitoring, maintenance plans, approvals and so on, it would need to include designed-in safety systems,” points out Knutsen. The latter presents its own challenges as its characteristics change with the fuel. Take LPG, he says: “It’s heavier than air, so standard gas detection equipment in the ceiling won’t work.”

Further, while modularity relies on a set of discrete systems, safety kit appears to pull in the other direction.

Ammonia, for example is toxic and corrosive, so if there’s a failure in any part of the fuel supply, the entire ship could be endangered. Therefore, these safety systems have to extend throughout the whole vessel.

“There is no perfect fuel, no perfect way forward”, underlines Niclas Dahl of Alfa Laval. “They all have pros and cons: some may simply be limited in supply. Some, like ammonia, require more in handling the risks.” But he stresses, this should not stop development.

8 Modularity could provide futureproof ship design and paves the way for greater standardisation

FUELS AND ENGINES Wärtsilä has been playing with modularity for a while: Nico Höglund explains that development really picked up with the release of the Wärtsilä 31 medium-speed four-stroke: “Before that, if you wanted to change from diesel to dual fuel, you’d have to re-machine the engine block.... but the 31 makes it all much more straightforward, you basically only need to add the gas components.”

It sets the scene for what lies ahead. Höglund adds: “Both methanol and ammonia are currently being evaluated as potential next-generation fuels, partly because they have the potential of being created in a completely green supply chain.” Interestingly, both can also be kept in liquid form with a modest amount of pressure and cooling.

Therefore, Wärtsilä’s modular approach should enable easier conversions: “If you have a dual-fuel engine running on LNG, the installation already contains the majority of what’s required, such as the fuel storage tank,” says Höglund, although both methanol and ammonia will need modified fuel injection along with process equipment and corresponding safety systems.

MANAGEMENT Despite sounding deceptively simple, these fuel changes “require very good engine management”, adds Höglund: ammonia ignites and burns differently compared to other methane fuels and likewise, methanol has a lower calorific value requiring a change to the automation software.

This is central, he says: “Outside its operational parameters, the engine can start to knock or miss-ignite. The engine’s automation system has to take action to ensure proper combustion in order to avoid a potential escalation of the situation, which could lead to shutdown. So it’s not just about optimising performance, it’s also about safety.”

Moreover Alex Grasman of MARIN points out: “One important factor is that burning alternative fuels in a

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

MAY 2020 | 11

MODULARITY FOCUS combustion engine makes for a narrow ‘operational envelope’ compared to diesel.” Further, heavy seas compound the issue by adding dynamic loads to the system.

In short, new fuels require “tests on timing and management, and a lot of time spent searching for the sweet spot”, says Höglund.

TWO STROKES While it might be expected that four-stroke, diesel-electric vessels like Moxie are the first candidates for a modular approach, Knutsen points out the big container vessels also tend toward fairly typical drive lines “with one or two twostroke engines, propeller shafts and so on... so you could create a complete propulsion package delivered in a range of vessel sizes”.

Martinsen adds that when it comes to cargo ship engines “we are not suggesting swapping big lumps of metal, instead we’re talking about transitional technologies that can adapt to new requirements”.

In fact, large, robust two-strokes don’t need so much in the way of modification. For example high-pressure engines like those from MAN ES currently allow for mixing different energy sources such as methanol and ammonia with more standard LNG: “This strategy allows you to step down in stages over time, all the way to zero emission fuels.”

FUEL PATHWAYS Ammonia and methanol aren’t the only candidates: there are potential crossovers from a number of directions. Wärtsilä has already equipped ethane carriers with 50DF engines, and

12 | MAY 2020

within the company’s landside power generation arm are plants running on LPG. But there are varying levels of challenge inherent in repurposing the different engine systems and so fuel ‘pathways’ will likely open up.

For example, Höglund points out that as liquid petroleum gas, LPG, consists largely of propane and butane, “it needs rather different treatment to LNG - which is mostly methane”.

However, when it comes to big two-strokes, Dahl adds: “While ammonia is still in the development phase, LPG is a good first step.” The two have enough characteristics in common that MAN’s ME-LGIP engine can burn ammonia, using the same cylinder cover, injection valve and gas block - albeit with the addition of larger tanks.

‘‘

Outside its operational parameters, the engine can start to knock or miss-ignite.

The engine’s automation system has to take action to ensure proper combustion in order to avoid a potential escalation of the situation, which could lead to shutdown. So it’s not just about optimising performance, it’s also about safety

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

MODULARITY FOCUS

RELIABILITY For owners, yards and equipment manufacturers, modularisation promises greater reliability, lower lead and build times and generally far less fuss. Moreover, for class societies like DNV GL it could mean “a move toward system-level analysis, the focus shifting from individual ships to repeatable modules” says Knutsen.

Image: Wärtsilä

FUTURE KIT It’s worth mentioning alternative power technologies: “If you’re considering modularity, there’s a lot to be said for batteries,” says Höglund. And since the cells are now half the size and double the capacity of a decade ago, producers such as Stirling PBES are recoring their systems, retaining the cooling and control architecture but swapping the old cells for more efficient versions.

There are certain limitations: “If the amount of power taken out in one go stays at a similar level, your electrical equipment can remain roughly the same,” explains Höglund. However, increasing peak power output may impact other components, such as converters, transformers and switchboards - so those too could require future-proof capacity.

Likewise, ABB is now collaborating with Hydrogène de France on megawatt-scale fuel cell systems able to power ocean-going vessels. Further, since they’re going to be based on proton exchange membrane (PEM) solutions developed

by Ballard, they only need pure hydrogen and oxygen feeds, allowing flexible positioning around the ship. In fact, PEM cell stacks are almost ideally suited to modular, distributed energy configurations.

What it doesn’t promise is lower CAPEX. In fact, some research suggests that it will initially be more expensive how much isn’t currently known - though as Martinsen has already pointed out, placing the wrong bet on the future will likely cost more in the long run.

8 The Wärtsilä 31 medium-speed four-stroke has been designed for fuel adaptability

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MAY 2020 | 13

FUELS & LUBRICANTS

DIGITAL VALVES STREAMLINE CYLINDER LUBRICATION SYSTEM The new HJ Smartlube 4.0 solution represents the culmination of years of research into how to improve the efficiency of cylinder lubrication systems for two-stroke engines, while lowering operational costs.

Stefan Nielsen, chief commercial officer at Hans Jensen Lubricators discussed how the system had been designed with flexibility as a goal. “Our new product, HJ Smartlube 4.0 has the highest flexibility of any lubrication system available.

Not only in terms of the advantages the technology brings in regards to main engine lubrication performance - but also how the system is based on a modular approach, where we started our design and succeeded with the ambition of making the most optimum cylinder lubrication technology for two-stroke engines, perfect for both newbuilding and retrofit projects.”

Current cylinder lubrication systems typically feature an oil station, a cylinder lubrication pump, and an injection valve.

The new HJ Smartlube 4.0 operates without a lubricator through a single high-pressure cylinder lube oil line, removing the need for cylinder lubrication pumps. This is possible by making the injection valves electronic.

By supplying high pressure oil to all lube points simultaneously, the ability to inject lube oil has been moved up-stream into the cylinder lubricator injection valves. In effect, the valve now works as the lubricator itself, determining the timing as well as the duration of the opening.

The rationalisation of the installation has a number of economic advantages, as the time and components required for the system have been reduced, lowering CAPEX costs. In addition, the technology offers significant OPEX reductions, by potentially reducing CLOC and cylinder liner wear, which is expected to be reflected in time between overhauls (TBO).

The company itself believes that the new product represents a significant advance in cylinder lubrication. Nikolaj Kristensen, Hans Jensen Lubricators Head of R&D likened the potential impact of the new system to the introduction of common rail fuel injectors. “We believe that this system is the future of cylinder lubrication: it offers more advanced and flexible control, consistent oil injection, all achieved with an overall simpler system, while minimising cylinder oil consumption, and optimising the cylinder condition.”

SMART ALGORITHMS The solution includes three different load-dependent feed rate regulation options to optimise cylinder liner conditions.

The direct control of the valves means that the system can provide more accurately timed injections, while very small amounts can be injected while maintaining spray quality.

The first of the algorithms, Multi Timing, uses the valves ability to inject oil more than once per revolution, and even divide the oil between different injections, all during the same engine revolution.

For example, the majority of the cylinder lubricant could be injected via SIP (swirl injection principle), in which the cylinder lube oil is vaporised in the high-pressure air and

14 | MAY 2020

Copyright: Hans Jensen Lubricators

Hans Jensen Lubricators has launched a new lubrication solution that eliminates the need for cylinder lubrication pumps and offers a significant reduction in cylinder lubricant oil consumption rates

distributed on a large area of the upper liner surface just before the piston passes, and 20% of the lubricant could be equally divided between the ring-pack compression and combustion strokes.

Another of the options, Automatic Cleaning Cycle, optimises cylinder lubrication feed rates over a 24-hour period to ensure that the feed rate reaches a high enough level for the cylinder lubricant to clean the cylinder.

The increased flexibility offered by the HJ Smartlube 4.0 system is important because the lower sulphur oils being used since IMO 2020 took effect tend to have a lower lubricity, but intermittent higher feed rates can make use of lubricants’ detergency without sacrificing CLOC efficiencies.

A third algorithm, Delta timing, allows for optimum distribution and quantity at any given instance, providing

8 The new HJ Smartlube 4.0

8 Nikolaj Kristensen, Hans Jensen Lubricators Head of R&D

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A Cylinder Lubrication Revolution

Cylinder Lubrication Technologies

HJ Smartlube 4.0 is the newest solution in advanced lubrication technology for 2-stroke marine engines.

www.hjlubri.com/smartlube •Cope with any future lubrication scenario •Easy and simple installation •Minimum crew interventions •Accurately timed and placed cylinder lube oil •Multiple injections during every engine revolution •IoT-prepared •Cylinder lubrication pump is now removed

HJ Smartlube 4.0

The new standard in Cylinder Lubrication is specifically designed for IMO 2020 S Cap operation Introducing new intelligent, valve controlled algorithms • Multi-timing • Automatic Cleaning Cycle • Delta-timing

HJ Smartlube 4.0 is patent protected

FUELS & LUBRICANTS

8 A rendering of Hans Jensen Lubricators’ SmartLube 4.0 electronic valve

automatic and full control over how much and where the cylinder oil is introduced in the cylinder.

INTERNET OF THINGS In addition to applying algorithms to optimise the operation of the system, the new system will also be compatible with a new IoT module that Hans Jensen Lubricators is preparing to launch “in the near future”.

The sensor readings, user changes and errors will be logged in a database aboard the vessel. The data generated is expected to be compatible with a number of systems and will meet upcoming IMO OT cybersecurity requirements. As a small lubrication specialist, Hans Jensen Lubricators is collaborating with an outside security consultant to ensure that the IoT module will meet the requirements of customers.

OPERATIONAL RESULTS The new HJ Smartlube 4.0 solution has been installed on two bulk carriers in normal commercial operating conditions. The vessels are both powered by MAN B&W G80 ME-C Mk9.2 engines. The vessels have been operating on both ultra-low sulphur fuel oil (ULSFO), as well as higher sulphur fuels. One of the vessels was fitted with scrubber and operated on HSFO, while the other vessel operated on fuel of up to 1% S. The initial analysis of the results indicates that CLOC has been lowered by around 45% following the installation, while the iron content and wear rate were both lowered significantly (by over 90% and almost 80%, respectively).

The piston running condition of the upgraded engines has also been monitored since the beginning of the trial, confirming that the cylinders are in good condition.

and closed at the nozzle tip, the delay from the signal to inject to actual injection is about 3.6 ms and this time is not sensitive to temperature and pipe length,” Kristensen added.

The injection can be dependent on both the quantity and timing, ensuring thorough control over cylinder oil placement in the cylinder.

“The HJ Smartlube 4.0 has windows of injection set, to ensure the cylinder oil is not injected where it is not wanted, e.g. the piston crown or skirt when conducting ring pack lubrication.”

If supplementary cylinder oil injection is required, it can be carried out in the same timing window in the following revolution or injected in other timing windows, where there is more time to facilitate the injection, e.g. spray injection above the piston (SIP).

Looking further ahead, the HJ Smartlube 4.0 also offered the possibility of injecting cylinder oils with differing BNs in the ring pack lubrication and in the SIP, Kristensen said.

“The system is the most flexible available and we are sure that it is able to match any challenges new alternative fuels may provide,” Kristensen concluded.

8 Stefan Nielsen, chief commercial officer at Hans Jensen Lubricators

LOOKING AHEAD Regulatory pressures to improve environmental efficiency is coinciding with the likelihood that shipowners may operate ships on fuels with low lubricity such as ammonia or methanol in the coming years.

The Motorship notes that more sophisticated engine control systems and the requirements of alternative fuels are increasing the demands placed upon cylinder lubrication systems.

The system offers precise control over cylinder oil distribution via individually controlled injection valves. The ability to specify quantities for each injection, and the elimination of delays between injections are highly attractive features.

Kristensen also identified the elimination of volumetric efficiency considerations, because of the elimination of the pump after the flowmeter, and the precise timing as benefits of the system.

“By eliminating the lubricator, we remove the delay of 3050 ms from when a signal to inject is given to the actual injection of the oil. As the HJ Smartlube 4.0 valve is opened

16 | MAY 2020

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FUELS & LUBRICANTS

WINGD EXPANDS FUEL INJECTION R&D PROJECT A fuel flexible injection system is allowing WinGD to explore various liquid and semi-liquid alternative fuels, WinGD General Manager, Technology Development, Andreas Schmid explains A fuel flexible injection system is allowing WinGD to explore various liquid alternative fuels, WinGD General Manager, Technology Development, Andreas Schmid explains.

Winterthur-based engine designer WinGD plans to use a new fuel-flexible injection (FFI) system to extend its research into a range of liquid alternative fuels, Andreas Schmid told The Motorship in a recent interview.

The FFI system was developed as part of Work Package 1 of the HERCULES 2 project (2016-2018). The HERCULES series of projects saw engine designers, universities and technology companies across Europe collaborate to advance the performance of large marine engines.

The FFI system itself represented an interesting solution to the technical challenges of handling fuels with differing calorific values and densities. The development of interest in alcohol fuels, such as ethanol or methanol, also raised different technical challenges: the low lubricity of methanol and ethanol would shorten the operational life of traditional injection components.

The solution features an adjustable needle with two different aperture settings, to allow for the injection to adapt for the liquid fuels’ calorific value.

The results of the research were presented by Andreas Schmid at the CIMAC conference in Vancouver in 2019. One of the results of the research was that ethanol combustion (with a small amount of diesel injected as a pilot fuel) reduces the formation of NOx and smoke emissions.

WinGD had extensive experience of other aspects of fuel injection. Spray morphology and combustion performance were assessed in WinGD’s Spray Combustion Chamber (SCC), an experimental rig which allows the effect of various nozzle designs to be observed by taking optical, pressure and temperature measurements.

“During our tests of ethanol, we identified some interesting effects we want to have a closer look at,” Schmid noted. The tool offered the possibility of insights into a range of fuels from an R&D perspective, Schmid noted. FFI could help WinGD develop a better understanding of the combustion properties of LPG, for example, “although backpressure issues would need to be addressed.”

WinGD had opted to conduct the HERCULES 2 tests in late 2018 on ethanol rather than methanol because ethanol posed fewer hazard challenges, but bio- or synthetic methanol represents an interesting low carbon fuel for the future, Schmid noted.

“There are availability issues at the moment and the fuel needs further development work. But when it comes to liquid fuels, it is one of the realistic alternatives further down the line.” In fact, one of the next fuels to be tested on WinGD’s RTX-6 test engine was likely to be methanol, Schmid noted.

WinGD is currently involved in several other projects investigating new liquid fuels, including the FALCON or the IDEALFUEL project to develop a carbon-neutral alternative to HSFO from lignin, an organic polymer found in the cell walls of many plants.

COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT In its current form, the FFI was not intended to be offered as a solution for commercial engines but was intended to help WinGD to develop more tailored injection concepts.

“The fuel flexible system offers possibilities that you probably won’t need on a ship: nobody would be willing to pay for the possibility of switching between liquid fuels instantaneously.”

But the flexibility might be interesting for highly route specific or vessel-specific conditions, where shipowners might benefit from the ability to switch between fuels after bunkering, such as ethane carriers.

The Motorship notes that the development of a sophisticated multi-nozzle injection solution extends the fuel injection options for some liquid fuels, such as ethanol.

Such an approach could also be applied to some of the liquid alternative fuels that WinGD is examining, such as ammonia. Other engine designers that have conducted tests into ammonia have combined the fuel with LNG. The development of more sophisticated multi-staged combustion strategies may also require the development of more rigorous control over fuel injection, The Motorship notes.

“The injection system is not the only, but the most challenging element of designing an engine for fuel flexibility,” Schmid noted.

Some of the other solutions were comparatively less interesting, Schmid noted. Emulsification of alcohols or even classic fuels with water was promising in terms of NOx compliance but would require aftertreatment to handle the CO2 emissions, depending on the source of the fuel.

“Our engines are already Tier III compliant, so this is not an immediate priority for us,” Schmid noted.

Andreas Schmid noted that the next steps for the research would be to carry out further investigations into how a future commercially viable fuel-flexible injection system could appear.

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

8 WinGD’s fuel flexible injector installation on RTX-6 Test Engine

8 Andreas Schmid, WinGD General Manager, Technology Development

MAY 2020 | 17

FOUR-STROKE ENGINES

TUNING THE ENGINE THROUGH THE AIR INTAKE

Photo:pxhere

Combustion optimisation usually involves tricky remodelling of fuel injection parameters... but there is another approach - through the air flow

“Currently all engines are static on the air intake side, you are limited to the ambient air available and the size of your turbocharger,” explains Marc Sima of FuelSave. “This technology gives you a whole new dimension to play with, as it adds new variables.”

It is also safe and resilient: a failure won’t interrupt engine operation.

The development has come about from another look at two slightly problematic chemistries. “People have individually played around with mixing hydrogen and methanol with the fuel supply - and both have drawbacks: hydrogen leads to slightly earlier ignition which means you can be in danger of engine knock, while methanol tends to delay it, potentially creating combustion issues,” says Sima.

But “there is a way to make the most of the synergy”, he says.

“First of all, water and methanol together in fluid form extends the premix phase,” says Sima, “while an introduction of small amounts of hydrogen and oxygen gives you a more complete burn”. However, taken alone this raises NOx emissions, created when oxygen and nitrogen fuse: “So, injecting the liquid again can mitigate this effect, by lowering the combustion temperature,” he explains.

Therefore, the FS+ system works by timed injection of hydrogen, oxygen or methanol mix at three different locations along the air intake - something that varies slightly from engine to engine - with enough pressure to reach the combustion chamber effectively. The necessary control is achieved by feedback from engine load and charge air pressure. As a result, the overall effect is “to enhance both volumetric and thermal efficiency”, Sima explains.

Further, he adds that it also raises the efficiency of the turbocharger, “which is suddenly able to push more air into the engine for the same amount of energy consumed as it’s cooler, and therefore denser”.

Importantly, the system is, at its heart, adaptable: “We aim to optimise the stoichiometric mix at every load phase,” he underlines: “In general we can configure the system for even higher fuel economies and cost savings or higher emission

18 | MAY 2020

8 Cruise ships typically have a large hotel load, so applying the FS+ system to the auxiliaries could bring payback to two years

reduction as there is a trade-off; by default, we choose the best combination that performs within the emission tiers for which the engine is certified.”

Looking at it in more detail, the FS technology is fine-tuned for each application to yield the greatest payback in the load range for which the engine’s been optimised.

What it doesn’t need is a huge hydrogen tank. Instead, the FS+ system creates it on the spot by electrolysis, which safely splits water into H2 and oxygen. “This syngas generator has a price penalty, but it has several other advantages: as we produce and consume the hydrogen only on demand, there’s not so much worry about storage and handling, plus the related safety concerns ,” says Sima. That avoids some of the physical bunkering restrictions and regulatory issues.

However, it’s worth noting that these gases won’t be premixed. “We separate the hydrogen and oxygen for safety reasons, injecting them independently,” he explains.

The methanol, however, has to be bunkered, so one element of the onboard kit is a storage tank, sized according to bunker intervals. Still, it’s only about 3% to 5% of the total fuel throughput, so - for the sake of round numbers - a ship with an annual bunker demand of 10,000 tonnes per year will use 300 tonnes of CH3OH: given a monthly bunkering call pattern, an installation would only need to find room for a 25 tonne capacity methanol tank onboard - something that shouldn’t prove too onerous.

Overall, the footprint is rather neat: the brains of the system, the control cabinet and PLC, is connected with double-walled, barrier monitored piping. It is ideally located close to the engine to minimize the installation costs and cut down response lag: the last part of the package is a modest, 1m3 service tank.

Interestingly, the system can be fairly small-scale: in fact it was first tried and proven onboard trucks before being applied to stationary power generators. This showcases another interesting point: it can be designed for each specific use case and sized according to the engine being supported.

Following these initial applications, it was installed on an

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FOUR-STROKE ENGINES

‘‘

auxiliary genset onboard a heavy-lift cargo ship, the MV Annette, where it stayed for two-and-a-half years. It speaks volumes that the same customer is now looking to fit the FS+ on six of its heavy lift cargo vessels, starting with the MV Trina. Here it will be applied to both the main 12.5MW 58/64CD MAN engine the largest of this series - and three 1MW auxiliaries, for a combined engine power of 15.5MW per vessel.

Usefully, MAN ES is a stakeholder in this new project: Sima admits that, as one might expect, “there was some hesitance” in the beginning. Still, it helped that FuelSave was committed enough to engage in a detailed (and expensive) lab analysis on the technology’s effect on the engine after its lengthy run on the MV Annette. “We wanted to make sure - and have proved - there was no harm done to the operating engine... that was one of the big things to address, along with validating the system on a test bench in a laboratory environment. There’s no point in something that saves fuel but damages the engine in the long run.”

It’s a fairly sophisticated piece of kit, although a number of developmental hurdles have not arisen from the technology itself, but the rules. The system’s novelty has pushed the FuelSave team into a pioneering role: “The methanol is handled as a low flashpoint fuel and we are taking care of the hydrogen element under the IGF code. But although there are some general guidelines, there are currently no fixed regulations in place yet,” says Sima. Further, “on the MV Trina there are several components that haven’t been used onboard a vessel before” he adds. As a result “we are working closely with class to define potential solutions”.

So, what can this technology achieve? There’s an average drop of around 40% in particulate matter, 33% black carbon and 50% from NOx emissions but most importantly, the technology can carve an impressive lump - between 10% and 15% - from the fuel bill. The company is so certain of its figures that it is contractually guaranteeing 10% net OPEX savings.

This is taking the full business analysis and complete energy balance into account, asserts Sima: “When we talk about net savings, that’s what lands in the pocket of the customer after deducting the cost of onboard consumables, such as potable or technical water, electricity from the genset, plus air and methanol.”

As a result, he predicts that given fairly typical fuel prices, around half the world’s merchant fleet could see payback inside three years - especially if upcoming emission measures, such as the EU Green Deal, are taken into account.

Certain vessel types present a particularly convincing case: “Cruise ships have an extremely high onboard power demand, so the four-stroke engines supplying their hotel load could use the FS+ system... potentially seeing a return under two years.” Sima adds that the technology will also be useful for other vessels with a large auxiliary draw, for example crane ships, heavy transport vessels, cable layers, drill ships, accommodation platforms and any number of those spending significant periods on dynamic positioning.

Photo:SAL

The methanol is handled as a low flashpoint fuel and we are taking care of the hydrogen element under the IGF code. But although there are some general guidelines, there are currently no fixed regulations in place yet

However, while the FS+ is currently only applied to fourstrokes, this will change, as Sima hopes to see the technology extended to two-stroke engines before the end of next year, broadening its applicability for main propulsion, slow speed engines.

Further, although the system may find a role onboard a swath of the current fleet, Sima predicts that - unlike many abatement technologies - it will prove itself even more useful in future.

“Timing the injection into the air intake means we can play around and influence the premix phase, flame point temperatures and ignition; plus we can also very effectively cool the combustion temperature when we want to,” he points out. “Therefore it can also be applied to new fuels with different characteristics, helping to make them more commercially competitive while mitigating the remaining emissions.”

He adds: “As this technology can help regulate engine behaviour, it can also assist the industry in its clean fuel transition.”

Unsurprisingly, given it’s current applicability, future-proof potential and last but not least, that bold, contractual savings guarantee, the FS+ is gathering a fair amount attention. “A lot of people are eyeballing the installation onboard the MV Trina,” says Sima: “We’ve promised to share the results with quite a few interested parties.”

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

8 FuelSave is fitting its FS+ kit on six cargo vessels, starting with the MV Trina. Here it will be applied to both the main 12.5MW 58/64CD MAN engine and three 1MW auxiliaries

8 “This technology gives you a whole new dimension to play with”: Marc Sima, FuelSave

MAY 2020 | 19

ALTERNATIVE FUELS

WÄRTSILÄ ADVANCES AMMONIA AND HYDROGEN RESEARCH Kaj Portin, General Manager, Fuel & Operational Flexibility, Wärtsilä Marine, discussed progress in developing solutions to use hydrogen vectors, such as ammonia and hydrogen

8 Wärtsilä is testing ammonia as a viable fuel for shipping at its centre in Vaasa

In a significant expansion of its future fuel testing programme, Kaj Portin, General Manager, Fuel & Operational Flexibility, Wärtsilä Marine, confirmed that Wärtsilä Marine had successfully tested the addition of ammonia (NH3) into a combustion research unit earlier in 2020.

The next step will be to study the combustion of NH3 in a compression ignition dual-fuel test engine: Portin hopes that tests on the 6-cylinder test engine in Vaasa could begin as soon as the end of the year. The company intends to begin field tests with ship owners as soon as 2022.

“SIGNIFICANT INTEREST” IN AMMONIA The research into ammonia combustion expands the range of future fuels into which Wärtsilä is conducting research.

While Wärtsilä had conducted early stage ‘Blue Sky’ research into a number of alternative fuels, such as synthetic methane, hydrogen and methanol, ammonia was not among the initial fuels studied by Wärtsilä.

A number of technical developments in recent years have altered the technical challenges of combusting ammonia.

No less importantly, commercial interest in ammonia as a fuel has risen significantly in the last 12-18 months.

The rapid expansion of offshore wind production capacity, both in Europe and North America and East Asia, is leading to interest in energy storage solutions that can absorb intermittency issues in energy generation. Estimates of wind energy generated and lost varies up to 5% of output in Europe, but more flexible solutions may be required as offshore wind power begins to account for larger proportions of production.

Denmark represents an interesting test case, as offshore wind generation can exceed 50% of total energy generation at times. This is driving interest in power-to-X solutions.

20 | MAY 2020

Meanwhile, advances in electrolysis technology is driving significant interest in hydrogen vectors as potential zeroemission energy sources, although conversion efficiencies remain lower than conventional steam reformation, which accounts for most ammonia produced outside China.

“We have seen a significant increase in interest in ammonia as a fuel in the last few months,” Portin confirmed.

Meanwhile, research into ammonia is also being stimulated as the technical difficulties of liquefied hydrogen transportation, cargo handling and combustion raise questions about the economic case for commercial liquefied hydrogen transportation. The Motorship noted that the first liquefied hydrogen carrier, which was launched by Kawasaki Heavy Industries in late 2019, has required significant innovations in containment to withstand the gas’s cryogenic requirements (-253° C).

HYDROGEN Wärtsilä has made significant progress with developing engines that can operate on hydrogen, as reported in 2019.

Kaj Portin confirmed that the research into hydrogen engines has continued in parallel with research into ammonia.

“We have developed a detailed understanding of how hydrogen behaves at different concentrations and have developed a number of concepts.” Wärtsilä had successfully tested its engines with hydrogen concentrations of up to 60%, blended with 40% natural gas, in 2019. “We have advanced further with our hydrogen research,” Portin added. Wärtsilä is developing a combustion process in its gas engines to enable them to burn 100% hydrogen fuel, the company announced.

Further progress with bringing hydrogen engines to market, for the marine business at least, is likely to depend

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

ALTERNATIVE FUELS on fuel availability and commercial interest from customers, Portin noted.

concentrations of up to 5% has successfully increased combustion and decreased emissions.

Such a solution is far from impractical. Existing stationary applications that crack ammonia (or produce hydrogen from ammonia) could be marinized without the need for expensive cryogenic hydrogen storage facilities.

Another complementary approach would be to employ a more sophisticated fuel injection system, with a combination of precisely modulated fuel injections before and after TDC. The application of a multiple injection strategy can both reduce NH3 (ammonia) emissions and reduce N2O emissions, The Motorship notes.

Another area of research for Portin is optimising the timing of gas admission and valve overlap duration to meet the requirement of turbochargers. “This is one of the things that we are planning to test when we run the test engine,” Portin said.

The modification of variable valve timing solutions to meet the requirements of hydrogen combustion was a complex area of research, and ammonia was likely to have different requirements.

Some previous research has noted that ammonia’s corrosive properties can affect the combustion chamber if exhaust gases are not completely removed over time. Portin noted that research for ammonia was continuing into this area.

Ammonia’s corrosive properties would also have an impact of

AMMONIA COMBUSTION In certain respects, ammonia represents a mirror image of hydrogen combustion, with a completely different set of technical challenges. “Whereas with hydrogen you have high combustability, and fast flame speeds at stoichiometric ratios, ammonia does not burn very well and slows down the combustion process at higher concentrations.”

The long quenching distance also leads to incomplete combustion and the formation of unburnt ammonia in combustion chamber crevices.

Portin noted that Wärtsilä was focusing on testing ammonia on dual-fuel engines, rather than looking at sparkignition. “We think ammonia needs to be blended with another fuel,” Portin noted, adding that the fuel mixes with concentrations of up to 40% ammonia will be tested first.

Previous academic research into ammonia as a fuel in Japan noted that higher concentrations of ammonia posed a particular challenge, with incomplete combustion resulting in unburnt NH3 emissions (ammonia slip) and also the production of nitrous oxide (N2O).

Portin noted that fuel injection was one of the areas that Wärtsilä was assessing. “One of the solutions would be to modify the fuel injection system in response to the properties of the fuel itself, reversing some of the techniques we use for hydrogen.”

The Motorship notes that the injection of hydrogen into ammonia-fuelled compression ignition engines at

8 We have seen a significant increase in interest in ammonia as a fuel in the last few months,” Kaj Portin, General Manager, Fuel & Operational Flexibility, Wärtsilä Marine, confirmed

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ALTERNATIVE FUELS some of the component and material choices for the system.

The gas is incompatible with copper, nickel or nickel alloys, which means that some components in existing LPG systems would need to be replaced with alternatives.

By contrast, the lubrication requirements of ammoniafuelled engines are well understood. The first ammonia-fuelled internal combustion engines were designed and operated in the 1960s. “Ammonia has a very low viscosity and requires lubricants with similar properties to those required for methanol,” Portin noted. Lubricant producers were aware of the requirements and development work was underway, he noted.

Despite the challenges of developing an engine to operate on ammonia, given ammonia’s combustion properties, Portin expects to develop an engine that will fit within Wärtsilä’s engine portfolio.

“When we design an engine, if it cannot meet certain minimum efficiencies, our engine cannot operate well. The [ammonia] engine is likely to be somewhat less efficient than our existing engines but it will be very close - it will definitely be in the same ballpark,” Portin said.

PROPULSION EXPERTS The YOUR emissions profile of an ammonia-fuelled engine was likely to be similar to that of the main fuel with which ammonia is blended from a NOx perspective, depending on the type of aftertreatment employed. The CO2 emissions would reflect the emissions from the secondary fuel type, as “green ammonia” itself would be a zero-carbon fuel.

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ALTERNATIVE FUELS

OPTIONS FOR ELECTRIFYING THE MERCHANT FLEET If shipping is to halve its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in line with the IMO’s target for 2050, shipowners need precise guidance about the efficiency gains available Batteries and marine fuel cells have shown promise on smaller vessels but the flexible approach needed to use these technologies as a power source for larger, oceangoing is only now beginning to emerge.

Through its extensive research, Foreship has helped to determine the benefits and limitations of batteries, or ‘energy storage systems’ (ESS). ESS are ideal for short sea routes and for fulfilling peak power needs, and cruise ship owners have adopted them for deployment in emission-control areas. The technology is experiencing rapid improvements in energy density and price per kilowatt-hour but, used in isolation, is not capable of propelling large ships over long distances.

Batteries based on lithium-nickel-manganese-cobaltoxide (NMC) chemistry are an affordable, tried-and-tested form of ESS, and their market dominance makes it difficult for other chemistries / technologies to gain momentum and economies of scale. Lithium-titanite-oxide (LTO), for example, outperforms NMC at higher power and is better suited to high cycle life applications. Unfortunately, its progress has been hindered by pricing: it costs more than double the comparable NMC ESS. A newer alternative chemistry is a hybrid of LTO and lithium-manganese-oxide (LMO), which offers a greater cycle life than LTO at a similar cost to NMC. However, LMO is not expected to be commercially viable for six to eight years. For now, then, NMC remains the favoured form of ESS. FUEL CELL OPTIONS The high electrical efficiency of fuel cell technology makes it a promising means of propulsion for a broad spectrum of vessel types. Research into fuel cell systems with an output of three megawatts is already being conducted, while several installations are planned in the hundred-kilowatt range.

Foreship anticipates that fuel cells generating stable loads will be an accepted method of marine propulsion within a decade - perhaps supported by ESS for peak loads.

The more mature and power-dense form of fuel cells are based on polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) technology.

Solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFC) are more expensive and offer lower power density but can deliver electrical efficiency of up to 65-70 per cent - at least 20 per cent higher than that of PEM. In addition to its lower efficiency, PEM is highly sensitive to impurities in the hydrogen (H2) it uses as fuel; if other fuels are utilised, it requires a complex water management system.

Nevertheless, it remains the fuel cell technology of choice for the time being.

PROPULSION COMPARISON Our statistics show that there are 283 ships in the entire merchant fleet with a gross tonnage of 3,500 or less, for which electric propulsion appears feasible. The vast majority of these are coastal cargo vessels, while a small number are container feeders that operate over short distances.

For the purposes of illustration, we developed an analysis of a notional coastal cargo ship trading on an undisclosed

24 | MAY 2020

Hours

Operation

Power

72

Call in port A

69

1

Slow speed operation and manoeuvre

702

41

Transit with service speed 12kn

1,663

3

Operation in sensitive area

1,663

1

Slow-speed operation and manoeuvre in sensitive area

702

4

Call in port B

553

1

Slow speed operation and manoeuvre in sensitive area

702

3

Operation in sensitive area

1,663

41

Transit with service speed 12kn

1,663

1

Slow-speed operation and manoeuvre

702

route with a normal service speed of 12 knots, requiring 1,450kW of propulsion power with a service load during transit of 120kW. The normal operation of the ship by mechanical propulsion is shown in Table 1.

A turnaround time of 168 hours means 52 return trips per year, with the vessel operating on a clear and simple route.

Using this baseline concept, the ship’s weekly energy consumption is 156 megawatt-hours, corresponding to 34 tonnes of marine gas oil (MGO). Based on the price of MGO on 6 June 2019, ($680/tonne, according to World Bunker Prices New York), the annual fuel bill is $1,216,284. Using the IMO carbon factor, 3.206 for MGO, yearly carbon dioxide emissions are 5,734t.

For comparison, we developed separate analysis of the same ship using battery power in sensitive areas, shown in Table 2 below.

Notes: 1) Operation purely in battery mode; 2) Batteries charged from electrical shore power, which also feeds service load; 3) Batteries charged during transit time.

8 Table 1: Ship operating with mechanical power (kWh)

8 Table 2: Ship operating with battery power (kWh)

Hours

Operation

Power

72

Call in port A

67

1

Slow speed operation and manoeuvre

693

41

Transit with service speed 12kn

1,744

3

Operation in sensitive area

01

1

Slow-speed operation and manoeuvre in sensitive area

01

4

Call in port B

02

1

Slow speed operation and manoeuvre in sensitive area

01

3

Operation in sensitive area

01

41

Transit with service speed 12kn

1,7913

1

Slow-speed operation and manoeuvre

690

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

ALTERNATIVE FUELS In this case, weekly energy consumption is 147.4MWh from onboard production, including a 2.5-per cent saving from peak-load shaving and 5.7MWh from electrical shore power. Weekly onboard energy consumption corresponds to 32.4t of MGO fuel, resulting in a yearly fuel bill of $1,146,463. Shore electricity with a kWh price of $0.1 adds $30,000 to this figure, yielding a total energy cost of $1,176,463 per year. Annual CO2 emissions are 5,405t.

With fuel cells powered by sustainably sourced H2, weekly energy consumption is 163MWh, corresponding to 11,993 kilograms of liquid hydrogen (LH2). At the higher end of its price range, LH2 costs $8.30/kg, meaning the yearly fuel bill is $5,176,506. Using the IMO carbon factor, 0 for LH2, annual CO2 emissions are 0t.

‘‘

Our statistics show that there are 283 ships in the entire merchant fleet with a gross tonnage of 3,500 or less, for which electric propulsion appears feasible. The vast majority of these are coastal cargo vessels, while a small number are container feeders that operate over short distances THE VERDICT In comparison to the baseline, powering the ship with an ESS is moderately cheaper and reduces yearly CO2 emissions by 9.6 per cent. Fuel cell technology using H2 from renewable sources cuts emissions entirely but costs around four times more than the baseline. When the H2 for the fuel cells is produced with natural gas, yearly cost comes down by roughly half compared to when sustainably sourced hydrogen is used; emissions are greater, but still 25 per cent lower than the baseline.

Our investigation demonstrates that if all 283 merchant ships below 3,500gt were to install ESS, a total of 164,239t of CO2 would be saved.

Were they to implement fuel cell systems using hydrogen captured from renewables, that figure would jump to 1,693,921t, equating to 0.18 per cent of global CO2 emissions from shipping on an annualised basis.

Commercial factors represent an obstacle to the industry-wide adoption of electric propulsion technologies, particularly fuel cell systems. Consequently, we will likely see an increase in the use of hybrid propulsion systems in the coming years. However, as alternative energy sources mature and benefit from further research and development, it is reasonable to assume costs will fall - and the IMO’s 2050 target will look increasingly achievable.

8 Jan-Erik Räsänen of Foreship Ltd is bullish about the prospects of cost reductions for solid oxide fuel cells in the coming years

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

MAY 2020 | 25

ALTERNATIVE FUELS

INNOVATIVE CHEMICAL CHLORIDE HYDROGEN VECTOR PROJECT A Dutch consortium is on track to launch an innovative hydrogen fuel cell powered vessel in 2021, writes Janny Kok Cryogenic hydrogen (which requires the cooling and storing hydrogen at -253 degrees C) or storing hydrogen under pressure are the two main alternatives under consideration, but “a third way”, binding hydrogen to a carrier substance, such as benzene, naphthalene, toluene or their derivatives, has also attracted interest.

By contrast, a fourth possibility, involving the chemical storage of hydrogen in chemical hydrides, has received less attention. Indifferent yields from the dehydrogenation of carriers had appeared to be an insuperable barrier to taking known reactions from the laboratory.

This changed when researchers in the Netherlands developed a technique that improved the proportion of hydrogen recovered from sodium borohydride (NaBH4). The white powder itself was well known, and as an ingredient in washing powder will be the least exotic hydrogen vector most readers can imagine. But by combining extremely clean water with a catalyst, researchers at TU Delft boosted the amount of hydrogen recovered above 95%.

The technology is being used as the basis of an Interreg North-West Europe project H2SHIPS to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of zero-emission hydrogen bunkering and propulsion for shipping.

The Port of Amsterdam Authority is part of the international consortium in one of the two pilot projects as part of H2SHIPS. It has put out a tender for a one of a kind hydrogen-powered port vessel, that will become a showpiece in the port of Amsterdam in 2021. The H2Ship project will involve the installation of a PEM fuel cell fuelled by a sodium borohydride storage system aboard a battery-electric 20 metre long vessel in the Port of Amsterdam in 2021.

The other H2SHIPS pilot project is the development and testing of an H2 refuelling system suitable for open sea operation in Belgium. One of the professors involved in the project discussed the technology with The Motorship.

Assistant Professor Marine Engineering Klaas Visser at the Delft University of Technology said: “We will certainly meet the [2021] deadline. At the moment, we are busy with the detailed design of the ship to be built.”

Visser identified several key advantages associated with the technology, including a potentially higher energy storage density (38.5 MJ/kg), similar to that of diesel fuel. The certification process would also be somewhat more straightforward. While the material was flammable, it was slow burning, by contrast with some other forms of hydrogen.

Storage of the powder carrier aboard the vessel was much less space consuming than compressed hydrogen storage.

Based on a 250 kW PEM fuel cell, 5m3 of sodium borohydride could provide enough fuel for 70 hours of operation.

One of the main focuses of the research was identifying processes for storing or using the residual product (NaBO2) produced after hydrogen was produced from the NaBH4.

Developing a green hydrogen solution that required the vessel to discharge a tank at the end of the journey would not be “sustainable”, Visser noted.

26 | MAY 2020

A consortium including Tata Steel, the University of Amsterdam, and the TU Delft Faculty Mechanical, Marine, and Materials Engineering was launched to find uses for the NaBO2 (also called sodium borohydride) in March 2020, Visser noted. A ship powered by hydrogen released from sodium borohydride could discharge the residual product at a processing plant, which would process it into hydrogen for new use.

“That is why one has to think about alternative energy for the transition into zero-emission fuels when doing research and development. We have found that in the concept for sodium borohydride and the onboard hydrogen storage. The result is a circular produced fuel, with natural components,” Visser noted.

The research project has attracted interest from companies in the shortsea, fisheries, dredging, and ferry sectors. The development of a modular hydrogen power pack with sodium borohydride was scheduled for 2021, before the recent coronavirus pandemic.

Another project that is under consideration was the retrofit conversion of a larger inland commercial vessel, altering one of its propeller shafts to operate on a PEM fuel cell powered by sodium borohydride fuel.

The projects formed only part of wider commercial and public-private research into hydrogen fuel and the corresponding supply chain and infrastructure in the Netherlands. Recently the Port of Rotterdam Authority, Shell Nederland, and Dutch energy supplier Eneco joined forces to set up a green 150-250 MW electrolyser plant at the port extension Tweede Maasvlakte. The produced hydrogen is to be transported through a new pipeline to Shell’s refinery in the port area.

Visser welcomed the upsurge of interest in environmentally sustainable solutions. “We should embrace every demonstrator project. Besides, the Netherlands is a small country in which everybody in the field knows each other. All of these fields come together at TU Delft.”

8 The H2SHIPS project plans to pair a sodium borohydride storage solution with a PEM fuel cell, such as Netherlandsbased Nedstack’s PEM technology (pictured)

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

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MODULARITY FOCUS

SHIP SHAPE SHIFTERS Modular power systems may not be far off, but what about the ships themselves? Stevie Knights reports Roy van Oosterom of Damen says that in many ways, modular builds “are already here”, pointing to the flexible nature of vessels such as the OSV 9020 which can be adapted to each mission by adding accommodation, cranes, saturation dive or even submarine rescue gear.

But modular vessel design reaches right through the hull.

For example the Seasnake ‘sea train’ proposed a series of detachable, semi-cylindrical units, serially connected by a universal coupling which permits limited, individual yaw, pitch and roll movement. Intriguingly, it could tailor its length for the cargo and journey, unhitching it’s modules for either unloading or loading in port.

Sadly, the Seasnake remains more concept than reality unlike Damen’s modular barges or Alego’s reconfigurable cargo ship.

While the latter’s initial feeder vessel build is starting with a 72m length and a 19m beam, it is hoped it won’t stay that way. As it aims to answer some of Africa’s more pressing logistical problems “the vessel should literally grow with the market,” explains Alego CEO Sondre Sandbye. In fact, this feedership is potentially able to reach 146m in length.

Importantly, both companies utilise watertight hull modules which retain their integrity: “We are not welding or cutting into them,” underlines Sandbye. A shape change is accomplished by separating the mechanically fastened bow or aft and floating midsections into the gap - no drydocking required.

However, there is a related issue: how is the propulsion to meet the needs of a significant increase in vessel size?

Alego’s solution comprises propulsion modules, containing gas gensets in the 500kW to 1.2MW range, each of which drives a fixed-pitch propeller: there’s a further, similarly sized unit incorporated into the bow. The LNG tanks are also separated on modular lines: importantly, there are no pipelines running between them, and each section contains its own, individual ballast system.

Scaling up the ship’s power is therefore a matter of adding another propulsion unit and possibly a further gas tank on the deck. “We’ll be using the same generators and the same onesize propellers across all of the modules,” Sandbye explains.

This is an important point: “You don’t want to change the diameter of the propeller as that is balanced to sit comfortably with the generated power output. Further, it fits with the draught, keeping within the hull’s outline,” he remarks, critical for restricted depths.

Interestingly, it’s a gas-electric hybrid. The gensets are linked with a battery pack: “LNG is only environmentally friendly if you have clean combustion. Unfortunately, change the loads on a gas engine and the result is methane slip... so the batteries main use is peak shaving.”

The company is also considering high pressure hydrogen as a fuel, retained in 700bar tanks. “While there will need to be further safety measures and maybe more tanks, it’s still a matter of installing a prefabricated module,” he concludes.

Damen has also developed a wide range of modular accommodation units, deck equipment, propulsion systems, wheelhouses and so onto suit the various potential configurations and likewise, a proprietary coupling system

28 | MAY 2020

that doesn’t require drydocking or welded joints “so if the owners want to extend the vessel, they just come back for a couple more sections”, says Van Oosterom.

He adds: “We try to keep the ship’s systems as simple as possible.” For example, the diesel powered propulsion units are rather like oversized outboard engines with a gas tank inside the sound proof canopy, simply bolted onto the rear of the deck - which also allows them to be switched for maintenance.

Within certain limitations - these aren’t ocean-going ships - this type of design makes for a very flexible platform: for example similar barge-type elements have been used to create Damen’s modular workboats, ferries and pontoons.

There has even been an inland waterway pipe lay vessel: this adapts a sloping unit at the stern for use as a stinger.

Most importantly, both companies’ modules are transportable, being based on standard ISO containers “as that’s the number one driver, especially for remote operations,” says Van Oosterom.

Finally, full type approval of the base units as individual hulls means that the vessel is easily certified. “Everything is uniform, which maintains a simple design, tight control of the cost, and if you use the same components over and over, you benefit from scale ordering from the suppliers,” says Sandbye.

As a result, “it’s far less expensive than a conventional vessel”, adding his calculations make it around 40% cheaper than an equivalent build.

While full, deep-sea design would require another step change, these vessels stand to play an increasing role in coastal and inland waters.

8 Damen’s modular multicat can be reconfigured and transported

8 The Alego 72m and 36m cargo vessels are based on 40ft hi-cube containers: the 72 can reach 146m in length

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TURBOCHARGERS

AMBITIOUS MHI-MME WINS FIRST ORDER FOR TURBOCHARGER In its announcement for that order, MHI-MME declared an ambitious goal: the company will “continue to expand its global sales and aims to [achieve a] top share of the turbochargers market,” it predicted.

MET33MBII versions - the smallest in the 10-model range will be supplied for 12PC2-6B engines manufactured by JFE Engineering Corporation that will be installed in a pair of ropax newbuildings on order at Japan’s Naikai Zosen yard for Miyazaki Car Ferry. Delivery dates for the turbochargers are October 2020 for the first ship and February 2021 for the second.

Although the engine is a medium speed machine, MHIMME originally marketed the axial-flow turbocharger as being mainly for two-stroke engines and offering 16% more air flow volume than its predecessor, the MET-MB. At the time - just ahead of the 2018 SMM exhibition - it said that four-stroke engines would normally use radial turbochargers.

But this first order for the MET-MBII indicates that it is also suitable for four-stroke engines so it is perhaps significant that there was no reference to its suitability to two-stroke over four-stroke engines in a paper presented to the CIMAC World Congress in June last year about its development.

That gathering was also used as the launch pad for a new radial turbocharger, the MET-ER series, and a technical description of both machines was included in the July 2019 issue of The Motorship. That model had also been first mentioned in MHI-MME’s pre-SMM announcement, which noted that “radial turbochargers are mainly used for fourstroke engines” and a paper about its development presented during the CIMAC meeting also made that association.

Credit: MHI-MME

Nearly two years after announcing its MET-MBII Turbocharger in August 2018, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Marine Machinery & Equipment (MHI-MME) received its first order for the model in March

Manufacturing of these new and existing models is now conducted at a new turbocharger factory. Since 1 January this year, MHI-MME has taken over responsibility for making its turbochargers from Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS), which had previously produced them on its behalf.

The April issue of Mitsubishi Marine Energy & Environment Technical Solution-System’s newsletter, MEET News, said this gives MHI-MME responsibility for everything from product development to manufacturing and after-sales servicing.

This will help MHI-MME “promote integrated operations and smoother business operations, and pursue business expansion through more focused marketing and enhanced customer satisfaction,” the newsletter said.

8 MHI-MME has received the first order for its METMBII turbocharger

Bergen Engines backs single-stage turbocharging While many other engine makers have moved towards two-stage turbocharging and common rail fuel injection, Bergen Engines has taken a different path and, “so far at least, our approach has been very successful,” the company’s chief technology officer Leif-Arne Skarbø told The Motorship.

He recalled the 2014 launch of its B33:45 engine, which offered more power per cylinder but lower fuel consumption and emissions than its predecessors, and said that the aim was to produce a flexible engine platform with single-stage turbocharging as the standard option, using ABB turbochargers - as it does for all its marine engines.

When its development started in 2010, many in the industry were exploring the potential of two-stage turbocharging but “we didn’t join the party,” he said. Instead, Bergen Engines developed its new range of engines to offer a “conventional but very high

30 | MAY 2020

performance engine” that could be a “bridge into the future” if two-stage turbocharging and common rail injection became the norm.

The engine is common-rail-ready and could have been developed to suit two-stage turbocharging “in the next round”, Mr Skarbø said, but that development has not been followed up.

While its competitors have committed to the two-stage route, “we are still watching how this will work out [because] there’s a downside in way of costs.” Bergen engines are just as sophisticated as other engine concepts, he said, and they offer flexible injection timing and can match the performance of common-rail two-stageturbocharged engines “at a lower cost to the operator,” he maintained. He also suggested that the company’s

commitment to single-stage turbocharging is helping to encourage further development of that technology “beyond what was thought reasonable before.”

He accepts that two-stage turbocharging offers some benefits - more flexibility, and higher pressure ratios for example - but they are not yet significant enough to justify a change in Bergen’s approach. “If you go to two-stage turbocharging you should outpace a single stage engine by some margin,” otherwise “it doesn’t make any sense,” he said.

He does not rule them out, however.

Although Bergen Engines is further developing its single stage turbocharging, “we are carefully considering what we do with two-stage turbocharging,” he said. It has also run lab tests using common rail injection “but nobody is asking for it commercially.”

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

TURBOCHARGERS

CUSTOMERS WANT T/C PERFORMANCE DATA, SAYS KBB End-users want to use this data for performance analysis, for condition-based maintenance (CBM) and to predict a turbocharger’s lifetime, he said.

Most of the partners it works with have their own CBM strategy and are monitoring or controlling hardware, but there is no standardisation, he said. Nonetheless, “most of our partners are open to working with third-party algorithms [such as] a blackbox in their engine controller hardware.”

Separating the turbocharger monitoring unit from the ECU was an advantage, Risse said, adding “the potential offered by offline analysis is significantly larger.

By transferring measurement data from the turbocharger and the engine to the cloud it can be stored and evaluated “extensively and locally with suitable computer technology at the same time or later.”

Data latency means response times may not be quick enough to prevent some turbocharger damage, although suitable upgrades to the engine and turbocharger control hardware and software offer potential solutions.

Speaking to The Motorship for this report, he said that including “a proved third-party blackbox algorithm is much easier and safer than an additional hardware box on an engine.” And there is no shortage of data available from modern engines, his comments suggested. A lot of engines have OEM-provided monitoring systems and performance analysis “is easy for these engines because no additional sensors or hardware are required,” he said.

Meanwhile, KBB has been working on improvements to some of its models and Dr Risse particularly mentioned its established single-stage ST27-EP range of turbochargers, which offer a pressure ratio of 6:1, saying that new designs have been released that incorporate improved capacity and efficiency. He also drew attention to its two-stage K2B series, which has an overall pressure ratio of 10:1 and now features

Credit: KB

Customer demands for more turbocharger performance data to be made accessible online are intensifying, head of turbocharging technology at KBB, Dr Silvio Risse, told The Motorship

new impeller designs that increased compressor flow capacity.

Some of these changes were outlined in his CIMAC paper and Dr Risse summarised them for The Motorship, explaining that the capacity improvements are based mainly on blade design optimisation of the compressor and turbine wheels.

This is supported by CFD-led flow optimisation for diffusers, nozzle rings and inserts to achieve best performance in combination with new wheel designs.

“These modifications are beneficial for thermodynamic efficiency and reduced inertia,” he said. Despite these changes, the turbochargers’ external dimensions have been kept the same, which means that the improved units can be supplied for retrofit installations to improve performance of existing installations, as well for new projects.

KBB is currently working on further improvement to both its single- and two-stage turbochargers - mainly involving their components - to extend their service intervals and lifetime, Dr Risse said.

8 KBB has improved the capacity and efficiency of its ST27-EP range of turbochargers

MES wins first order for its latest THS concept What is believed to be the first order for Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding’s (MES) latest version of its turbo hydraulic system (THS2) was placed in February for installation on a Mitsui-MAN B&W 7S65ME-C8.5 engine for a 208,000dwt bulk carrier.

This technology has its roots in a concept first developed in 2008 that took excess turbocharger energy via a hydraulic pump and matching hydraulic motor to provide additional propulsion power. It has been fitted to 19 ships and gone through a number of iterations over the years.

MES said in a statement in February that THS2 improves fuel efficiency by up to 2% on a single engine at 50% load operation or

more when the hydraulic energy recovered from the turbocharger is also used to open and close the exhaust valves and fuel injection of an electronically-controlled engine. It is a refinement that has been under development since 2016.

An earlier modification had made it possible to operate the system in ‘turbocharger assist’ mode when the engine is operating at low load. Instead of using the auxiliary blower to supplement the turbocharger, the hydraulic pump and motor can be operated in reverse to deliver engine power to support its turbocharger “and contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases,” MES said.

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

In its statement, MES also noted that among THS’s benefits is that it requires fewer parts to be fitted to an engine than other waste heat recovery technologies, reducing cost and space.

MAY 2020 | 31

TURBOCHARGERS

NEW ELECTRICALLY-ASSISTED TURBOCHARGER OFFERS AGILITY For projects where high agility is needed, MTU can now consider using its new electrically assisted turbocharger, which has successfully passed its field tests, Dr Kech said.

This was announced in 2018 as a solution to the frustration of ‘turbo-lag’, which occurs at low speeds because there is not enough exhaust to drive the turbocharger.

MTU’s solution uses an electric motor to support the turbocharger using technology licensed from G+L innotec and it appears that its development is on track or even ahead of that 2018 announcement: at that time, it predicted a market debut for its first engines with electrically-assisted turbocharging in 2021.

Meanwhile, it is focusing development efforts on increasing turbocharger efficiency by developing individual solutions for specific engines. In a way, this is returning to its historical roots, which date back 45 years to when the first MTU engine (series 396) was fitted with an in-house ZR turbocharger, Dr Kech recalled.

At that time, turbocharger systems were matched to an engine’s specific requirements, he said, an approach that gave way some years ago to a modular system that could be used across engine platforms.

But now “trends in engine development demand more and more specific turbocharging systems that need individual solutions,” he said. “They impose various requirements such as efficiency, compressor pressure ratio and map width, power-toweight ratio and acceleration capability.” In response, MTU is supplementing its modular approach by applying “modern design methods to cope with the broad set of requirements imposed by [each] engine application,” he explained.

Credit: MTU

The watchwords for MTU’s turbocharger development are agility and efficiency, its director of development, turbocharging and fluid systems, Johannes Kech, told The Motorship

In particular, MTU uses “fully automated, multidisciplinary optimisation methods for wheels, flow guiding systems and bends,” which shortens design cycles and minimises development efforts, he said. It also delivers high efficiency and high pressure ratios and the approach is now being applied to gas engines for stationary applications “to ensure highest efficiencies and a minimum of CO2 emissions,” he said.

8 An electric motor ensures that extra fresh air is available whenever the engine needs it

First delivery for new ABB models Two new ABB turbochargers have completed their testing and the first delivery of one of the new models was scheduled to take place as this issue went to press, Alexandros Karamitsos, ABB’s head of global sales for low-speed turbocharging, told The Motorship in late April. The first A260-L turbocharger following in Q4.

Although he could not disclose what ships they were destined for, he said that “a good number” of orders for the new units had been confirmed, destined for containerships, chemical tankers, small product tankers, LPG carriers, bulk carriers and general cargo ships.

“The market has been very responsive,” he said, describing them as “the ideal duo for vessels up to 50,000dwt.” This is a segment where turbocharger cost and size are particularly relevant, and both of these new compact models will “fit through a door,” he said.

32 | MAY 2020

Last June’s CIMAC World Congress was given a pre-launch overview of the new additions to ABB’s range, at which time they were still in development, and their official launch took place in December at the Marintec China exhibition. Now, with tests completed at ABB’s research centre at Baden in Switzerland, their “high performance levels have been reconfirmed as expected, demonstrating their leading efficiency,” he said.

According to a presentation prepared for Marintec visitors, the new members of its A200 series are 50% lighter than the previous generation and 2% more efficient, helping operators save fuel. The same presentation predicted that service costs will be 30% less than the previous generation of turbochargers.

It was costs that Mr Karamitsos particularly emphasised. Because they are smaller than

their predecessors, the new models have a lower CAPEX and are easier for engine builders to fit. From a shipowner’s point of view, their smaller size will reduce operating costs. There will be further savings because of their impact on fuel consumption.

The A255-L covers engine powers of 3-6MW and the A260-L is intended for engines of 5-7MW, which overlap its existing A160-L. But that model will continue to be available since it has become an established turbocharger in many ship machinery specifications, Mr Karamitsos said.

In developing these turbochargers, ABB has collaborated with the two leading low-speed engine designers, MAN Energy Solutions and WinGD, “as a response to their demands for higher turbocharger performance for their modern small-bore engines,” Mr Karamitsos said.

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

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TURBOCHARGERS

NEW SERIES AND NEW FACILITIES FOR NEW BRAND Field trials of a single stage variant of the TCT turbocharger series are ongoing, marketing manager at PBST, Denis Pissarski told The Motorship Less than a year after its formation, PBST has had a promising start and is already “co-developing an updated radial turbocharger series, which will be available to highspeed engine manufacturers very soon,” its marketing and communications manager Denis Pissarski told The Motorship. No details about that project are available yet, “but this is a huge step for us,” he said.

Another big step planned for later this year will see a new Turbocharger Performance Centre open in PBST’s home town, Augsburg in southern Germany. At €50M, it will be the largest investment ever in the city and “proves that we see a bright future in turbocharging,” he said.

PBST was formed last July to bring together MAN Energy Solutions’ air management systems and the Czech turbocharger manufacturer PBS Turbo, creating a company that covers not only turbochargers but also other exhaust gas technologies, such as electrical turbo blowers and catalytic converters for selective catalytic reduction.

That distinction is reflected in how the products it delivers are labelled. As The Motorship reported last July, OEM customers receive PBST-branded turbochargers while MAN engines, including those manufactured under licence, will continue to be equipped with MAN-branded turbochargers.

A few months before PBST’s formation, MAN Energy Solutions had launched its TCT turbocharger series, which is smaller than its predecessor, the TCA generation, “to meet current market requirements,” the company said in a statement at the time.

Its development passed to PBST and Mr Pissarski said that a number of TCT40 and TCT60 units have been sold as the low-pressure component in two-stage turbocharging installations, both for MAN engines and for other OEM

customers. Combined with its TCX turbocharger as the high-pressure stage, “we can achieve up to 80% efficiency, which is really fantastic,” he said.

As a stand-alone single-stage turbocharger, however, field tests are still being run “due to unforeseen complications,” he said. Together with the impact of the coronavirus slowdown, “we are a bit behind schedule [but] the feedback is very positive so far” and enquiries from shipowners and yards are also encouraging, he added. “All in all, we are very satisfied with the start of PBST brand. We have not only met but exceeded our targets,” he said.

8 PBST has already supplied some TCT turbochargers in two-stage combinations

Viral load: COVID-19’s impact on the turbocharger sector Turbocharger makers and engine builders accept their operations have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and that the after-effects will be long-lasting.

Of most concern is whether supply chains can continue to bringing essential components and material. For one manufacturer, one of its main supplying countries has been hit hard by the virus, causing a shortage of parts and short-time working in its factory.

Another hopes to mitigate the problem by continuously monitoring its supply chains and looking for alternative suppliers. “That enables us to keep production as stable as we can and to deliver punctually in what is a very challenging situation,” one of its directors said.

34 | MAY 2020

One turbocharger maker said that, if its supply chain is disrupted, it will focus on providing spare parts to avoid long shutdowns of engines that need mandatory maintenance, such as emergency generators. With that in mind, it has been increased its own stock since late February to reduce the impact of supplier shutdowns on its production.

Another executive said that his company’s management team had established rules to keep production going without compromising employee safety, as long as the supply chain continued to function. The biggest effect it is experiencing is with on-site consultations with customers, which are impossible because of travel bans, so it is providing customers with smart glasses to enable remote assessments for planning new installations.

Commercially, the impact is likely to build.

One manufacturer said that there had been no effect on its Q1 business and its forecast for Q2 predicts no decrease in orders or its spare part business. But further ahead, there will be a decline if the coronavirus shutdown period extends, its director said. That view was shared by another of our interviewees: “I expect difficulties in 2021 or 2022,” he said.

Yet the underlying market seems firm. One company reported good business in the four-stroke sector, thanks to naval and cruise work. The two-stroke market is more challenging, it said and “this year we might lose some market share.”

It seems that timing will be crucial in gauging both the medium- and long-term impact of the current global health crisis.

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

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TURBOS HAVE BOOSTED SHIPPING FOR 115 YEARS

36 | MAY 2020

8 Preussen was one of the first pair of ships to go to sea with turbocharged engines

variable turbine geometry and supplementary power-take-offs from turbochargers, such as Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding’s Turbo Hydraulic System. This month’s turbocharger feature mentions the latest developments in this technology.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Marine Machinery and Engine Company (MHI-MME) is also using turbocharger power for other purposes, working with the US company Calnetix. A small motor-generator inside the turbocharger’s silencer produces auxiliary power for the ship’s electrical systems.

As to the future for marine turbocharging, it is worth recalling comments made to The Motorship at the CIMAC Congress in June 2019 by Christoph Rofka, Vice President Head of Technology at ABB Turbo Systems. The technological limits of single-stage turbocharging have been reached, he said, and predicted that new medium-speed engine platforms will need to be designed for two-stage turbocharging, such as the Wärtsilä 31.

As for the constant drive for higher pressure ratios, “Who knows, perhaps we will be able to achieve a maximum pressure ratio of 7.0,” he said. That goal has not yet been achieved for single-stage turbochargers but, with future fuelling preferences moving towards gas engines - which need high pressure ratios and efficient turbochargers - that will be a valuable parameter to reach.

8 Two-stage turbochargers such as this Power2 800-M surpass single-stage units for many applications

Credit: ABB Turbo

He graduated in 1903 and worked as an engineer in Belgium and England for five years and became passionate about improving the efficiency of combustion engines, specifically by reducing exhaust heat losses.

It was during that time, in 1905, that he received a German patent for a “highly supercharged compound engine” that featured an “axial compressor, radial piston engine and axial turbine on a common shaft”. Unfortunately, neither the fuel nor the materials to build the engine were available at that time but the patent was enough to establish 1905 as the year that turbocharging was born.

He returned to Switzerland and joined Sulzer where Büchi produced his first prototype turbocharged diesel engine in 1915. It was not a success. The same year he opened talks with Brown, Boveri & Cie (BBC; now ABB) that took until 1923 to conclude.

BBC’s change of heart was prompted by the publication in 1923 of a report on low-pressure supercharging trials carried out by MAN and in 1926, two German passenger liner newbuildings, Preussen and Hansestadt Danzig, became the first turbocharged ships, fitted with BBC-built Büchi turbochargers. Their twin ten-cylinder diesel engines had a nominal output of 1,750hp (1,305kW) which was turbocharged to 2,500hp (1,865kW).

While they were under construction, Büchi received a patent in 1925 for “pulse operation for low-pressure supercharging” and this is generally considered to be his most important contribution to the technology.

Up until 1940, turbochargers were only effective on fourstroke engines but that year BBC carried out tests on a Sulzer two-stroke engine. The results were disappointing, and it was not until after WW2 that turbocharging became practical on two-stroke engines. Further refinements up until the 1950s and 1960s gradually increased boost pressures for all turbocharger types.

Büchi’s 1925 patent expired in 1950, opening up the market to wider competition and now there are a number of specialist turbocharger manufacturers. Collaboration has also become a feature of the industry, with many engine OEMs working closely with specific turbocharger manufacturers.

With power increases of 40% and more on offer, it was inevitable that the high powers demanded from marine engines would make them pioneers for turbocharging, both for the extra efficiency and lower fuel costs available, but also because engines could be smaller for the same power output as a non-turbocharged equivalent.

More recent developments have been prompted by environmental concerns. For achieving NOx reductions to meet IMO’s Tier II and Tier III standards, turbochargers have played a key role, for example by increasing pressure ratios, often by using two-stage turbochargers, which use highpressure and low-pressure turbochargers connected in series. These were initially introduced for two-stroke engines but have now extended across to four-strokes.

Other innovations in recent years include such things as

Credit: Wikimedia

Alfred Büchi was ahead of his time. He was the son of Johann Büchi, a chief executive at Sulzer, so heavy engineering was in his blood

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DESIGN FOR PERFORMANCE

PUSHING THE ENVELOPE: ROPAX DESIGNERS EYE EFFICIENCIES Maximum ropax ferry capacities may have plateaued at 5,600 lane metres, despite strong incentives to meet efficiency improvements via economies of scale, writes Kari Reinikainen

RAMPING UP CAPACITY By 2010, Stena Line’s 64,000 gross ton sister ships Stena Britannica and Stena Hollandica could offer 5,566 lane metres of vehicle deck capacity, yet they only had accommodation for 1,380 passengers. Pure freight roros of more than 6,000 lane metre capacity have been built since then, but the capacity of ropaxes has not really increased since the days of the Stena Line Hook of Holland-Harwich duo.

A major reason why capacity growth has halted - at least for now - is that many ports that handle these ships can only receive vessels of up to 230 metres in length, said Anders Orgard, chief commercial officer at OSK Ship Tech in Denmark.

The port facilities are a crucial consideration not only when it comes to receiving the ships, but also the vehicles that are to be loaded and discharged onboard the ship. The vehicles to be loaded must be accommodated in the port and in case of large vessels, they take up a lot of space.

“Turn around in ports is another major constraint. Using two tier loading cuts the time needed to load and discharge dramatically compared to the use of just one tier,” he told The Motorship.

SLOWLY DOES IT However, the largest pure roro vessels - their lane metre capacity is well over 6,000 - are already struggling to keep schedules due to the use of stern ramps, which pose a bottleneck for these operations. The stern ramps limit the number of tugmasters that move in and out at one time and to tackle that problem, OSK Ship Tech has produced a concept design for a ropax vessel with side doors that will significantly speed up loading and discharging of cargo.

This again means that the vessel can cruise at a lower speed than a conventional vessel of the same type, which saves fuel and cuts CO2 emissions, Orgard noted. “This design competes with the largest roros, so the range of services and locations where it could be used is limited,” he pointed out.

Another factor that is quite likely to affect the design of roro vessels in the future, ropax

38 | MAY 2020

Image copyright Volvo Truck Corporation

Owners will also have to think of future regulatory considerations with their newbuilding plans. When Grandi Navi Veloci in Italy introduced its 32,746 gross ton newbuilding Majestic in the western Mediterranean in 1993, the ship was somewhat of a novelty.

It offered good quality passenger accommodation, but its lane metre capacity of 1,725 was much greater than that of Scandinavian cruise ferries of the time, which tended to hover in the region of 1,000 lane metres. By contrast, the ship only carried 1,205 passengers in cabins, which was roughly half of the figure of a similar sized cruise ferry of the time.

The template was quickly adopted by other operators in the Mediterranean and then elsewhere. The type of vessel quickly became known as a ropax ferry.

ferries included, is what happens in the development of autonomous trucks. “Roros with internal ramps do not go well with autonomous trucks. This can also significantly influence how (roro) cargoes are handled in ports, Orgard said.

One way of paving the way for the arrival of autonomous trucks would be to arrange the vehicles so that they can be loaded on five tracks across the ship, with one ramp leading to the upper and one to the lower deck, both of which would be connected to a linkspan, he concluded.

The obvious advantage of roro vessels over e.g. container ships is the fact that roro cargo gets quickly to its destination: containers discharged from a ship are usually stacked in the terminal area or nearby logistics centre to wait for a pick up, while a trailer is quickly connected to a truck and is on its way to the recipient, said Vesa Marttinen, director of cruise, roro and yachts at Wärtsilä, the Finnish technology group.

“However, the capacity of ports and their immediate hinterlands may not have always developed hand in hand with the growth of roro vessels. Once this bottleneck has

8 The entry into service of autonomous vehicles, akin to Volvo’s Vera vehicle which trialled transporting goods between DFDS’ logistics centre and a port terminal in the Port of Gothenburg, will impact future ropax design

8 Vesa Marttinen, director of cruise, roro and yachts at Wärtsilä, the Finnish technology group

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

DESIGN FOR PERFORMANCE

8 The capacity of ropaxes has not really increased since the Stena Hollandica (pictured) was launched in 2010

been removed, we may see larger short sea roro and ropax vessels in the future than what we have today,” he told The Motorship.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS AND DESIGN The development of ship designs of the future, of all types of ships, will be heavily influenced by tightening requirements for cutting green house gas emissions. However, these requirements only look at the ship and not the port operations, which may include considerable inefficiencies that affect the overall transport chain.

A leading theme in the design of ropax vessels is to get the passengers and freight quickly from home to their destination and in these vessels it is the volume that is available onboard that is a crucial bottleneck, not the weight of the cargo like for example in bulkers and tankers.

Already today it is possible to follow the EU-MRV reporting system that shows transported volumes and the CO2efficiency of each mode of transport. “This has shown that the most efficient ropax vessels are the ones that can accommodate large numbers of passengers and little cargo, apart from their cars, or the other way around,” Marttinen said.

“From this it could follow that passengers and their cars may be carried in the future on different vessels than trailers.

In this case the number of vessels would grow meaning more material need for the same transportation work. In effect, the tail would wag the dog. Decisions of authorities will be in charge: it is not good if they start to favour one solution. As things stand, optimisation may mean something that the authorities define,” he continued.

The Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) that the IMO was due to consider in March is a fairly straightforward question in the case of e.g. bulkers. “However, it is a much more complex question in the case of ropax and cruise tonnage, it may actually influence the designs of the future,”

‘‘

Turn around in ports is another major constraint.

Using two tier loading cuts the time needed to load and discharge dramatically compared to the use of just one tier

Marttinen continued. He wondered whether unit cargo and passenger transport should be considered to include port operations in the remit of the IMO. The efficiency - or the lack of it - of port operations plays a significant part an the overall efficiency and carbon footprint in the operations of these ship types. Efforts to optimise only the seagoing part’s performance may result in a sub-optimal outcome when these matters are considered against a broader perspective.

LIGHTWEIGHT CRAFT CODE On a practical note, Marttinen suggests that level playing field thinking between transport modes should gain ground. “Sea lanes do not suffer from wear and tear. Roads do. And to build a railway line, you need space from the carbon capturing nature or from peoples living for the tracks. There has been little discussion about what are the emissions from a ship that is not fully loaded. Passengers want fast connections, but it is the freight that continues to grow in importance,” he added.

Against this broad spectrum of challenges, Marttinen suggests that the design of future ropaxes on some routes could be based on the international lightweight craft code rather than SOLAS. Their hulls could be built of high tensile steel that is relatively lightweight, while the superstructure could be built of composite materials. (The Motorship considered the issue of composite materials in an article in the April issue.)

On relatively short and sheltered crossings where this kind of design approach might be used, it would be possible to look at the optimisation of various parameters, such as fuel consumption and emissions plus freight and passenger capacity, speed and hence the frequency of service the vessel could deliver, from a new angle.

Although some investment decisions have slowed during the current coronavirus pandemic, ferry owners in Europe had already launched fleet modernisation programmes and as many companies still have ageing tonnage in their fleets, investment will be needed in the future as well. Finding an optimal design that meets both the commercial and environmental requirements will probably not become easier as times goes by.

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

8 Anders Orgard, chief commercial officer at OSK Ship Tec

MAY 2020 | 39

SHIP DESCRIPTIONS

VERSATILE NEW SERIES OF ETHYLENE TANKERS

Photo: MarineTraffic/Ye Chia-Wei

Advanced, handysized tonnage from China will afford considerable scope as to liquefied gas cargoes, writes David Tinsley

Towards the end of 2019, Singapore-based Petredec Holdings exercised its options on two additional ethylene-capable liquefied gas carriers from Jiangnan Shipyard, augmenting the two-ship contract signed a few months earlier.

The newbuilds encapsulate an optimised and upgraded version of the 21,200m3-capacity Empery-class quartet completed by the Chinese yard over the course of 2016 and 2017. The nascent series offers a near-1,000m3 advance in cargo volume within a similar hull envelope, plus IMO Tier III NOx emissions compliance. The prospective fleet additions occupy delivery slots in 2021 and 2022, and the design perpetuates the considerable versatility in liquefied product transportation displayed by the initial quartet.

Imbuing the capability to transport ethylene necessitates design engineering to ensure and maintain a cargo temperature of minus 104degC. As well as serving the niche, ethylene segment of the market, the ships will offer a very high degree of cargo carrying flexibility, extending trading opportunities and potentially minimising time in ballast. The payload scope embraces ethane (at minus 80degC), anhydrous ammonia, propylene, propane, vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), butadiene, butane and isobutane.

Ethylene, propane and isobutane can be received aboard from either refrigerated or pressurised storage.

Given the potential product range, and as with the Empery generation, the vessels may be described therefore as LEG/ LPG/ammonia/VCM carriers.

Having engaged TGE Marine Gas Engineering as the contractor for the cargo handling systems and tanks in the previous series of ethylene carriers from Jiangnan, and also for two 22,000m3 semi-refrigerated LPG/ammonia carriers built by the same yard in 2018, Petredec has retained the German company for the latest project.

Rather than the four-tank layout employed before, each of

40 | MAY 2020

8 Petredec’s new series of ethylene carriers will be an optimised version of the Empery type

the 22,000m3 newbuilds will be configured with three cargo tanks of bilobe type, fabricated from 5% nickel-steel, and constructed to withstand a 5.3 bar maximum pressure. The gas plant will allow two segregations, with two liquid lines and two vapour lines feeding from and to the cargo manifold.

Cargo handling will be effected by six deepwell pumps, two per tank, located within the tank dome, and individually rated at 350m3/h. Loading and unloading is therefore anticipated at up to 2,100m3/h from refrigerated or pressurised storage, using vapour return. An LPG heater/vaporiser will be supplemented by a dedicated ethylene vaporiser.

The specified cargo boil-off and fuel gas system is of the cascade/direct cycle type, using three refrigerant (propylene) compressors and three cargo compressors.

Petredec’s preceding programme of four ethylene carriers at Jiangnan had received German financing from KfW IPEXBank working with credit insurance provider Euler Hermes.

With EUR50 million-worth of gas and tank systems PETREDEC ethylene carriers Jiangnan yard no.

Name

Capacity

Delivery

H2567

Empery

21,200m3

2016

H2568

Ellington

21,200m3

2016

H2569

Emilius

21,200m3

2017

H2570

Earth Summit

3

21,200m

2017

H2669

Eclipse

22,000m

2021

H2670

Electra

22,000m

2021

H2671

Exhibitionist

22,000m

2022

H2672

Enable

22,000m

2022

3 3 3 3

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

SHIP DESCRIPTIONS

‘‘

Two of the four gensets have to be run to provide the requisite power in port for taking on or discharging a full cargo, and two are needed at sea to maintain cargo tank pressure contracted to TGE Marine of Bonn, the funding reflected the German export component to the deal.

The propulsion system in each of the existing ships entails a 500mm-bore two-stroke engine providing direct drive to a fixed-pitch propeller. The MAN six-cylinder S50ME-C8.2 diesel has a specified rating of 7,170kW at 114rpm and operates on either very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) or low sulphur marine gas oil (LSMGO). Consumption of VLSFO at maximum service speed is in the order of 25t per day.

The auxiliary outfit is substantial, as befits such an extensively-equipped vessel, and comprises four aggregates powered by Daihatsu DK-20e series engines manufactured under licence from the Japanese designer in China. Two sixcylinder models and two eight-cylinder versions are installed, yielding individual outputs of 950kW and 1,250kW respectively, giving a total availability of 4,400kW. Two of the four gensets have to be run to provide the requisite power in port for taking on or discharging a full cargo, and two are needed at sea to maintain cargo tank pressure. When carrying ethylene, a third set has to be

brought on-line so as to ensure refrigerated temperature control of the cargo. When no cargo machinery is being activated, as on a ballast leg, a single aggregate is sufficient to cover the ship’s sea-going electrical load.

Technical husbandry of the ethylene tanker flotilla is the province of Anglo Eastern Ship Management’s Singaporean company, which is also responsible for the crewing arrangements, whereby each vessel has a complement of 21.

Ethylene is a primary building block of the petrochemicals industry and is used in the production of polyethylene, ethylene dichloride, ethanol, styrene, glycols and many other products.

PRINCIPAL PARTICULARS - Empery-class ethylene carrier Built 2016-2017 Length overall 159.99m Length bp 152.81m Breadth, extreme 24.80m Depth, extreme 16.70m Draught, scantling 9.40m Corresponding deadweight 16,925t Gross tonnage 17,235t Cargo capacity @100% 21,220m3 Cargo capacity @98% 20,795m3 Main engine power 7,170kW Speed, loaded 16kts Auxiliaries 2 x 950kW + 2 x 1,250kW Class Bureau Veritas Crew 21 Flag Singapore

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08/05/2019 09:16

MAY 2020 | 41

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MAY 2020 | 43

50 YEARS AGO

SHIPBUILDING ENTERS UNCERTAIN TIMES

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

As this page is being prepared, at the peak of uncertainty of immediate prospects for shipping, shipbuilding and all other industries thanks to Covid-19, it was a bit of a shock to see equally dismal predictions in the May 1970 issue of The Motorship.

The editorial comment page bemoaned the difficulties facing British shipbuilding, despite there being a demand for the industry’s products. The problem then was high labour costs, resulting from taxation as much as wages. The Japanese example was quoted, where even high levels of mechanisation and automation had not made a significant dent in the number of man hours to build a ship. The only answer was, reluctantly, the introduction of ‘escalation clauses’ as had begun at German yards, by the industry internationally to protect itself from heavy losses due to rapidly rising costs.

Another growing concern was the number of companies producing unauthorised, or ‘pirate’ spare parts for machinery, particularly in Japan, where it seemed others had got hold of drawings issued to official licensees and were making inferior quality replica parts with adverse effects on reliability. This, it was said, would impact on the engine designers’ and licensees’ otherwise good reputations if not snipped in the bud.

The main ship description centred on the Helene, first of a pair of Sunderland, UK-built bulk carrier newbuilds, powered by Sulzer 6RND76 engines, the first from British licensee Clark. The 26,176 dwt vessels were ordered by Greek owners, for transport of various mineral raw materials from Jamaica to the US. They provided a break for the Austin & PIckersgill yard from building SD14 Liberty Ship replacements.

Construction was largely conventional, though the LR class did allow holds 2,4 and 6 of the seven compartments to be empty when the others were carrying ore. The main engine, of 12,000 bhp output, was fitted with a Napier turbocharger and drove a four-blade SMM propeller. Although the engine room

8 Bulker Helene, powered by the first Clark-Sulzer 6RND76 engine

was to be operated by seven engineer officers, an electrician, and 10 ratings, with no separate machinery control room, it was fitted out for potentially unmanned operation, with a number of remote control and monitoring features as well as safety innovations such as an enclosed fuel system.

The writer noted that in order to provide maximum cargo space, and despite the large complement of personnel, the engine room was “somewhat compact and the machinery layout less than ideal.”

A somewhat different type of ship had just entered service on a new fast cargo route between Japan and Australia. Built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries for Australian National Line, the Australian Enterprise too had been designed to maximise cargo space, but in this case the cargo was a combination of ISOstandard containers and ro-ro traffic. With 233 TEU above deck, including 92 reefer units, the main hold could carry either cars, on removable ‘pontoons’, or up to 365TEU of containers, stacked two high, and loaded on trailers via the stern doors. Machinery and accommodation was all located aft, which necessitated a very compact engine room. Thus the propulsion plant was three Kawasaki-MAN V8V40/54 medium speed engines, each of 8,690 bhp MCR, said to be the highest-power medium speed installation to date. The engines were designed to operate at constant 400 rpm speed, driving a CP propeller through a system of Renk clutches and gearboxes, allowing any combination of one, two or three engines to be employed for either propulsion or auxiliary generation use, each alternator being driven directly from the gearboxes. The whole machinery installation was designed to be operated remotely from a separate control room, with propeller pitch controlled from the wheelhouse.

Correspondents Please contact our correspondents at editor@motorship.com Bill Thomson, David Tinsley, Tom Todd, Stevie Knight Production Ian Swain, David Blake, Gary Betteridge production@mercatormedia.com SALES & MARKETING 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

Subscriptions Subscriptions@motorship.com or subscribe online at www.motorship.com Also, sign up to the weekly TMS E-Newsletter 1 year’s magazine subscription £GBP178.50 UK & EURO Post area £GBP178.50 Rest of the World © Mercator Media Limited 2020. ISSN 0027-2000 (print) ISSN 2633-4488 (online). Established 1920. The Motorship is a trade mark of Mercator Media Ltd. All rights reserved. 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. Printed in the UK by Holbrooks Printers Ltd, Portsmouth, PO3 5HX. Distributed by Mail Options Ltd, Unit 41, Waterside Trading Centre, Trumpers Way, London W7 2QD, UK.

8 Australian Enterprise, a container/ro-ro vessel with medium speed propulsion

44 | MAY 2020

8 Machinery control room of Australian Enterprise

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MOTORSHIP

THE

INSIGHT FOR MARINE TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONALS

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