25 minute read
LNG is no longer creating the buzz, ammonia is
Transport of the new test engine on it way last year to MAN E&S Research Centre in Copenhagen. Photo by MAN Energy Solutions.
The outcome was for all three hazard scenarios that there was nothing safety-wise that was a bottleneck for making such systems. Our final design of the fuel gas supply system will be presented at the end of June this year, and we have also built that up in our test facility for testing.”
What type of engine will dominate the industry in the next couple of decades? Our interviewee agrees with industry predictions that in the first decade of the shipping’s transition toward a greener future, we will see more engines operating on methane and LNG. It is the most obvious solution, commercially available on the market. Yet, there are two sides of the coin when talking about LNG. Namely, even though it is being touted as the best available solution, there are numerous questions about LNG’s real carbon footprint well to wake.
Same page
“The IMO still faces difficulties in defining this issue and is yet to bring some clarity, so everyone is on the same page. The trend we see right now is that most owners are going for LNG, definitely. We have over 240 engines running on LNG ordered so far, in different sizes. Even though we have a methanol engine we don’t have a methanol engine of 60, 70 or 80 bore size yet in our programme.
These are yet to be designed, and based on the overall request coming from the market. As technology providers, we have to listen to the market and adjust our development priorities accordingly when a business case matures and can cover the development overhead. If you look at our engine portfolio, it is enormous and there is so much overlap because you have different engines for different applications in the marine business,” Aabo said.
The trend so far has been to introduce alternative fuels on ships transporting those fuels as cargo, so methanol engines on methanol carriers, and the case has been similar for LPG and ethane carriers. However, with the announcement from companies like A.P. Moller Mærsk on choosing methanol burning engines for one + one 2,200 TEU containership newbuilds this trend is starting to change, Aabo noted, adding that these different types of fuels are going to be utilized in other applications.
MAN Energy Solutions has been the maritime industry’s trailblazer when it comes to the production of dual-fuel engines, primarily focusing on LNG and LPG engines. Nevertheless, the company is keeping a close eye on the growing interest in using methanol as fuel.
“LPG has really taken the market by storm and we have now 79 engines sold. It is our last diesel cycle dual-fuel engine that we marketed in late 2019. In the last six months or so, all engines sold to LPG carriers were our engines, so you could say that we hold 100% market share for this segment thanks to this engine,” Aabo said.
Efficiency
Offshore Energy wanted to know whether there was still room for improvement of the dual-fuel engines running on the different dual fuels. “As technology providers, we continue to improve our engines with different technologies, both the existing ones and those running on dual fuels,” Aabo said. “However, when it comes to significant improvement in efficiency looking at CO2 footprint of existing LNG dual-fuel engines, the answer is basically, no.”
“If you take our diesel principle methane burning gas engine, they have a very low methane slip and they are highly optimised. There is a possibility to start utilising the heat from the exhaust gas and cooling water, but ultimately, that heat would not make a big difference on the CO2 footprint.”
“We can theoretically go from 55% to 63% efficiency, but that will only be at certain loads and it would result in high Capex, since you would need to invest in a lot of different equipment to collect and transfer the heat to whatever type of energy conversion system you would like to use it for.” Dual-fuel engines running on LNG, LPG and methanol are by some part of the industry considered to be intermediate fuels and not long-term low carbon or carbon neutral solutions. All can, though, be produced as e-fuels or for methanol or bio-methanol.
“Our experience shows that shipowners, yards, and many other companies these days are mostly looking at ammonia and methanol as long-term fuels,” he added. “Of course, the funny thing is that there is no green ammonia right now, but there are many companies in and outside the marine industry that are looking at its development and utilization. So at the moment we are mostly speaking to customers about ammonia not about LNG.”
Silver bullet
Be that as it may, ammonia will not be the silver bullet as the shipping industry presses ahead on its decarbonization path. The more likely scenario is that instead the industry is moving towards a multi-fuel future. Aabo estimates there will be quite a number of different dual-fuel engines and fuels utilized in the future depending on the course of their respective developments. “I don’t think that in 2040s there will only be ammonia that will be fuelling the marine industry,” he pointed out. Biofuels are expected to be part of the mix as well, even though they are likely to play a minor role. “Some owners would like to operate on biofuels, which are quite costly right now, but that is likely to change in the future. Minor part of the shipping industry will be operating on biofuels and our engine is already ready for that.”
“We do believe that ‘dual-fuel’ is the future, because we see different interests for different fuels. As technology providers, we are not concentrating on one option, but on what we hear from market. This is what we prioritize in our development and I think that’s the way it has to go. Even so, you have to bear in mind that it is not easy to make a new dual-fuel engine. Despite the obvious technical challenges, which is always existing, it also takes a lot of power, human resources, testing and, at the end of the day, the endavour is quite costly.”
The Aurora Class’ ships will feature a MAN E&S multi-fuel engines that can run on various biofuel and conventional fuels, including LNG. With minor modifications, they will be able to transition to use any type of zero-carbon fuels, including green ammonia.. Image by Höegh Autoliners.
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rious for moving too slow in the decarbonization process and, it has even Brochure Projects Searchbeen accused of not being too ambitious in setting its goals. From a technological standpoint, the engine manufacturing industry seems to be ready to produce engines that can run on zero-carbon fuels. Speaking from a wider perspective, the uptake of those engines and new technologies faces the risk of remaining a challenge as numerous companies remain on the side-lines pending some type of incentive to take the plunge. Commenting on what type of incentive that might be to drive the industry forward, regulatory, financial, governmental, or even a total ban on fossil fuels. Aabo said: “Without a CO2 tax, the transition to zero-carbon fuels would be extremely difficult to implement. Being a very competitive business, of international character, shipping needs a common regulation and the transition cannot be done by single companies or regions, since CO2 is everywhere. The IMO would be the right body to enforce such a regulation. We see a lot of developments when it comes to Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) and operational Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII), but this is not something that will actually change the situation for the environment .” “Banning fossil fuels would be very difficult. Therefore, I think there needs to be a business case for operating on low or zero-carbon fuels supported by subsidies or, what is more realistic, regulated through a CO2 tax so that shipping companies can start using the green fuels. “As soon as the IMO comes up with a CO2 tax, industry stakeholders can start considering what type of fuel will be the right option for them for the future. The good news is that most of the vessels ordered today are prepared for a dual fuel, in some way or the other,” Aabo concluded.
“We will make an ammonia-engine, one way or the other, that’s for sure,” Kjeld Aabo, Director of New Technology for two-stroke promotion at MAN Energy Solutions.
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ABC Diesel EnginesShifting gears In a recent announcement, Höegh Autoliners revealed that its new generation of car carriers, set for delivery in 2023, would be zero-carbon ready. The Aurora Class’ ships will feature a MAN E&S multi-fuel engines that can run on various biofuel and conventional fuels, including LNG. With minor modifications, they will be able to transition to use any type of zero-carbon fuels, including green ammonia. Talking about the key considerations that need to be taken into account when designing multi-fuel and multi-function engines and preparing that for the future zero-carbon fuels, Aabo explained: “Our foundation engine that will be used for the project is called ME-C fuel oil burning, and that’s what is sold today. An ME-C engine can technically be converted from fuel oil burning to one of the dual fuels currently available in dual-fuel engines. What is being referred to as multi-fuel does not refer to one engine but the number of fuels you can choose from now. “There is no doubt that the intention in our development is to ensure that there are not too many variations of dual-fuel technologies. For example, for fuels like methanol, LPG and ammonia, which are all in a liquid state until they are injected into the engine system, all three of them use the same pump and piping system. “It would be smart if we could have one concept that fits all, but we’re not there yet. This is especially the case for ammonia, which is harder to ignite etc. Therefore, we need to be completely sure what the design for ammonia-powered engines and fuel supply will look like before we can see if there’s anything that could be utilised both for methanol, LPG and ammonia-powered engines.” Right now, the solution being proposed is a separate dual-fuelled engine for ammonia, and that also applies to other piping installation parts when considering retrofitting a vessel operating on LPG to ammonia. “Basically, all the things that are dual-fuel LPG on this engine have to be exchanged to ammonia parts, since there are no similar components right now to fit both options. Nevertheless, that it is a hope for the future, but we are far from that and right now,” he pointed out. “We are not far from making a common design, but how much can be used for both or all three liquid fuels we don’t know yet. What we are saying to customers in order not to promise anything is that today it is separate dual-fuel engine, but we have an ambition to make something common.”
Missing incentive
The shipping industry has been noto-
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Mission Innovation 2.0 to spearhead $250 billion clean energy innovation decade
At the global Innovating to Net Zero Summit, 23 governments responsible for over 90% of global public investment in clean energy have collectively launched bold new plans to catalyze action and spearhead a decade of innovation to drive global investment in clean energy research, development and demonstrations.
The move comes in the form of the second phase of Mission Innovation (Mission Innovation 2.0), and is said to represent the most significant inter-governmental clean energy initiative in the run up to COP26 climate conference. The goal is to make clean energy affordable, attractive and accessible for all in this decade, and to accelerate action towards the Paris Agreement and net-zero pathways.
Mission Innovation 2.0 will catalyze public-private action and investment through sector-specific ‘missions’ that will accelerate the frontiers of innovation and drive down the cost of technologies by increasing public-private action in areas critical to global clean energy transition, starting with power systems, clean hydrogen and shipping.
The decade of innovation, as envisioned by Mission Innovation 2.0, has a projected investment of at least $250 billion (based on International Energy Agency data) by Mission Innovation members to accelerate the development of clean energy solutions in critical areas and reach tipping points in their affordability. This includes $25 billion already budgeted by governments to invest by 2030 in major demonstration projects, which could expand to some $50 billion based on recent announcements. Each ‘mission’ is led by a coalition of countries and brings together governments and the private sector to focus innovation efforts. The ‘missions’ are underpinned by a new global Innovation Platform to strengthen confidence and awareness in emerging innovations and maximize the impact of national investments.
Green Powered Future – led by China, Italy and the UK – aims to demonstrate that, by 2030, power systems in different geographies and climates will be able to effectively integrate up to 100% variable renewable energy, such as wind and solar, in their generation mix and maintain a cost-efficient, secure and resilient system.
Clean Hydrogen – led by Australia, Chile, the UK, the US and European Union – aims to make clean hydrogen cost competitive to the end user by reducing end-to-end costs to $2 per kilogram by 2030. The mission will increase research and development in hydrogen technologies and deliver at least 100 hydrogen valleys across production, storage and end use of hydrogen worldwide.
Zero-Emissions Shipping – led by Denmark, the US and Norway, together with the Global Maritime Forum and the Maersk McKinney Moller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping – aims for ships capable of running on zero-emission fuels (such as green hydrogen, ammonia and methanol) to make up at least 5% of the global deep-sea fleet by 2030.
Innovation Platform – will build global confidence in emerging clean energy solutions by tracking innovation progress, enhancing knowledge-exchange and collaboration and working with investors, innovators and end-users to accelerate technologies to market.
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As part of the platform, India has today launched the Mission Innovation CleanTech Exchange which will create a network of incubators across member countries. The network will provide access to the expertise and market insights needed to support new technologies to access new markets globally.
Commitment
In a joint statement launching Mission Innovation 2.0, energy, research and science ministers representing 22 countries and the European Commission (on behalf of the European Union) stated: “As many governments and businesses around the world continue to commit to ambitious climate goals and to reach net-zero emissions, the need for innovation has never been greater or more urgent. To achieve the Paris Agreement, all sectors of the economy need access to cost competitive clean energy solutions this decade”.
In the statement, ministers committed to step up their collective ambition and cooperation, mobilize and connect global research, development and demonstration efforts to maximize the impact of these investments, build confidence in clean energy solutions, and develop pathways to deployment. They also committed to develop National Innovation Pathways that describe how they will enhance ambition to pioneer clean energy technologies and/or sectors to meet their climate and energy goals up to 2030.
Mission Innovation is collaborating with a network of partner organisations worldwide to accelerate innovation. At the Innovating to Net Zero Summit, the European Commission and Breakthrough Energy Catalyst also announced a new partnership to support investments in clean technologies for low-carbon industries.
Fatih Birol, Executive Director at International Energy Agency (IEA) said: “The IEA’s Global Roadmap to Net Zero by 2050 shows that by mid-century, almost half the reductions in CO2 emissions will need to come from technologies that are currently at the demonstration or prototype phase. This means major innovation efforts are required by 2030 in order to bring these new technologies to market in time and scale them up over the coming decades”.
Since 2015, Mission Innovation member governments have increased clean energy innovation investments by a cumulative total of $18 billion. Investment is now $5.8 billion per year higher than in 2015. Canada, Chile, Finland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the Republic of Korea and the UK have doubled their levels of investment and Denmark, Germany, Sweden and the European Commission have increased investment by 75% or more against their 2015 baselines, according to Mission Innovation.
National investments have already supported the research, development or demonstration of nearly 1,500 innovations with the potential to avoid more than 21 gigatons of CO2 per year by 2030, if fully deployed. In addition, through Mission Innovation, an additional $1.6 billion funding has supported 157 new international collaborations since 2015, supporting clean energy innovation globally.
As many governments and businesses around the world continue to commit to ambitious climate goals and to reach net-zero emissions, the need for innovation has never been greater or more urgent. Photo by CorPower Ocean.
PEM fuel cells: the future is now
Of the numerous future fuel options available when considering the IMO’s targets for reducing ship greenhouse gas emissions, hydrogen is one of the top choices currently on the table. One way that hydrogen can be used for energy production is in a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell. The power generated can be put to use for both propulsion and on-board energy supplies, giving it great potential for clean and green maritime operations.
EM fuel cell technology is more than a futuristic concept, says Jogchum Bruinsma, application manager maritime systems at PEM fuel cell producer Nedstack. “This is not just an idea anymore; PEM fuel cell-powered ships are already being built.” He is referring to the inland shipping vessels Maas and Antonie, which will be fitted with fuel cell technology by Nedstack “This shows the potential of fuel cells. Of course, these vessels will have limitations, however they will be able to perform the daily work for which they have a contract – without emissions and using today's technologies.”
Bruinsma’s work at Nedstack looks further than the inland shipping sector for PEM fuel cell use. “PEM fuel cells are truly zero-emissions and there are so many possibilities. Zero-emission harbour tugs, for example, or larger applications such as offshore wind installation vessels; when they are in field, they do not consume that much energy, all that offshore installation work could be zero-emissions, only requiring fossil fuels for transiting back and forth to shore. These applications can be realized today, using existing technology. Another example is the auxiliary power and port navigation of a cruise ship, you are talking about megawatts running 24/7; this is also possible with our PEM fuel cells.”
Industrial FC systems
Nedstack has an established track record with PEM fuel cell technologies. In 2007, the company built the world’s first PEM fuel cell power plant, which is still operational today. “The world’s largest PEMFC power plant was also built by us, so you could say that we are a market leader in industrial fuel cell technology.”
A significant feature of Nedstack’s PEM fuel cell technology is their capacity, as Bruinsma explains: “Our systems are high-power mission-critical industrial systems. This is different to smaller systems used in the automoferent approach – building fuel cell stacks to last for over 24,000 hours, and systems that will last for over 15 years. If you look at an inland shipping vessel running at about 4,000 hours per year, this is six years, before stack maintenance.”
How does a fuel cell work?
A Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell consists of a membrane in between two cell plates containing gas channels. On one side of the membrane is hydrogen. The hydrogen reacts with a catalyst in the membrane, which splits it into protons and electrons. The protons pass through the membrane. The flow of remaining electrons becomes an electrical current. On the other side of the membrane is air. The oxygen in the air reacts with the protons and electrons to form pure water. This can be summarised with the following equation: 2H2 + O2 = 2H2O + electricity + heat.
“One fuel cell can produce about 250 amps but at a very low voltage,” explains Bruinsma. “By stacking the fuel cells in series, we can create up to 13 kW in a single and modular stack. We can connect these units to make whatever configuration is needed. For example, we have 40kW, 100kW and 500kW systems.” This modularity yields important benefits to users: it means that they can interconnect units, scaling up or down as required, and when a fuel cell stack comes to the end of its lifecycle, it can be easily replaced. Another advantage of PEM fuel cells is their operating temperature. “We operate at 60 degrees, which is much lower than the 600 to 900 degrees required for a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). This means that we take only about 2 minutes to start up, and we can react to dynamic responses. An operating temperature of 60 degrees is also ideal for heating accommodation and storage holds.”
Software and hardware support
Nedstack’s current involvement in the maritime market is backed up by hardware and software support from Bachmann electronics. Similar to Nedstack’s modular and scalable setups, Bachmann offers a modular software structure that Nedstack use to build their system software one time right in a very efficient way. “Bachmann’s hardware systems are also flexible and reliable,” adds Bruinsma. “This gives us maximum control of what is happening in our systems. The integrated HMI is another great asset, and with the scope function, we can look at very detailed loggings without any additional measuring equipment.”
Grey and blue, but aiming for green
While it is generally assumed that hydrogen will play a major role in future fuel supply chains, the current situation regarding its production cannot yet be called fully sustainable. This is because a large amount of hydrogen is produced steam-methane reforming of natural gas. This is known as grey hydrogen, something that is still very much connected to fossil fuels and their associated carbon emissions. The next step is blue hydrogen, which is also produced from natural gas – the big difference is that the CO2 emission problem is solved by Carbon Capture and Storage. Electrolysis using electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar power is the way to produce hydrogen with zero carbon emissions; this is green hydrogen.
For Nedstack, the type of hydrogen used is not relevant at this moment in time. “It is important to get started. With blue hydrogen or, worst case, grey hydrogen; because then at least in the production of power there will be no emissions,” says Bruinsma. “It is comparable our electricity supply – of course we want it all to be green, but we have to start somewhere.”
What the future holds
This begs the question of what he sees being the key milestones in the future. “Adoption is a major milestone – demonstrating that this technology is possible with commercially operated vessels. However, on-board hydrogen storage is a big challenge. Hydrogen is very energy dense in terms of weight, but not in terms of volume as it is a gas. Compressed hydrogen would be suitable for short sea and inland shipping, the next step being liquefied hydrogen for higher power and greater range.”
The next two milestones of mass production and cost reduction are closely connected: “This new market enables us as manufacturers to start investing in future developments and mass production. Once there is mass production, significant cost reduction will follow. This is something that will also happen with the hydrogen supply. In fact, I think that in five years’ time we will be having a very different conversation.”
E office.veenendaal@bachmann.info I www.bachmann.info
Jogchum Bruinsma, application manager maritime systems at PEM fuel cell producer Nedstack.
tive industry; these are intended to last up to 10,000 hours of operational lifetime. If you put that on board a vessel, in some cases it is just over a year of operation. We have a difThe Market Contribution is a section in which companies share their business endeavors or market analyses. Please contact us at jp@navingo.com for inquiries.
Wärtsilä to develop autonomous, zero-emission barge for Port of Rotterdam
Finland-based technology group Wärtsilä is embarking on a project to develop and demonstrate an autonomous, zero-emission barge for the Rotterdam Port Authority.
The endeavor is part of a research project, nicknamed sMArt Green Ports as Integrated Efficient multimodal hubs (MAGPIE), which was borne out of a collaboration between the port authorities of Rotterdam, DeltaPort, HAROPA and Sines. The project is being pursued in partnership with 10 research institutions and over 30 companies in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Portugal and Denmark.
Earlier this month, the alliance was awarded nearly € 25 million ($30.4 million) in EU funding to implement projects aimed at sustainable and smart port logistics. It also involves the development of a plan on making port transport carbon-free by 2050.
Wärtsilä Corporation, as the largest industrial partner of MAGPIE, is set to receive the biggest portion of the grant to demonstrate a commercially viable autonomous intra-port inter-terminal container shuttle. The shuttle aims to address the issue of an emerging capacity bottleneck for internal container transportation.
The technology company said that the installation onboard the vessel will include several of its solutions, such as SmartMove Suite, a unique pairing of sensor tech with navigation systems for safe, automated ship movement.
Developing autonomous shipping operations has been high on the priority list for Wärtsilä. Namely, the company has been working for years with Singapore-based towage services provider PSA Marine on the IntelliTug autonomous ship project to demonstrate some of its solutions.
“We believe that overland transport modes will not be able to absorb the emerging capacity bottleneck for internal container movement. So, we will be delivering an autonomous e-barge concept that can greatly enhance efficiency in the Port of Rotterdam through automated seaborne cargo transshipment. Our ambition is to see these container shuttles introduced into a smart logistics network within the next few years,” says Hendrik Busshoff, Business Development Engineer, Wärtsilä Voyage.
The barge is also set to be fitted with electric propulsion enabled by an electric drive train and an interchangeable battery container solution, which is charged using renewable power. The technology would make the barge emission-free. “To complement the e-navigation set up, we are part of a consortium that has developed a concept based on the use of replaceable battery containers, known as ZESPacks (Zero Emission Services). A network of open access charging points will be set up for exchanging battery containers for fully charged replacements, thereby keeping waiting time to a minimum. The first of these battery containers will be installed in the summer,” says Teus Van Beek, General Manager, Ecosystem Innovation, Wärtsilä Marine Systems.
Last year, the Heineken beer company entered into an agreement with ZES to utilise the service for transporting beer, thus becoming the first end customer for the enterprise. The first ship fitted with ZES-Packs, De Alphenaar, started carrying beer from the Heineken brewery in Alphen aan de Rijn to the port of Moerdijk last year. The first vessel is scheduled to
be joined by another five over the course of 2021.
“Utilising new technology, we will change short sea and inland shipping into a safer, cleaner, and more efficient link in the logistic chain, with greater accessibility to those who need it. That’s why we are automating operations,” says Sean Fernback, President, Wärtsilä Voyage.
Jasmina Ovcina
Inland Container Shipping, Port of Rotterdam. Photo by Eric Bakker.
