Marine Propulsion and Auxiliary Machinery April/May 2019 by rivieramaritimemedia

April/May 2019

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Contents April/May 2019 volume 41 issue 2

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Regulars

7 COMMENT 8 ON THE AGENDA 11 BRIEFING 103 BUNKER BULLETIN 104 POWERTALK

Enginebuilder profile

13 Wärtsilä eyes hydrogen and hybrid power to tackle emissions

Yard profile

17 Cammell Laird is making its mark on the small, complex vessel sector

Two-stroke engines

23 Improvements in engine control are helping meet the demands of big data

Four-stroke engines

27 Enginebuilders are launching numerous options to repower US workboats

Interview – Glenn Edvardsen

30 UECC is on track to sail past IMO’s 2030 greenhouse gas targets

Market analysis – gas carriers

33 LNG carrier operators are considering battery-hybrid propulsion

LNG fuelling and bunkering 39 New technologies to deliver LNG fuel to ships

LNG – cryogenic engineering

46 Removing the cost barriers to using gas as a marine fuel

Gas turbines

53 Some exciting projects may yet broaden the appeal of gas turbine propulsion

Interview – Mark Slawson

56 Red Funnel outlines its plans for cleaner propulsion on its shortsea routes

Thrusters

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Contents April/May 2019 volume 41 issue 2

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Waterjets

Editor: Gavin Lipsith t: +44 (0) 1202 735 526 e: gavin.lipsith@rivieramm.com

Emissions control

Production Editor: Kevin Turner t: +44 20 8370 1737 e: kevin.turner@rivieramm.com

Generators

Brand Manager – Sales: Tom Kenny t: +44 7432 156 339 e: tom.kenny@rivieramm.com

63 Why waterjet manufacturers are streamlining their propulsion systems

71 Shipowners may be better off refinancing scrubbers

77 Waste-to-energy systems help boost the electricity supply onboard vessels

Heat exchangers

81 Doeksen is employing waste heat energy converters 82 Advanced cooling is emerging as a key efficiency enabler

Sales Manager: Rob Gore t: +44 20 8370 7007 e: rob.gore@rivieramm.com

Interview – Ketil Olaf Paulsen

Sales: Paul Dowling t: +44 20 8370 7014 e: paul.dowling@rivieramm.com

Energy storage

Sales: Jo Lewis t: +44 20 8370 7793 e: jo.lewis@rivieramm.com

Switchboards

Head of Sales - Asia: Kym Tan t: +65 6809 1278 e: kym.tan@rivieramm.com

CIMAC preview

Senior Creative Manager: Mark Lukmanji t: +44 20 8370 7019 e: mark.lukmanji@rivieramm.com

84 Bringing the world’s first all-electric, autonomous container feeder to market

87 Batteries and fuel cells are now seen as complementary technologies

94 Simplifying the installation of power distribution systems

96 Looking at new solutions to reduce emissions from shipping

Nor-Shipping preview

98 The Blue Economy Hall showcases environmental products

Fuels and lubes

100 Looking beyond common misconceptions about EALs

Next issue

Main features include: Market analysis: ferries; Ferry systems; Auxiliary systems; Ballast water; Marine Propulsion Awards showcase

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• Six issues of Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery • Access to the latest issue content on your digital device • Industry yearplanner • Annual supplements: Worldwide Turbocharger Guide Maritime Decarbonisation Ballast Water Treatment Technology • access to www.mpropulsion.com and its searchable archive Subscribe online: www.mpropulsion.com

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

Chairman: John Labdon Managing Director: Steve Labdon Finance Director: Cathy Labdon Head of Content: Edwin Lampert Published by: Riviera Maritime Media Ltd Mitre House 66 Abbey Road Enfield EN1 2QN UK

Total average net circulation: 11,000 Period: January-December 2018

Disclaimer: Although every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this publication is correct, the Author and Publisher accept no liability to any party for any inaccuracies that may occur. Any third party material included with the publication is supplied in good faith and the Publisher accepts no liability in respect of content. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, reprinted or stored in any electronic medium or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the copyright owner.

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COMMENT | 7

Oceans of opportunity – and challenge L

Gavin Lipsith, Editor

Shipping should embrace BBNJ, considering it another step towards a sustainable industry”

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ong considered the ‘wild west’ of shipping, oceanic regions beyond national jurisdictions could soon become tightly controlled, as a new global agreement seeks to govern the exploitation of the ocean’s wealth. The move brings strategic, operational and technical challenges for shipowners. By 2020, the UN hopes to have completed a new legally binding amendment to the Law of the Sea, on Biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), regulating the exploitation of the ocean’s genetic resources. Although the text remains vague, halfway as it is through a series of four drafting conferences, the main area of focus is clear: where there is biodiversity that can be exploited, it must also be protected. Such measures will require environmental impact assessments and area-based management tools, including the creation of protected areas. Other areas of focus for BBNJ include cataloguing marine genetic resources and sharing capabilities to profit from them (so that smaller states do not lose out). But for shipping, it is those impact assessments and protected areas that should trigger alarms. There is little doubt that impact assessments will place an emphasis on the potential pollution to, and disturbance of, marine life. Shipping is no stranger to regulation in this regard via IMO, but with BBNJ, the onus will rest with individual states to regulate the companies under their jurisdiction. Proving, reporting and monitoring compliance with any new requirements on a country-by-country basis will be a new burden for shipowners and operators. So too will having to avoid protected areas of the ocean or having to adopt new operating procedures for passing through them.

Tighter regulation will mean that demand for environmentally friendly shipping solutions will grow significantly over coming years (good news for technology suppliers, perhaps less so for some shipowners). That said, any new burden posed by BBNJ is really nothing more than a continuation of the trend for tighter environmental control, something which shipping is already familiar with. Perhaps shipping should therefore embrace BBNJ, as it has (to varying extents) embraced IMO’s target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, considering it another step towards a sustainable industry. It is imperative however that shipping contributes at the drafting stage. At CMA Shipping in April, World Oceans Forum CEO Paul Holthus politely despaired over the lack of engagement shipping had shown in the process so far. Leaving representation up to associations is not an option, he said; only by participating can shipowners guarantee that their own concerns are heard before it is too late. The theme of the Nor-Shipping conference and exhibition in June encourages shipping to embrace the diversity of ocean opportunity. I agree with that sentiment. In recent months I have covered new potential ocean business ranging from the large-scale shipping of CO2 (for carbon capture and storage) to those vessels needed to support seabed mining. All require not just vessels and potentially new types of vessel, but even new ship technology. That opportunity should excite marine engineers and shipowners. But for every opportunity there is an associated challenge. As the potential of the ocean continues to reveal itself it is reasonable that shipping, along with other sectors, should be asked to use it in a sustainable manner. MP

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

8 | ON THE AGENDA

Bad system integration prevents root cause analysis Commercial pressures are preventing the better integration of control and automation systems that could help identify root causes of equipment failures

Børge Nogva (Hoglund Marine Solutions): “Some people are afraid that the real causes of incidents will be laid bare”

ne of the many benefits of increasing digitalisation in shipping is the potential it offers for improved detection of faults. But according to Hoglund Marine Solutions CEO Børge Nogva, it is more often the case that poor integration between onboard systems prevents a coherent approach to investigating the underlying causes of incidents. “Installed automation and control systems are usually not connected, or the interfaces are simplistic,” he says. “The various electronic systems themselves are also lacking key features for logging of data and the ability to store them for later analysis.” Responding to Marine Propulsion’s recent article (‘Shipping’s approach to faulty design is broken’, 13 February 2019), Mr Nogva explains what he sees as the problem. The specifications that shipowners provide to ship designers often touch only superficially on control systems and integration requirements. Without specifications for connections and the definition of valuable outputs, shipyards have little incentive to go beyond these limited requirements. “We do see evidence of evasive behaviour. Some people are afraid that the real causes of incidents will be laid bare,” he says. “Even when shipowners understand the issues and the upside it can be hard to make them follow through when the shipbuilding contract is being negotiated.” Suppliers of mechanical systems including engines, propulsion, scrubbers, valves and pumps often deliver their own controls, creating a complex onboard network. Mr Nogva argues that suppliers should relinquish their own control systems or adhere to onerous requirements for how these systems are connected to each other. A lack of specification and subsequent poor integration also limits the potential advantages of holistic design and propulsion packages provided by big marine technology companies. “Shipowners should hold suppliers

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

responsible for the safe and cost-effective operation of the ship by introducing clear demands about how onboard ship systems work, individually and overall,” he says.

Skill gap

It is not just a problem for suppliers, shipyards and naval architects. Shipowners would need to train their crew better too, as well as educating management on land about the better use of integrated systems. Mr Nogva suggests that simulators could be deployed to this effect. “With the existing skill level of crew, many ships could not implement even the simplest of such systems,” he says. “The crew will not touch them and will be afraid of the consequences if they do.” Alongside all these challenges comes the clearest commercial obstacle: the cost of the systems. The growing demand for reporting and documentation – of fuel consumption, emissions and efficiency among other factors – as well as the need to manage vessels better, will bring increasing numbers of individual systems onto ships. This proliferation of hardware and software is already making life difficult for some owners and, says Mr Nogva, lifetime costs are high as these elements often need to be replaced after a few years. “No wonder that many owners today are hesitating to build more ships, hoping they can squeeze the most out of what they have,” he says. “But when faced with the bill for retrofitting equipment and uncertainty about which technologies to go for, they are forced to decide sooner or later.” Looking to the future, shipowners will need a clearer view of what they can expect from ships’ systems, says Mr Nogva. That, he believes, means asking more from ship designers, class societies, regulators and shipyards. It is a holistic approach that has been lacking to date, but could be the key to unlocking big improvements in safety and reliability. MP

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BRIEFING | 11

A quiet revolution in underwater noise The impact of ship noise on marine life is driving a new focus on less obtrusive propulsion systems

Publicity material for Vancouver’s whale protection programmes provides a quirky take on noise reduction

n February, Vancouver Fraser Port Authority revealed the latest version of its EcoAction programme, incentivising shipowners and operators to cut down on underwater noise. With port fee discounts of up to 47% depending on the environmental measures taken, it is not just the northeastern Pacific’s endangered whale populations that benefit. Underwater noise caused by ships can interfere with marine mammals’ ability to feed and communicate. The noise reduction element of the programme has been in place since 2017 and supports further port authority-led projects focusing on whale welfare, including the Enhancing Cetacean Habitat and Observation research programme to reduce the effects of shipping on whales. “Offering incentives to shipping lines to reduce underwater noise through improved ship design and technology helps support regional efforts to reduce threats to whales,”

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said the port’s vice president of environment, community and government affairs, Duncan Wilson. The port now accepts quiet ship notations from four classification societies (DNV GL, Rina, Lloyd’s Register and Bureau Veritas), the Level 5 Underwater Noise performance indicator from the environmental certification programme Green Marine, and five propeller technologies: Becker Marine’s Mewis duct; Schneekluth’s wake equalising duct; Wärtsilä’s EnergoProFin; Nakashima’s Eco-Cap; and all propeller boss cap fins. Ships that have one or more of these are eligible to apply for a 23% reduction in fees under the vessel quieting category. To take one example, the EnergoProFin deploys fins that rotate together with the propeller. This reduces the cavitation caused by the hub vortex. It also reduces the energy losses caused by the flow phenomena around and behind the propeller boss, thereby increasing overall propulsion

efficiency. To date, it has been installed on more than 350 vessels. It is no surprise that other equipment designers are beginning to target the noise reduction market. One example is the ‘pressure pores’ system developed by Strathclyde University and Oscar Propulsion. This reduces propeller tip vortex cavitation by applying a small number of strategically bored holes in the propeller blades. This is claimed to give a quieter propeller with minimal compromise on efficiency. During the development of the technology, Strathclyde demonstrated that the system can reduce cavitation volume by almost 14% and underwater radiated noise by up to 21 dB – results which were verified in separate tests on the sub-cavitating propellers used by the Princess Royal, a 19-m research catamaran operated by Newcastle University. Canada is the first country in the world to encourage quieter ships for the sake of its whale population. It is unlikely to be the last. Underwater is on IMO’s radar, led by a handful of member states – including Canada – which are emphasising the need for further research and continued international collaboration. Although there is no agenda item yet for underwater noise at IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee, momentum is growing. A seminar held by Canada at IMO’s London headquarters in February was attended by more than 140 delegates from 24 countries. Summarising progress in a submission to MEPC 74 in May, Canada’s delegation noted a broad consensus that, while “developing a biological limit for underwater noise levels applicable to all species in all regions is challenging, a ship-based limit is recommended”. An underwater noise limit on an IMO level may be some way off, given the pace of international regulation. But if more ports follow Vancouver’s lead, commercial opportunity may – not for the first time – prove a more potent agent for change than regulatory measures. MP

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

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ENGINERBUILDER PROFILE | 13

Hydrogen and hybrid hold promise for cleaner engines To meet the industry’s greenhouse gas emission targets, engines need to burn fossil-free gas and be supported by energy storage

ackling both global and local emissions is harder than it sounds. Speaking at Riviera Maritime Media’s Sulphur Cap 2020 Conference in Amsterdam on 8-9 May, Wärtsilä director of system integration and performance Patrik Baan explained that although solutions are already in service that tackle local emissions such as SOx and NOx, they can come at the expense of increasing the global emissions that will have a long-term impact around the world. The case of scrubbers – of which Wärtsilä is a major supplier, having sold over 300 in the second half of 2018 – is a good example. First, they need energy, adding up to 2% to a vessel’s power requirements just to keep the water systems running for an open-loop scrubber. And of course, they enable the continued use of high-carbon fuel. The impact of NOx reduction technology, to meet IMO’s Tier III limits, is less familiar. The drop in pressure that selective catalytic reduction (SCR) causes is known to engineers – lower pressure means that more energy (and therefore more fuel) is required to push gas through the unit. But Mr Baan explains that the big issue for SCR as engines become more efficient is exhaust gas temperature. “For four-stroke engines, selective catalytic reduction is normally at the back of the engine, behind the turbocharger,” he says. “But with better turbocharger technology exhaust gas temperatures have gone down. More efficient engines mean less waste heat and lower exhaust temperatures.” As SCR cannot operate at low temperatures, Wärtsilä has introduced a new tuning parameter to enable NOx reductions in its most efficient engine, the Wärtsilä 31. The two-stage turbocharging process on the engine means that the exhaust gas provides little heat for the catalytic reduction process, so a high-temperature tuning (called High T6) reduces the engine efficiency. “So we can use an SCR to get the NOx down on these engines, but we need to worsen efficiency and therefore increase CO2 emissions to get there,” says Mr Baan.

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Efficiency improvements like two-stage turbocharging on the Wärtsilä 31 engine can be used to full effect with gas fuel

There is then an inherent challenge in tackling greenhouse gas emissions at the same time as reducing ‘local’ emissions such as SOx and NOx. For more than one reason, gas-burning engines may hold the answer. Wärtsilä deploys different technologies to burn the various hydrocarbon fuels on the market today, explains Mr Baan. For the lower-carbon fuels such as LNG, it deploys either pure-gas, spark-ignited engines or dual-fuel engines, both of which use the lean-burn Otto cycle combustion principle. For conventional, higher carbon fuels, it uses Diesel cycle engines with a higher injection pressure. As well as having an impact on CO2 emissions, this also has an impact on NOx formation and therefore the efficiency that can be achieved in an engine. “The nice thing about the Otto cycle is that it has lower temperatures, which means less NOx formation,” says Mr Baan. “So these engines can meet NOx Tier III requirements without aftertreatment.” That lack of aftertreatment is crucial. It means that

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

14 | ENGINERBUILDER PROFILE

no compromise needs to be made in engine tuning, and Wärtsilä can deploy the entire efficiency benefit of newer, better engine technologies. “Take two-stage turbocharging on the Wärtsilä 31,” he says. “We can really use that to its full extent if we don’t have to reduce efficiency to increase the exhaust temperature for SCR. In the future we may even see three-stage turbocharging. We know that engines using gas will benefit much more because this temperature constraint is not there.”

The next step

But although using low-carbon fuels is a step in the right direction – enabling reduced CO2 both inherently and by not demanding emissions aftertreatment – it is not enough. “If we want to take the next step we will need to go towards no-carbon, non-fossil fuels,” says Mr Baan. “We have been looking into this area and have done several tests on hydrogen.” Taking its spark-ignited and dual-fuel engines, Wärtsilä has performed tests mixing quite a high proportion – up to around 25% – of hydrogen with natural gas in its Otto-cycle engines. The initial results, using standard engine tunings, were not entirely encouraging. The combustion characteristics of hydrogen meant that combustion was accelerated. This extra heat led to an increase in NOx formation. The faster heat release also meant that peak pressures within the cylinder were higher. On the positive side, Wärtsilä confirmed that, as expected, the lower carbon content of the fuel mix led to lower carbon emissions. Methane slip was also reduced due to the more violent combustion of hydrogen burning the gas more completely.

Patrik Baan (Wärtsilä): ”We can burn hydrogen in today’s engines”

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

The best use of hybrid power is to size your power for average, rather than maximum, load”

Just as turbocharger tunings were needed to enable the use of SCR with Wärtsilä 31, so here tunings made all the difference. By using alternative injection and spark timings to try to bring NOx down to Tier III compliance, researchers were able to lower the impact that the hydrogen content had on heat pressure, as well as offering lower total carbon emissions. “So the answer is yes, we can burn hydrogen in today’s engines,” confirms Mr Baan. But although Wärtsilä may be able to use hydrogen as part of the fuel mix for some of its engines, the answer to reducing carbon emissions does not lie in the engine alone. “The energy consumption of internal combustion engines is quite linear,” he explains. “If you take out half the power you need to put in half the fuel. So going slowly saves fuel and if you really want to save fuel you need to downsize your plant. That is the hybrid opportunity. “Batteries are amazing, but apart from the cost there is also the volume – if you wanted to sail around the world you would need a much bigger ship. And while our experience of electric vessels is that they are great if you want to take a 20 km trip, it is quite a different story if you want go 1,000 km in one go.” The idea of peak shaving has gained a lot of traction in early iterations of hybrid propulsion. The idea is that engines run on a continuous load, with batteries discharging when a peak demand is encountered and charging when the engine output exceeds energy demand. But Mr Baan is not convinced that is always a good solution. “The dynamics have an impact,” he says. “There is the constant charging and discharging and then you need to install frequency converters. Even within Wärtsilä it depends who you ask about whether peak shaving is worth it.” The best use of hybrid power, says Mr Baan, is to size your power for average, rather than maximum, load. “What traditionally happens is that we typically tend to install more than enough power. So you have a big engine or a number of gensets running part load in case the load increases. But if you can scale your engines for average power and then use energy storage – whether it is batteries or supercapacitors or something else – to take the peaks, that would be a more efficient solution.” By harnessing hybrid power and lower carbon fuels, Mr Baan believes that enginebuilders can tackle the challenge of beating both local and global emissions. MP

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YARD PROFILE | 17

Merseyside yard plots British shipbuilding revival A decade after emerging from bankruptcy, one of the oldest names in UK shipbuilding is making its mark on the small, complex vessel sector

Another complex build similar to Sir David Attenborough would be welcome at the Birkenhead yard

here is an unusual ship model at Cammell Laird’s office, of a vessel it has never worked on. In 2001, having taken out a £50M (US$65M) loan to build a mid-section block to lengthen cruise ship Costa Classica, the shipowner suddenly cancelled the work. The overstretched Merseyside shipbuilder was plunged into bankruptcy. Today, 10 years after the yard was revived, the model serves as a reminder of two important business principles, says Cammell Laird chief operating officer Tony Graham: “Never take loans from banks and never enter high-risk contracts.” Mr Graham, a former director of

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ships for the UK ministry of defence, joined Cammell Laird in 2017 to lead a military shipbuilding bid. Now, having been appointed managing director in November last year and chief operating officer in February, he is ultimately responsible for rebuilding the yard’s business and making sure it never again finds itself in such a parlous situation. Progress since Cammell Laird’s revival has been solid. In 2008 the company won the contract to build flight-deck blocks for the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carriers. At the same time, it re-entered small shipbuilding and has built nine ships in as many years, the latest of which joined Solent ferry

operator Red Funnel’s fleet in April. The most high-profile newbuild, the UK’s £200M (US$258M) polar research vessel Sir David Attenborough, is due to leave the yard at the end of the year. The company also docks around 60 ships a year for repairs and maintenance – a business that was boosted in October when the Royal Navy awarded Cammell Laird 10-year service contracts worth around £619M (US$799M) for four Royal Fleet Auxiliary tankers and five more vessels which the yard has serviced since 2008. Then there is the UK Advanced Nuclear Manufacturing Research Centre, hosted at Cammell Laird and currently exploring the use of electron beam

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YARD PROFILE | 19

welding technology in the ship building, offshore and nuclear sectors, part of a £1.5M (US$1.9M) contract awarded by funding agency Innovate UK. “Markets tend to boom and bust,” says Mr Graham. “Our business strategy is to stay diversified, not relying on one market.” The contract which Mr Graham was brought in to win, to build the navy’s new Type 31e frigate, will be awarded late this year. Then in March 2020 a ‘fleet solid support’ project, to build 40,000-gt ammunition ships for the new aircraft carriers, is expected to be awarded. Cammell Laird is part of consortia in both bids: as a subcontractor with BAE Systems for the Type 31e vessels and as part of ‘Team UK’ – consisting of Cammell Laird, Babcock and BAE Systems – for the ammunition ships. But the company is not only interested in military orders. “We are very keen to remain in commercial shipbuilding,” says Mr Graham. “[Red Funnel roro freight vessel] Red Kestrel and Sir David Attenborough are important demonstrations of that. We have gone out and won those in international competition, demonstrating that a shipbuilder in the UK can be competitive.” It is Sir David that marked the highest-profile victory for Cammell Laird in the non-military sector. In late 2015 the UK’s government-funded Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) announced that the yard had beaten competition from yards in Europe, Korea and Singapore to build the vessel. The Rolls-Royce design has challenged Cammell Laird and enabled it to develop new skills. There are multiple business opportunities in the

ferry Strangford. Mr Graham reveals that Red Kestrel was designed and construction managed by a relatively junior team – a great opportunity to develop Cammell Laird’s employees and capabilities on a project with a rapid turnover, taking just nine months to build from when the yard received the contract in May last year. Although the ship type is relatively simple, there is more to the design than meets the eye. Fuel efficiency was an important requirement, as was high manoeuvrability to navigate the congested waters in which Red Kestrel will operate, both in Southampton and Cowes. That demand meant the ship needed to create a low wash, which required thought both about hull form – especially given the width requirements for loading lorries – and propulsion.

The edge of balance Tony Graham (Cammell Laird): Recent work is an advert that UK shipbuilding can build complex ships

same sector, says Mr Graham. “There are three countries that continue to express an interest in this type of requirement,” he says. “We would love to have another Sir David Attenborough to build. It’s a four-year programme, it is quite a complex vessel and we have had to learn a lot.” The contract to build Red Funnel’s first dedicated freight vessel, Red Kestrel, was important for similar reasons. But this time the shipyard designed the 74-m long, double-ended vessel itself, based on a similar vessel it designed and built for the Northern Ireland executive in mid-2016, the

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“Everything is on the edge of balance; speed, efficiency, structure and weight,” says Mr Graham. “If something goes wrong everything else is affected – more weight means less propulsive efficiency, and so on. That’s the real challenge for that junior team, to find the balance and maintain it during whatever issues they face through production.” The team’s learnings will be redeployed almost instantly if Cammell Laird is successful in another bid, to build two vessels for Mersey Ferries. That contract is expected to be awarded in August. But there is also a longerterm plan to attract Red Funnel back to the yard. The company’s three Raptorclass ropax will need to be replaced relatively soon. “We hope that when those vessels come to be renewed, one of the places Red Funnel will think about coming to is Cammell Laird,” says Mr Graham. The company is also taking steps to identify further opportunities. It has commissioned a ropax vessel design from an external naval architect in a sector – much bigger than Red Kestrel and its class, says Mr Graham – which has several vessels reaching

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

20 | YARD PROFILE

Red Funnel’s Red Kestrel represents a complex ship design developed in-house at Cammell Laird

replacement age. Further details will be revealed when the design is launched at the Nor-Shipping exhibition in June. “There is a generation of that type of ships that are now 30 years old and will need replacement,” explains Mr Graham. “Many of the European shipyards are full, with orders for the next two to three years, so we believe we’ve got an opportunity to come to market with a design at a time when there is very little supply. And having

recycle the profits back into the yard,” says Mr Graham. The progression of teams from Red Kestrel to the Mersey Ferries bid, the new ropax design and the bid to build the initial five Type 31e frigates, highlights another part of Cammell Laird’s strategy, notes Mr Graham. The company aims to win series builds that allow the yard to generate cost efficiencies by applying learnings to subsequent vessels.

Many of the European shipyards are full, so we believe we have got an opportunity to come to market with a design at a time when there is very little supply” proved ourselves with Sir David Attenborough and Red Kestrel we hope that commercial operators will trust us with those projects.” There is a lot of potential business in the pipeline, and the company needs to look at its capabilities in some areas. Mr Graham highlights thickplate fabrication and the high-density outfitting needed for warships. But the company will not be rushed into overambitious expansion. “We believe in organic investment. We win work, we gain profit and we

Autonomous ambitions

One hot topic for shipbuilders across the world is autonomous vessels, and Cammell Laird is working with several partners in this area. The logic is straightforward for a builder of small ships: “Shortsea ships tend to be small,” says Mr Graham. “There has been a tendency for ships to get bigger, but if you can make the logistics chain more efficient there might be a new demand for smaller ships that can operate more like freighters.” Mr Graham is delighted that the

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

UK Government has recognised the capability for shipbuilding within the country and is aiming to encourage a renaissance in the British industry. This culminated with the launch of the national shipbuilding strategy in September 2017. Despite some disappointment over the direction of the strategy – there are more government ships that could be included, giving UK shipyards more shipbuilding opportunities – he supports the steps suggested. But as illustrated by the new ropax design and the continued search for wider work, Cammell Laird will not wait for handouts. Turning once more to the recent completion of Red Kestrel, Mr Graham concludes: “It has helped train apprentices and junior naval architects. Now as a product, it is effectively an advert for us. It’s an advert that UK shipbuilding can build complex ships and work in open, collaborative ways with customers.” Just over a decade after its revival, Cammell Laird now has some landmark vessels under its belt, a brace of new potential projects due to be awarded and an eye for further opportunities. If even some of those come to fruition, perhaps the company can find a dark cupboard in which the Costa Classica model, and the bitter memories associated with it, can be left to gather dust. MP

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TWO-STROKE ENGINES | 23

Two-stroke engine designers build deeper data connections The data demands of modern ship operators are driving improvements in engine control, remote monitoring and sensor technology

emand for more control functions and the integration of new components are behind the overhaul of the control architecture for one of the main designers of marine two-stroke engines. WinGD is to roll out a new engine control system with improved processing power from next year. WinGD Integrated Control Electronics (WiCE) will replace the current WECS and UNIC control systems, each initially designed more than 15 years ago. General manager control and automation Dr Wolfgang Ă&#x2013;streicher explains that the high data-acquisition and control demands on a modern engine meant that current control systems had become heavily loaded. A modern dual-fuel engine, for example, requires monitoring and control for liquid fuel injection, lubrication, gas admission, pre-injection and NOx sensing among others, with further demands if NOx aftertreatment is used with diesel operation. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You can add new modules as more components are needed, but then communication between modules becomes the bottleneck,â&#x20AC;? he says. The increasing digitalisation of shipping, as well as the prospect of having to integrate other hybrid power sources, are only expected to increase the burden on engine control systems. WiCE will address

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these issues by adding a dedicated communications module, including a firewall, through which the system can link to diagnostics systems and receive software updates. The bus system, which allows communication between modules, will receive a substantial upgrade compared to existing control systems. The system is fully modular at both software (system and applications) and hardware levels. It will be prepared for future upgrades, with each component being verified and validated separately.

This will mean that when adding new modules, only that module and the performance of the system will need to be validated, rather than re-validating all other modules. Crew operating the engine on board should not notice a difference between the new WiCE interface and earlier WECS or UNIC architecture, except for a more modern design. WinGD expects crew familiar with two-stroke engines to be able to use the controls after one five-day training period.

Closed-loop combustion

German cylinder monitoring specialist Imes has also been redesigning its products in light of modern engine developments. It has developed a robust new cylinder pressure sensor specifically for the very precise and reliable data demands of the latest engines, particularly those deploying

Control architecture of two-stroke engines is being redrawn to accommodate a growing thirst for data

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

24 | TWO-STROKE ENGINES

closed-loop combustion control. This control methodology allows engines to operate with high efficiency even when running on gases of varying qualities. Due to higher indicated mean effective pressures on gas engines, cylinder pressure sensors are subject to more extreme operating and environmental conditions. The new sensor, with a front membrane and M10 or M14 thread, has been developed to withstand these conditions while

fulfilling the demand for accuracy with minimal calibration drift. The sensor transmits pressure through a measuring spring. Areas with equal tensile and compressive strength are created on the measuring surface, which is a part of the measuring spring. As the measuring surface is subject to deformations, a resistor bridge in high-temperature thin film is applied to it. Depending on the amount of strain, a voltage signal

will be measured proportional to the pressure change. The measuring spring is resistant to abnormal combustion with extremely high pressure rises of up to 1000 bar/ms, and achieves a high thermodynamic accuracy for engine control purposes. It is designed for more than one trillion load cycles. A high-temperature-resistant ceramic for temperatures of up to 400°C provides the basis for the sensor’s electrical connections, while wire bonding means the electrical connection can withstand more than 350°C. Evaluations on a single cylinder test engine and compared against a water-cooled piezoelectric sensor have confirmed its accuracy. The sensor has also been successfully tested on dual-fuel ship engines. They have been installed on Swedish asphalt carrier Bit Viking, which is driven by six-cylinder Wärtsilä 50DF engines, since March 2017. The sensors have also been tested on the 18-cylinder dual-fuel engine of a Caribbean power barge. Imes will be presenting the results of these trials and a description of its development work at CIMAC Congress in June. In order to harness these growing abilities to accurately monitor and control engines, new digital infrastructure is also required. MAN CEON will be the platform through which all of MAN Energy Solutions’ future digital services are delivered and is expected to offer a growing range of paid-for remote services. It will be standard to all new MAN engines, turbines and compressors from this year and already delivers a remote monitoring and optimisation service launched recently by the company’s after-sales division MAN PrimeServ. MAN head of digital and strategy Per Hansson says that the platform was designed to monitor several thousands of customer installations in parallel, with a data-processing capacity that “exceeds that of many major socialmedia platforms”. He says: “All of our machines are equipped with hundreds of sensors that

TWO-STROKE ENGINES | 25

transmit data constantly. MAN CEON enables the efficient collection, storage and evaluation of these data volumes. We are monitoring down to the level of small sub-components, much like with

Simulator for next generation of Indian engineers Improved data acquisition and handling not only benefits engine control and optimisation in service, it also helps to feed in to more realistic two-stroke engine simulations, essential for educating the next generation of engineers. Kongsberg Digital (KDI) was recently asked to provide a simulator of a MAN Energy Solutions electronically controlled ME engine by the Institute of Marine Engineers in India (IMEI). The simulator will present marine engineers with realistic and appropriately targeted training scenarios, enabling instructors to construct exercises covering all processes and techniques for running an engineroom. Typical processes range from manoeuvring, boiler operation and control-loop optimising through to fault diagnosis and crisis management. In Mumbai, the K-Sim Full Mission Engine Simulator’s engine control system facilitates monitoring and control of starting air valves, governor functions, auxiliary blowers, fuel injection, exhaust valves and cylinder lubricators. To familiarise engineers with low-sulphur operation, fuel tanks for low sulphur heavy fuel oil as well as exhaust gas scrubbers are included in the model. “This is an important and strategic contract in an exciting market,” says Kongsberg Digital vice president strategic projects Erik Hovland. “India will continue to deliver a substantial number of seafarers, many of whom will be trained on K-Sim simulators.”

a ‘digital twin’, with high-resolution data available on demand.” Fewer than 100 vessels with MAN two-stroke engines have had remote diagnostics through a secure VPN tunnel for up to a decade. These will be migrated to MAN CEON. Four-stroke engines have also been monitored by PrimeServ for more than a decade. “MAN CEON builds on this by providing access to the data in near real time to enable pro-active advice and

through providing those customer teams access to the same monitoring and analysis tools that our MAN PrimeServ teams are using,” says Mr Hansson. That last comment is poignant. It has been claimed that companies often pursue digitalisation without a sense of direction. Giving shipowners the same level and immediacy of engine insight as service engineers is a worthy goal that will make a lasting impact on the efficiency of shipping. MP

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FOUR-STROKE ENGINES | 27

Engine makers seek environmental gains by repowering workboats As a major opportunity emerges to repower US workboats, enginebuilders are unveiling their environmentally compliant options

ccording to new research, US workboat engines are used for more than twice as long as previously estimated, enhancing the benefits of retrofitting engines. The study, for enginebuilder consortium Diesel Technology Forum (DTF) and ecological lobby group Environmental Defense Fund, found that workboat engines have a service life of around 50 years, compared to the 23 years used by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set its emissions reduction targets. A longer service life means that older engines are replaced more slowly, resulting in 57% lower NOx reductions each year than those forecast by the EPA. But it also increases the potential impact of installing new technology as upgraded engines will have a longer period in which to reduce emissions. The groups are urging US states to repower vessels with more modern, cleaner engine technology. States can receive funding for repowering commercial workboats to reduce NOx under the US$2.9Bn environmental mitigation trust, established by Volkswagen Group in the wake of the emissions test fixing scandal in 2015. “Large engine repowers are more cost-effective on a dollar-per-tonneof-emissions-reduced basis than other projects, which should make for an easy and compelling choice for states,” says DTF executive director Allen

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Planetary gearing allows users of Caterpillar’s AVD to optimise propeller speed independently of engine speed

Schaeffer. “The incentive funds give operators a brand new, more efficient, fuel-saving and lower-emitting engine at a fraction the cost. Even better, the emission benefits associated with these projects will accrue quickly and persist for many years.” The study, conducted by Ramboll Environ, looks at engines with a cylinder displacement of 5-30 litres – loosely equivalent to a maximum power output of around 8 MW – classed as ‘category two’ engines by the EPA. New marine diesel engines have been required to meet EPA Tier 4 emissions standards – equivalent to IMO’s Tier III NOx limits – since 2015. But DTF says that the cost and downtime required to upgrade to new engines has likely delayed investments

in the newest technologies. Hybrid propulsion has been used regularly to reduce workboat emissions and new options continue to emerge. A harbour tug with a new hydraulic hybrid propulsion system is to be built by Sanmar Shipyards to a Robert Allan design. The tug will be fitted with Caterpillar Marine’s advanced variable drive (AVD) system. First developed in 2017, but yet to be applied in the tugboat sector, this allows operators to optimise propeller speed independently of engine speed, while controlling distribution of power among propulsion components. The new tug design is based on the proven RAmparts 2400-SX design, with modifications for the AVD

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

28 | FOUR-STROKE ENGINES

system. Boğaçay 38 has been optimised for harbour tug operations with 70 tonnes of bollard pull and Fi-Fi 1 firefighting capability. Propulsion equipment includes Caterpillar 3512C main engines, Caterpillar MTA627 azimuthing thrusters, and a C32 auxiliary engine powering the hybrid hydraulics as well as the Fi-Fi pump. Robert Allan was retained by Caterpillar Marine to support and advise on applying the new AVD technology for hybrid tug applications. This led to the debut tugboat project. Construction is currently underway with delivery scheduled for later in 2019. The AVD system differs from a typical power take-in solution by incorporating a planetary gear set which allows seamless clutch engagement of main engines, auxiliary engines, or both. This allows propeller speed independent of engine speed so optimal engine efficiency can be achieved. Caterpillar claims this can lead to fuel savings of 15-20%, offering the benefits of diesel-electric propulsion at a lower cost and smaller footprint. As a direct result of the AVD system, main engines can be downsized in most applications, with supplemental power provided by auxiliary engines. The system also provides inherently high levels of propulsion redundancy.

Engine plus aftertreatment

There is also an increasing range of traditional ‘engine plus aftertreatment’ options for owners to consider. MAN Energy Solutions has received the first tugboat reference for its MAN 175 engine, shortly after receiving certification for the engine’s selective catalytic reduction (SCR) configuration. P&O Reyser has ordered a 27-m harbour tug from Drydocks World Dubai shipyard in the UAE that will be the first IMO Tier III-compliant tugboat in the Mediterranean. The asymmetric tractor tug (ATT) will provide 75 tonnes of bollard pull, with propulsion provided by fixed pitch propeller azimuth thrusters. It will be built to a Cintranaval CND-17009 Eco

The incentive funds give operators a brand new, more efficient, fuel-saving and lower-emitting engine at a fraction of the cost”

a quick re-entry into service. Seven Atlantic is powered by six 3,360 kW Wärtsilä W7L32 engines running on marine gas oil, each paired to a 3,360 kVA Van Kaick generator. The dieselelectric arrangement drives three 2,950 kW stern azimuth thrusters, two 2,400 kW retractable bow azimuth thrusters and a 2,200 kW bow tunnel thruster. One of the engines was disassembled to install new cylinder heads, air start valves, indicator cocks, injectors, and cylinder seals. Relief valves, pistons and conrods, cylinder liners, bearing blocks, crankshaft and turbocharger were sent to UK-headquartered Royston’s Newcastle workshop for checking and essential repair work before being returned ahead of the final reassembly and inspection of the engine. Engineers also overhauled the turbocharger on another engine. The NA297 Napier turbochargers from both engines were removed, stripped, cleaned, inspected and balanced at Royston’s dedicated turbocharger facility. Following the service, incremental load testing in line with the engine manufacturer’s specification was also completed by engineers. MP

Silent design. P&O Reyser – which provides towing, mooring and auxiliary services in 11 Spanish ports with a fleet of more than 100 vessels in service – expects the ATT to enter service in the Port of Barcelona from mid-2020. MAN Energy Solutions will supply two MAN 12V175D MM engines, each rated at 2,220 kW, with SCR. According to MAN Energy Solutions head of four-stroke marine sales Lex Nijsen, the engines were selected because of their “compact footprint, fuel-efficient performance and the flexible design approach taken with the SCR layout.” MAN Energy Solutions head of exhaust aftertreatment Daniel Struckmeier says: “We have based the SCR system on our most cuttingedge technology. A great strength is its flexible arrangement and compactness, which optimises the space typically available in confined enginerooms.” Repowering does not have to mean entirely new engines or vessels. One of the world’s biggest diving support vessels has re-entered service after an engine overhaul that included having key components tested and repaired at a remote workshop. The engines and turbochargers on the 140-m long Seven Atlantic, owned by Subsea 7, were serviced 10 years after the vessel was built, with Royston Diesel completing the work. Royston service manager Shawn Doering notes that the company’s experience A flexible selective catalytic reduction arrangement with the engine and means more design options for MAN 175D engine users vessel type ensured

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

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30 | INTERVIEW Glenn Edvardsen

UECC targets 2030 and beyond with LNG hybrids Norwegian car-carrier owner United European Car Carriers has confirmed the vessel solution that it believes will see it sail past IMO’s 2030 greenhouse gas emissions target

“

Glenn Edvardsen (UECC): Gas-battery vessels represent “a giant leap towards decarbonisation”

eople are in ‘wait and see’ mode until a solution emerges,” says United European Car Carriers (UECC) CEO Glenn Edvardsen. He is discussing the historically low shipbuilding across many segments over the past two years – a phenomena he attributes to shipowners’ uncertainty about environmental solutions. “Shipowners are waiting for the magic solution,” he says. “They are having a hard time investing because there are so many options.” UECC has no such qualms, having just announced an order for two pure car and truck carriers (PCTC) – with options for a further two – that will be driven by LNG and batteries. The new sister ships will be built by Jiangnan Shipyard Group Co in China, with delivery in 2021. For UECC, a European shortsea car carrier jointly owned by Japanese company NYK Line and Wallenius Lines, this solution is an evolution rather than a revolution. The company already operates two gas-fuelled vessels which, when they were delivered in 2016, were the biggest LNGpowered PCTCs in service. UECC head of ship management Jan Thore Foss says: “UECC's experience with gas-fuelled PCTCs has been very good and there was really no alternative for us. The LNG solution reduces CO2 emissions by about 25%.” But the addition of batteries pushes the concept even further, placing UECC beyond IMO’s target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40% (on 2008 levels) by 2030. “This is a giant leap towards decarbonisation and unlike anything else that has been done previously in our industry,” says Mr Edvardsen. “It is something we are extremely proud of.” UECC worked with Shanghai Merchant Ship Design & Research Institute (SDARI) to design the PCTCs to the latest energy-efficiency criteria.

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

“It’s a new design in many ways,” says Mr Edvardsen. “The earlier ones perform very well but we want to see an evolution after some extensive research and model testing. For example, the bulbous bow has gone because this is not optimised for the Baltic Sea, so there is a much flatter hull shape at the bow.” While many innovative ships are often fixed to customers before they are built – in order to ensure that the premium on building costs is justified – UECC has not chosen this route for the newbuilds. According to Mr Edvardsen, the ships will be attractive to a very select group of clients. “They will be in demand for those that are serious about reducing their environmental footprint,” he says. “There are other parts of the logistics chain that those customers will be looking at too, but I think we can say that our part will definitely offer reduced emissions, and at competitive pricing.” For some, building on spec may have been considered too great a risk. But UECC is taking a long-term approach – in stark contrast, Mr Edvardsen believes, to others in the industry. “We are not building for the next two or three years, we’re building for the next 25 years,” he says. “When you see how fast the environmental focus is developing, it’s unbelievable. But I think it’s sad that so many today are choosing scrubbers as an alternative to meet sulphur requirements. Yes, you meet sulphur limits, but the problem is that you are increasing CO2 emissions and fuel consumption by 4%. It’s nonsense.”

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Glenn Edvardsen INTERVIEW | 31

The combination of gas and battery offers one potential solution to both SOx and greenhouse gas emission limits. Mr Edvardsen reports that class society DNV GL has confirmed that UECC’s new orders will mean that it meets the IMO 2030 target. “There are three elements,” he explains. “First is LNG fuel, which brings a CO2 saving of 20-25%. Then you gain a lot as an industry, because the reduction target is based on 2008 levels and there is an emissions reduction we have all achieved because of the slowdown in sailing speeds to cut fuel costs. I’m not sure what the gain is but I know that with the 20-25% from LNG and the batteries, we will meet the 2030 targets. And there are very few vessels out there that do this right now.”

A 15-year horizon

While LNG is a known solution for UECC, the company is excited by the possibilities of batteries. Mr Edvardsen says that the batteries will be used both to even out load on journeys (known as peak shaving) and to enter ports with zero emissions. “The biggest results come through peak shaving,” he says, “The savings are quite remarkable.” The batteries will not be used to cut emissions at port, as some battery-enabled vessels are opting for. Mr Edvardsen explains that this dramatically increases the size of the batteries that need to be installed, while connecting to shore power would be a much cheaper and more environmentally friendly solution. UECC’s new vessels will feature LNGburning auxiliary engines, which will reduce SOx and NOx emissions while alongside. The vessels are also ‘cold ironing ready’ and can be set up to take shore power if this is available on the route the ships end up plying. Reaching the 2030 target at this early stage is encouraging, but there are further emission targets ahead – not least the goal of cutting shipping’s emissions by 50% by 2050. There is an outside chance that these vessels could still be operating by

2050 – although most likely not for UECC – but the company is not taking any chances. The dual-fuel configuration will also enable the ships to take advantage of whatever is the next step in carbon-neutral fuels, says Mr Edvardsen. “If we had pure gas engines and then at some stage it emerged that bio-fuel was the next step, then we couldn’t use it. But as we have a dual-fuel set-up, we can use either bio-fuel or bio-gas, whichever becomes viable first. So whatever the magic fuel will be in the future in 10-15 years – not the next two because the experts tell us it will be too expensive – we will be ready. Ten years is not a long time in the life of a ship.” As the Baltic Sea and North Sea will become NOx emission control areas (ECAs) from 2021, the company is looking at low-pressure, dual-fuel two-stroke engines, although it has yet to select engines. When it comes to the looming 2020 sulphur compliance issue, Mr Edvardsen notes that UECC’s 18 vessels trade predominantly in SOx ECAs already, so the company will continue to burn marine gas oil on those routes. For other routes, its relatively fixed trading patterns should protect the company from the worst of the fuel uncertainties. But it is the larger carbon-cutting agenda that has dominated UECC’s technical planning in recent years. And with two new additions to its gas-fuelled fleet, the company is confident it has the answer. MP

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gas carriers MARKET ANALYSIS | 33

Diamond Gas Rose’s StaGE hybrid propulsion plant will cut CO2 emissions by 20% (image: NYK Line)

Will batteries power the next generation of LNG carriers? As LNG carrier demand increases, operators are looking to alternative propulsion concepts as a means of reducing operational costs and emissions

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joint development project between Wärtsilä and South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) is exploring battery-hybrid propulsion applications in LNG carriers and shuttle tankers, as a means of lowering newbuild costs, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Under an agreement signed at LNG 2019 in Shanghai, Wärtsilä and SHI will share knowledge and experience for the joint development project (JDP). “We look forward to working with Wärtsilä to co-develop LNG carriers and shuttle tankers with improved efficiency,” says SHI executive vice president, engineering and procurement operations JinTaek Jung. Wärtsilä Marine vice president, processing solutions Timo Koponen agreed, saying the JDP will support greater efficiencies, better environmental sustainability, and improved safety for shipowners.

To lower capital expenditures (capex), the JDP will focus on reducing the number of auxiliary engines on board LNG carriers and shuttle tankers by replacing them with batteries in a hybrid solution, according to Wärtsilä Corporation general manager, positioning, marine business marketing Marit Holmund-Sund. The use of batteries should also have a positive impact on operational expenditures (opex) because of reduced fuel consumption and lower engine maintenance costs associated with using fewer engines. An important driver for the JDP is the strong global demand for LNG and new LNG carrier tonnage. Increasing LNG demand in China, Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea and India is expected to push seaborne cargoes from 308M metric tonnes in 2018 to 478M metric tonnes by 2030. In turn, the LNG carrier fleet must grow to meet the increased demand. There were 64

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new LNG carriers ordered in 2018, compared with only 23 in 2017, according to UK-based BRL Shipping Consultants. Orders this year are expected to be almost as robust as 2018 with up to 60 new ships, according to shipping research firm Clarksons Research. BRL reports that the current orderbook for LNG carriers is 147 vessels, with 107 under construction in South Korea, 24 in China, 15 in Japan and one in Singapore. The total capacity on order is 22,222,860 m3.

Greater efficiency, less BOG

While the JDP will not focus on cargo containment technology, the increase of the overall energy efficiency of the propulsion and auxiliary power machinery would mean that less boil-off gas (BOG) would be required as fuel. “Therefore,” says Ms Holmund-Sund, “more efficient re-liquefication may be a next logical step in connection with our joint development projects.” For the first four decades of operation, shipowners favoured steam turbines for LNG carriers. The early 2000s gave rise to dualfuel, diesel-electric applications using fourstroke engines as the propulsion of choice. The current LNG carrier orderbook tells a different story, with 89 vessels on order with low-speed, dual-fuel (LSDF) power trains, 35 vessels with dual-fuel, diesel-electric (DFDE) propulsion and four vessels with steam turbines and gas engines (StaGE). The JDP between Wärtsilä and SHI is concentrating on the improved efficiency of standard designs based on LSDF propulsion. “At the same time, we believe that for certain applications our hybrid DFDE will remain a very attractive alternative,” says Ms Holmund-Sund. “The introduction of energy storage systems, decoupling the energy production from energy consumption, is especially beneficial for vessels with more sophisticated trading patterns including more terminal calls, waiting and slow steaming. Growth in spot LNG trade will require more of such vessels and our hybrid DFDE is able to provide the needed operational flexibility and additional economy.” Digitalisation will also play a role in improving energy efficiency. “With our data-collect unit, we can have full remote and online monitoring and control of

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At LNG 2019 Wärtsilä and Samsung Heavy Industries agreed to develop battery-hybrid propulsion for LNG carriers

our installed asset to support the voyage operation,” says Ms Holmund-Sund. “With the digitalisation platform, all data will be available on board, at the fleet centre and at the Wärtsilä Expert Centre.” For the JDP, SHI will oversee any hull and speed optimisation. The installed propulsion system is based on a specific trail speed determined by the owner or charterer. The trail speed is still around 19.5 knots, but Wärtsilä has seen some interest in lowering the trail speed to 15-16 knots; so far however, this is not part of the vessel specification. Other areas of hull optimisation could focus on air lubrication, trim and route optimisation, just-in-time features and various propeller efficiency devices.

For the first four decades of operation, shipowners favoured steam turbines for LNG carriers; the current LNG carrier orderbook tells a different story”

Air lubrication

SHI and Wärtsilä both have their own air lubrication systems which use an air bubbling system to reduce the friction between the seawater and the ship’s hull, to improve fuel consumption. In January, SHI won a deal for two 180,000 m3 LNG carriers from Europe's Celsius Tankers that will be fitted with the shipbuilder’s eco-friendly and smart-ship technologies. These will help the ships comply with forthcoming environmental

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

36 | MARKET ANALYSIS gas carriers

regulations and significantly increase energy efficiency. One of SHI's eco-friendly technologies, Saver Air, is an air lubrication system that is expected to save 5% on fuel irrespective of the external environment, such as waves and current. In addition, SHI's own smart-ship solution, Intelliman (INTELLIgent & Lifecycle-MANaged) Ship, when applied to the carriers, helps with IMO and European Union emission regulations, such as IMODCS and EU-MRV. Operators can measure and monitor fuel consumption and CO2 emissions for ships in operation on a real-time basis. An accurate operation report can be automatically created based on the accumulated data. The EU MRV (Monitoring, Reporting, Verification) regulation entered into force on 1 July 2015 and requires shipowners and operators to annually monitor, report and verify CO2 emissions for vessels larger than 5,000 gross tonnage calling at any EU port. IMO's fuel Data Collection System (DCS) started on 1 January 2019 and applies to ships of 5,000 gross tonnage and above calling at any port under the jurisdiction of EU member states.

New propulsion and cargo containment cover

Elsewhere, work is underway in Japan on the next generation of LNG carriers. Last year, Diamond Gas Orchid, the first “Sayaringo” StaGE LNG carrier, was delivered to Diamond LNG Shipping, a joint venture between NYK Line and Mitsubishi Corporation. The 165,000-m3 LNG carrier was built by the Nagasaki shipyard of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) in Japan. Construction was managed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Marine Structure Co., Ltd., an MHI Group company based in Nagasaki. The Diamond Gas Orchid has a length overall of 293.5 m and beam of 48.94 m. To reduce ship weight and air resistance, Diamond Gas Orchid has a continuous steel cover that also increases LNG-carrying capacity, according to class society ABS, which worked with Diamond LNG Shipping to develop the vessel design. “Sayaringo” is a combination of the word “apple” and “pea pod” in Japanese, describing the shape of the Moss-type

cargo containment tanks, where the upper semi-sphere is larger than the lower half of the tank and the continuous steel cover. The use of the apple-shaped cargo tanks allows for increased cargo capacity without increasing the ship’s beam, adding to its operational flexibility. At the time of delivery, ABS senior vice president and chief business development officer Jamie Smith said: “With newly designed cargo tanks and a hybrid propulsion, this next-generation carrier can carry more LNG and minimise fuel costs.” One of the newest of the three main types of propulsion for LNG carriers is the hybrid propulsion system StaGE. The idea behind StaGE propulsion is to use the engines’ waste heat in the steam turbines, resulting in a substantial improvement in plant efficiency, enabling high-efficiency navigation throughout a full range of speeds. MHI reports that the StaGE power plant emits approximately 20% less CO2 emissions than conventional steam turbine plants and that the Sayaringo LNG carrier emits about 40% less CO2 per cargo unit than a 147,000-m3 LNG carrier with conventional steam turbines. Diamond Gas Orchid and sister vessels Diamond Gas Rose and Diamond Gas Sakura will transport LNG from the US$10Bn Cameron LNG in Hackberry, Louisiana, which is expected to start producing LNG from Phase 1 in Q2 2019. Cameron LNG Phase 1 is jointly owned by affiliates of Sempra LNG, Total, Mitsui & Co, Ltd and Japan LNG Investment, LLC, a company jointly owned by Mitsubishi Corporation and NYK. MP

The introduction of energy storage systems, decoupling the energy production from energy consumption, is especially beneficial for vessels with more sophisticated trading patterns”

LOCATION OF LNGCS CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION SOUTH KOREA

CHINA JAPAN

24 15 1

107

SINGAPORE

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

Source: BRL Shipping Consultants

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fuelling and bunkering LNG | 39

Diverse vessel needs drive bunker technologies From battery-powered bunker vessels to onboard cranes for gas tanks, there is no shortage of ingenuity in the technologies being used to deliver LNG fuel to ships

“

unkering infrastructure is expanding, encouraging operators to adopt LNG,” says SEA/LNG chairman Peter Keller as he summarises a period of rapid growth for gas fuel in 2018. “From limited availability at select ports, LNG bunkering has grown to encompass 24 out of the world’s top 25 ports and all but one of the top-10 bunker ports globally.” The trend has been mirrored by LNG bunker vessels (LBV), where the range and flexibility of refuelling options has been extended. The one bunker vessel in service at the beginning of 2017 was joined by a further eight by the end of 2018. It is a phenomenon that is set to continue, with SEA/LNG anticipating around 30 more such vessels being delivered over the next five years. According to DNV GL’s Alternative Fuel Insight platform

there are 13 bunker vessels in operation today, a further 17 decided upon (including those already ordered from shipyards or chartered out) and another six under discussion. As some of those projects enter the construction phase, Singapore’s rival shipyard groups Keppel Offshore & Marine and Sembcorp Marine are emerging as two of the big beneficiaries. At its Keppel Singmarine yard in Nantong, Keppel is already building the first LBV destined to serve Singapore – a 7,500 m3 vessel for the FueLNG joint venture (between Keppel and Shell) that has won a concession at the world’s biggest bunker port. That vessel will be completed in Q3 2020. More recently, in December, Russian oil tanker company Shturman Koshelev commissioned Keppel to build an LBV with ice-class 4 notation and a cargo

An unusual crane-driven tank configuration on Brittany Ferries’ ropax Honfleur

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Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

40 | LNG fuelling and bunkering

capacity of 5,800 m3, due for delivery in Q4 2020. It will be chartered to Gazprom Neft for operation in the Baltic Sea. Buoyed by its early experience with bunkering vessels, Keppel is now looking to strengthen its expertise by co-operating on design and research with DNV GL. A framework agreement between the class society and Keppel Marine and Deepwater Technology covers potential newbuilding projects including LBVs, small-scale LNG carriers and floating storage regasification units (FSRUs), as well as LNG-related assets employing battery and hybrid technologies. “We have a strong track record in delivering LNG solutions that includes the first FLNG conversion as well as LNG-fuelled vessels,” says Keppel managing director for gas and specialised vessels Abu Bakar Mohd Nor. He explains that the agreement will enable Keppel to develop a suite of LNG-related vessels to meet the needs of the market as the adoption of LNG as marine fuel increases.

The 112-m, 12,000-m3 capacity LBV for MOL and Pavilion Gas will be the biggest in Asia

building the first LBV for Singapore, Sembcorp Marine will build another to serve the port that will become Asia’s largest such vessel. Mitsui OSK Lines subsidiary Indah Singa Maritime contracted Sembcorp Marine to build the 12,000-m3 vessel in February. When completed in early 2021, the vessel will go on long-term charter to Singapore state-owned Pavilion Gas for

The Mark III Flex membrane tanks weigh less and occupy less ship space, allowing the vessel to carry more cargo and consume less fuel during transportation” As the first delivery in the agreement, DNV GL will issue Approvals in Principle for two LBV designs from KMDTech. Both are designed to carry up to 7,500 m3 of LNG in Type C-tanks, with one featuring a hybrid propulsion configuration with batteries. An optimised deck arrangement for the modular LNG gas supply, filling and safety systems increases the cargo capacity and efficiency of the vessels. The vessels will have a class notation for bunkering which enables the provision of LNG bunkering services if required. They are equipped with engines that can run on both diesel and LNG. While Keppel takes the honour of

deployment in Singapore. To be constructed at Sembcorp Marine Tuas Boulevard Yard, the vessel will be 112 m long and 22 m wide with two GTT Mark III Flex membrane tanks. The vessel, which will have dual-fuel engines running on LNG or marine diesel oil, will be managed by Sinanju Tankers, a major bunker barge company. This will be the first LBV built by Sembcorp Marine, which will also fabricate the vessel’s membrane tanks under a licensing agreement with LNG containment specialist GTT. Mark III Flex membrane tanks have a lower internal pressure, temperature and boil-off rate than IMO Type-C

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

tanks. This translates into greater tank durability, safer fuel transfer operations and reduced cargo loss through evaporation. The Mark III Flex membrane tanks also weigh less and occupy less ship space, allowing the vessel to carry more cargo and consume less fuel during transportation. “This project marries Sembcorp Marine’s ship design and construction expertise with GTT’s industryleading membrane tank system,” says Sembcorp Marine president and chief executive Wong Weng Sun. “We are confident the outcome will be a sophisticated newbuilding that not only delivers optimal technical performance, but also helps MOL and Pavilion Energy contribute to the expected standard of LNG bunkering operations in Singapore.”

Coastal bunkering

Increasing demand for LNG bunkering in South Korea has led the country to launch a development project for coastal ships with customised bunkering systems. The project aims to develop and validate bunkering facilities along the coast. South Korean LNG engineering, procurement and construction company Trans Gas Solution has received approval in principle from Korean Register for a 500-m3 bunker barge design that will be part of the new coastal bunkering system. The ⊲

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⊲ LNG bunkering barge concept, Kolt-

05B, is a 48.5-m vessel with an IMO Type C pressurised fuel tank with a storage capacity of 500 m3, including a low-pressure LNG fuel gas supply system CryoPac-L. The barge will have a bunkering arm to assist in fuelling vessels at a flowrate of 200 m3/h, and the ability to handle return gases during bunkering operations. Funding for the LNG bunker barge concept is through a governmentbacked project supported by South Korea’s Minister of Maritime Affairs & Fisheries and organised by the Korea Research Institute of Ships & Ocean Engineering (KRISO). Following construction, testing and commissioning in the first half of 2021, the LNG bunkering barge system is expected to operate from 2022. The wider coastal project brings together South Korean Government and industry. KRISO is joined in the project by steel-maker POSCO, shipbuilder, offshore and industrial construction company EK Heavy Industries, pressure vessel manufacturer Mytec and LNG fuelling station developer Valmax. Trans Gas Solution will oversee the development of the control system of the vessel, including the cargo-handling system,

As the demand for environmentally friendly energy is increasing, so is the need for cryogenic technology development”

which covers the basic and detail design of the vessel. The coastal project may be providing the impetus for the deployment of bunker ships in South Korea, but other projects are aiming to develop some of the technologies needed both for the country’s fledgling bunker vessel market and for its well-established gas carrier business. Shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering has struck a partnership with Inha University to open a new marine and offshore research institute. There, Daewoo aims to study insulation systems and processing systems for cryogenic cargos applied to LNG carriers. The collaboration with the university is

The Eesti Gaas LBV will serve Tallink first before opening up to further Baltic business

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expected to continue until 2023. “As the demand for environmentally friendly energy is increasing, so is the need for cryogenic technology development,” says Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering director Lee Seong-keun. LNG as a fuel might be taking off on Korea’s coast, but the English Channel will have to wait a little longer for its first gas-fuelled ship. Brittany Ferries’ 42,400-gt ropax vessel Honfleur was due to be delivered from German shipbuilder Flensburger SchiffbauGesellschaft (FSG) in June. It will now arrive later this year – finer details have yet to be decided – after the yard was hit by financial penalties following an earlier late delivery. At least the company’s bunkering infrastructure will be ready. With no permanent bunkering along the busy Ouistreham-Portsmouth route, Brittany Ferries has opted for a truck-based fuelling programme at Ouistreham that deploys an innovative combination of onboard vehicles and cranes. Lorries with ISO tanks will be driven directly onto the 187.4-m vessel, with the tanks hoisted into position in frames next to a fixed storage tank with a maximum capacity of 350 m3 at the rear of the superstructure. Once empty, the tank containers will be offloaded during the next call at Ouistreham and replaced by filled units. Honfleur will provide capacity for 1,680 passengers and up to 550 cars and 64 trailers – or an all-freight roro payload of 130 trailers. As well as being the first vessel to bunker with onboard cranes, it will be the first Brittany Ferries vessel powered by dieselelectric propulsion. Four Wärtsilä dual-fuel engines with a total output of 29,700 kW will drive electric generators and propulsion motors for two fixed pitch propellers with flap rudders. Manoeuvring capability is enhanced with two 2,000 kW thrusters at the bow and one at the stern. “Honfleur will set a new standard for ferries operating on the Channel,” says Brittany Ferries CEO Christophe Mathieu. “It is important that we invest

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

44 | LNG fuelling and bunkering

in new technologies and new vessels that respect the environment in which we operate.” More new vessels and technologies – and more dedicated bunkering infrastructure – are on the way for Brittany Ferries’ long-haul routes. Starting in 2021 and adding one vessel a year until 2023, the company will charter three of the E-Flexer newbuilds 3_LNG_W124xH190_EN.pdf 1 2019/03/25 10:24:07 constructed for Stena RoRo at AVIC Weihai shipyard in China, of which at

least two will be LNG-fuelled. As Mr Mathieu comments, the charters demonstrate the company’s commitment to LNG as a fuel, as well as its faith in growing traffic on its UK routes if or when the country leaves the European Union. The three 42,200gt ships will be among the biggest in Brittany Ferries’ fleet. Each will be 215 m long with 3,000 lane metres for freight vehicles, and capacity for around 1,000 passengers in 340 cabins.

The company has already signed a bunkering agreement for one of the vessels; Spanish energy company Repsol will provide the long-term supply of LNG and shoreside infrastructure to Salamanca, scheduled to enter service in 2022. Repsol will install a fixed, quayside LNG storage and supply system in one of Brittany Ferries’ two Spanish ports, Santander or Bilbao. Repsol will then supply LNG bunker fuel during the ship’s regular visits on routes linking Portsmouth and northern Spain. A final decision on the location of the terminal will be made later this year. The deal for the construction of Honfleur was the first project to be financed under the €750M (US$853M) Green Shipping Guarantee programme implemented in 2016 by the European Investment Bank, the EU’s lending institution, as a means of promoting low-carbon investments. Innovative elements of the Honfleur design and engineering have also received public funding support through the Investissements d’Avenir (Investments for the Future) scheme, overseen by the French Agency for Environment & Energy Management (ADEME). But public funding does not always guarantee the success of a project. Swedish shipowner Stena Line will not progress with its first dual-fuel retrofit despite receiving funding from the German Government. The project to convert the 38,000-gt ropax ferry Mecklenburg-Vorpommern for LNG received a grant from the German Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure in March. But Stena Line decided not to go ahead, citing discussions around “budget, technical challenges and both operational and financial risk”. Stena Line trade director Germany Ron Gerlach explains that the company was “by no means ruling out gas as an alternative fuel for our vessels”. As mentioned above, the company has ordered the E-Flexer series of ropax vessels from Avic International shipyard in China that will be LNG-ready, with the final ship

fuelling and bunkering LNG | 45

expected to operate on gas from its delivery in 2021. “We will stay open with regard to technologies at hand in order to allow us full flexibility in our European route network,” says Mr Gerlach. “We will also continue to focus our efforts on other projects such as looking at expanding our battery project on Stena Jutlandica to further vessels and to extend our onshore power supply solutions to include more of our ports.” At 22 years’ old, the MecklenburgVorpommern would have been one of the oldest vessels to be retrofitted for LNG. The age of a vessel can affect the viability of a conversion by limiting payback time and because of the constraints of installed engine technology. Stena Line is familiar with challenging retrofits, having converted four Wärtsilä four-stroke engines for methanol fuel on board the then 14-year-old cruise ferry Stena Germanica from 2015.

Ambitious ports

While Brittany Ferries brings in its dedicated infrastructure, in other European locations it is ambitious ports that are driving the availability of gas fuel. One example is Estonian utility Eesti Gaas, which has commissioned the first in a series of short-sea bunker vessels to serve the Baltic Sea around Tallinn, starting with regional ferry operator Tallink. “Eesti Gaas and our launch client, ferry operator Tallink, will become the companies with the most LNG competence in this region,” says Eesti Gaas board member Kalev Reiljan. “Eesti Gaas has performed over 1,500 port-based LNG truckto-ship refuellings of Tallink’s LNGpowered Megastar ferry and now we are moving on toward offshore, more mobile solutions.” Damen Yichang Shipyard cut steel on the vessel in March. The 6,000 m³-capacity vessel and its future sister ships are intended to accelerate the adoption of LNG in the north-eastern Baltic Sea by providing a ship-to-ship bunkering service in that part of the

region for the first time. The LGC 6000 LNG vessels are designed to meet ice-class 1A certification, allowing them to operate all year in the Gulf of Finland and the northern Baltic. A dual-fuel propulsion system will be used for the management of the boil-off gas in combination with a gas burner. The vessel will host two Type-C tanks of 3,000 m3 each, with Chinese supplier Gloryholder Liquefied Gas Machinery

providing the cargo handling and fuel gas supply system. The two type-C LNG tanks will be partially open, ensuring good access and easy upgrade options as the LNG consumer market develops, Eesti Gaas said. Following sea trials, the ship will arrive in Estonia in mid-2020 and will start serving LNG clients in the third quarter. Eesti Gaas will operate the vessel under a long-term charter from parent company Infortar. MP

46 | LNG cryogenic engineering and equipment

Engine design upgrades lead to bigger gas ships The cost barrier to using gas as a marine fuel has been cut dramatically as a consequence of enginebuilders enhancing their dual-fuel designs

The X92DF destined for CMA CGM’s ultra-large container ships features new cost-cutting technologies

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

n the past three years, the range of vessels using dual-fuel engines has grown from relatively small coastal vessels to deepsea giants, as capex has fallen and bunker infrastructure grown. Sovcomflot’s Aframax tanker Gagarin Prospect, delivered in July last year, is a good example. Measuring 250 m in length and 44 m in beam and weighing in at nearly 65,000 gt, it is the first tanker of its size to use a dual-fuel engine; five more tankers of a similar size will be launched this year, each with X-DF engines from WinGD. WinGD closed out the first quarter of 2019 with 32 new orders for X-DF engines. Vice president sales Rolf Stiefel confirms that the list includes chemical and crude oil tankers as well as asphalt carriers and container feeders. The company’s dual-fuel book now runs to 200 (including those already delivered), which Mr Stiefel attributes to the growing infrastructure supporting LNG as a fuel. “Every day that passes more and more of the engines ordered for propelling deepsea vessels are choosing LNG as fuel,” he says. “This does not mean that there isn’t still a considerable amount of debate about what the future fuels will be, but it does give owners peace of mind that their vessels will be complaint, safe and reliable for many years to come. LNG is the bridge which will get us closer to a carbon-neutral future.” One of the biggest gas-fuelled ship orders in recent years is a case in point. CMA CGM’s nine 22,000-TEU vessels to be delivered in 2020 and 2021 will each be powered by the biggest dual-fuel marine two-stroke engine ever built – WinGD’s 12-cylinder, 920-mm bore X92DF, delivering 63,840 kW at 80 rpm. The engines include several design features that reduce size, weight, complexity and maintenance demands. These engines will be the first to incorporate a new engine control system, MK-E cylinder lube pumps, as well as being the first of their

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cryogenic engineering and equipment LNG | 47

LNG conversions are becoming viable for more vessels and container ships built within the past five years are now seen as good candidates”

size to deploy an integrated gas pressure regulation system. All the design features offer significant benefits in terms of reduced footprint, complexity and maintenance. The new Mk-E cylinder lubrication pumps inject precise amounts of oil onto the cylinder liners at tightly controlled intervals to lubricate the main pistons and cylinders. The design offers improved priming, both internally and with a button-operated venting valve. It also has 45% fewer parts than its predecessor, making it quicker to assemble and install on the engine. As a result, the pump’s weight is reduced by 40% and production costs fall by around 35%. The design has also allowed WinGD to improve the configuration of the outlets, simplifying installation and service on the engine.

Simpler engines – better integration

As well as on-engine simplifications, integration of onboard systems is an oftenoverlooked area for driving economies. A new 30,000-m3 LNG carrier being built at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard for Norway-based Knutsen OAS Shipping is a good example of what can be achieved. An integrated propulsion and cargohandling solution will ensure effective interfacing between the vessel’s propulsion, onboard auxiliary power generation, and cargo-control processes. The package from Wärtsilä includes fuel gas supply, cargocontrol system, boil-off gas re-liquefaction and safety management. The vessel’s five-cylinder WinGD X52DF dual-fuel main engine and the Wärtsilä auxiliary dual-fuel engines are essential consumers for the boil-off management system, which monitors and controls the cryogenic cargo. Used in combination with a mixed-refrigerant re-liquefaction unit, this will offer the operator control over cargo tank pressure and temperature at all times. The vessel will also be one of the first LNG carriers in its size to deploy space-saving Type-C bilobe cargo tanks. The scope of supply includes three Wärtsilä 20DF dual-fuel auxiliary engines that power the board net, thrusters, cargo-control system, and re-liquefaction module. The main engine and controllable pitch propeller system allow the vessel to operate at its highest fuel efficiency design point through a single control for shaft power, pitch and speed.

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Integrated cargo and fuel systems will bring savings on a new Knutsen OAS small-scale gas carrier

The vessel will be operated by Knutsen and chartered to Italian energy services provider Edison. It will be used to supply coastal LNG depots in Italy. The Wärtsilä equipment is scheduled for delivery in 2020 and the vessel is expected to be delivered during the first half of 2021. The contract includes an option for an additional sister vessel. The CMA CGM vessels are among the first, but they are not the only container ships to take advantage of cost-saving dualfuel designs. In March, Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping ordered 11 15,000TEU ships to be built at Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries. Six of the units will feature LNG-burning engines from MAN Energy Solutions. The MAN B&W 11G90ME-GI dual-fuel engines are scheduled for delivery between 2020 and 2022. The engines will feature MAN’s new pump vapouriser unit (PVU) – a low-cost pump unit for pressurising and supplying LNG to the engines. The PVU is designed to pressurise and vaporise the required fuel to the pressure and temperature

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

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MAN’s pump vapouriser unit uses exhaust valve actuators to control fuel gas supply pumps

required by the ME-GI engine. The gas pressure is controlled by the hydraulic flow to the pump. The separate control of the three pump heads provides full redundancy and is secured by a control system with safety functions and a high degree of integration with the ME-GI engine. MAN Energy Solutions senior vice president, head of two-stroke business Bjarne Foldager says: “Apart from the reduced cost and weight, ordering both PVU and engine from the same designer provides many other advantages, including easier integration and straightforward installation.” The PVU is a simplification of the dualfuel auxiliary machinery, using pumps driven by the engine’s exhaust valve actuator to compress fuel before vaporising it for injection. Although the Eastern Pacific Shipping order is the biggest order to include the PVU, the system will make its debut on a more noteworthy vessel; Hamburg-based

liner company Hapag-Lloyd’s 15,000-TEU vessel Sajir will become the biggest container ship so far to retrofit dual-fuel LNG engines, with the PVU included in the order. The company has signed a contract with Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co to carry out the conversion at Huarun Dadong Dockyard in Shanghai. The vessel’s 54.9 MW MAN B&W 9S90MEC10 engine will be converted to MAN Energy Solutions’ dual-fuelled ME-GI engine concept. HapagLloyd plans to primarily use LNG, with lowsulphur fuel oil as a back-up option. “By carrying out this unprecedented pilot, we hope to learn for the future and to pave the way for large ships to be retrofitted to use this alternative fuel,” says Hapag-Lloyd managing director fleet management Richard von Berlepsch. Sajir is one of 17 container ships built as ‘LNG ready’ by United Arab Shipping Co before it was acquired by Hapag-Lloyd. Hapag-Lloyd first revealed its plan to convert one of the LNG-ready vessels ⊲

Start-ups tackle gas leak detection challenge Four fledgling technology providers have presented solutions for the long-standing problem of detecting leaks in gas carrier piping as part of a shipowner-sponsored incubator programme. The Safety Accelerator project organised by Lloyd’s Register Foundation has identified four safety challenges, with energy major and shipowner Shell sponsoring the gas leak detection challenge. At a pitch session in March, start-ups presented ideas including acoustic detection and enhanced infrared imaging. Lloyd’s Register Safety Accelerator programme director Steve Price said: “LNG is a really important fuel, but it generates new challenges. Detecting leaks in the pipelines across tankers sounds easy, but the deck of a ship is a very complicated environment.” LNG tankers have many pipes above deck from which methane can leak through flanged connections, when instruments are taken off or due to pipe failure. The difficulty in detecting leaks is often caused by weather conditions, Mr Price explained. Changeable background radiation caused by shifting light and weather makes it challenging to spot leaks using expensive and sensitive infrared cameras. Contestants cited further complexities

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caused by a noisy environment, reducing the effectiveness of conventional acoustic detection. Shell is seeking solutions that can continuously monitor the entire cargo area, detecting leaks below the level detectable by crew through sight and senses alone, ideally down to leak rates of 0.4 g/hr. Neuro Controls pitched its 360° LNG and LPG imaging systems, which use two methods of infrared analysis to detect leaks and then triangulate them from multiple rotating devices. M Squared Lasers’ solution also relies on infrared detection, but enhances visibility by digitalising the leak using a single pixel camera. Noiseless Acoustics has developed a camera that visualises sound frequencies that can be analysed via machine learning to detect leaks, while Zol Dynamics also uses acoustic detection, positioning multiple sensors along pipelines to continuously monitor for and locate gas leaks. The winning company will secure a funded pilot with Shell, as well as access to funding and entrepreneurial support. Another project in the current round of challenges is sponsored by Wallenius Wihelmsen and targets solutions for pre-fire detection on cargo ships. The pilot projects are scheduled to start in May.

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

50 | LNG cryogenic engineering and equipment

⊲ when it detailed its compliance strategy

for the 2020 sulphur cap last year. Hapag-Lloyd's first LNG retrofit candidate will feature a 6,700-m3 gas fuel tank, bunkering twice per round trip. The smaller tank size compared to the 18,600-m3 tanks on CMA CGM's large container ships points to greater certainty about bunkering in Asia, as well as space constraints on Sajir, which was designed LNG-ready six years ago. The ship is already highly efficient, running at -60% to the EEDI reference line thanks to modern efficiency features, including waste heat recovery. Another feature likely to remain is the power take-off (PTO). A recent case study by MAN Energy Solutions highlights how a PTO can optimise energy efficiency by generating electricity from the main engine. Auxiliaries will also be dual-fuel, the line has confirmed. After conversion, the 54.9 MW MAN B&W 9S90MEC10 will earn the -GI suffix that denotes MAN Energy Solutions' highpressure, diesel cycle, dual-fuelled engines. A successful retrofit for a vessel of Sajir’s size would represent a significant milestone for the advancement of LNG as a marine fuel. The high cost of retrofitting has been seen as a barrier to uptake; following the Sajir contract, MAN believes conversions are becoming viable for more vessels and container ships built within the past five years are now seen as good candidates.

significant element of the 90-day retrofit. The engine conversion could be completed in around five weeks; the remaining two months will be devoted to installing the tank and the complicated steelwork supporting it. At 368 m in length and weighing 149,400 dwt, Sajir is the biggest ship ever to be converted for dual-fuel operation. The twin main engines on Nakilat’s gas carrier Rasheeda – which became the first vessel ever converted for LNG in 2015 – mean that it was arguably a more complicated and costlier project. But developments since then mean LNG is becoming a viable fuelling option, even for bigger ships that do not carry gas cargo. MP

Economies of scale

MAN head of sales, retrofit projects Klaus Rasmussen notes that the company has been able to refine its conversion strategies as the number of projects has grown. The age range for suitable candidates is not limited by the need for payback time, he explains, but by the fact that vessels must have modern ME-C engines. These feature the electronic controls needed to govern fuel injection and exhaust valve timings on gas engines. Mr Rasmussen acknowledges that HapagLloyd has paid a higher cost for works on Sajir due to it being the first of its kind. Any further retrofits would be cheaper as a result of this work, he says. Hapag-Lloyd has put the cost of LNG conversions at US$25M-30M. Further conversions would also offer economies of scale on LNG fuel. The membrane tank, enough for one voyage between Europe and Asia, is the most

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

LNG is the bridge which will get us closer to a carbonneutral future”

Biogas-ready fuel systems for Hurtigruten retrofits Six ferries to be retrofitted by Norwegian shipowner Hurtigruten will feature biogas-capable fuel gas supply systems. The vessels, which are due to be converted from diesel-electric to LNG-battery power and propulsion, will be fitted with fuel gas supply systems and tanks designed by system-integration specialist Høglund and naval architect HB Hunte Engineering. The conversions are intended to meet strict emissions reduction requirements imposed by the Norwegian Government when it awarded coastal route concessions (starting in 2021) to Hurtigruten and Havila Kystruten last year. Høglund Gas Solutions will provide the fuel gas supply system (FGSS), including process design and related automation, while HB Hunte will provide mechanical gas engineering and gas tank design. “Collaboration will be vital in delivering the gas solutions required to provide safety and reliability in the long term,” says Høglund Gas Solutions director projects Peter Morsbach. “This project is a perfect example of the challenges the change in the sector presents. HB Hunte’s unique skill set and experience in the field of mechanical and detail gas engineering will help us to turn our bespoke concepts into tangible solutions.” Hurtigruten had announced its intention to operate the vessels on liquid biogas (LBG) derived from fishery waste, marking the first time a large passenger vessel has been converted to run on LBG. Høglund managing director Børge Nogva said that such biogas is often cleaner than regular LNG as it does not come with residual petroleum gas from the production process. The Norwegian coastal route will soon host some of the most energy-efficient passenger vessels in the world. The retrofits are intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% on each ship, while four newbuild vessels under construction for Havila Kystruten will feature some of the biggest marine battery installations.

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GAS TURBINES | 53

Exploring new avenues for gas turbines Although cases for gas turbine propulsion beyond navies remain confined to niche applications, some exciting projects could broaden its appeal

Will Holland America’s Noordam be the last cruise ship to be powered by turbines?

utside of the naval sector the role of gas turbines in vessel propulsion is shrinking. Dual-fuel dieselelectric configurations and more efficient gasburning two-stroke engines have dented the uptake of gas and steam turbines in both the gas-carrier and cruise-ship segments. But there are a handful of new projects, concepts and technology upgrades that suggest the technology could yet experience a marine renaissance. It is 13 years since the last turbine-powered cruise ship, Noordam, was delivered from Fincantieri’s Marghera shipyard in Italy, in February 2006. Boasting one GE LM2500 gas turbine and generator working in combination with four diesel gensets, the Holland America vessel took the turbine-powered cruise fleet up to 11, according to data provider VesselsValue. The mainstay of turbine propulsion in shipping has been the gas-carrier sector, with 228 active vessels using either steam turbines or a combination of gas and steam or gas and diesel. But here too activity has shrunk of late: since 2010 just 15 such vessels have been built, compared to 147 between 2002 and 2009. After two years in which no turbine-powered LNG carriers were built, in 2014 and 2015, there has been a modest revival. Proving that the concept of turbine propulsion is not dead in the gas-carrier segment, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has named a fifth gas carrier to rely on its unique hybrid arrangement of steam turbines and gas engines (STaGE) driving electric propulsion. Earlier this year the 177,000 m3 Marvel Crane was delivered to Mitsui & Co, which will deploy the vessel to serve the Cameron LNG Project in the US. It is the latest in MHI Sayaringo STaGE series of LNG carriers which began with the Diamond Gas Orchid last year. The STaGE propulsion concept uses an asymmetrical configuration for twin shaftlines. The starboard line is driven by three Wärtsilä medium-speed, dual-fuel engines powering an electrical propulsion motor. The port-side shaftline is

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driven by a steam turbine developed by MHI, the UST (ultrasteam turbine plant), which uses waste heat from engine exhaust and cooling water. This means that very little fuel is required to power the turbine. According to MHI public affairs spokesman Genki Ono, the company is contractually prevented from disclosing the total installed power of the vessel. On the starboard side, the Wärtsilä 6L50DF engines in diesel-electric applications each have an output of 5,700 kWe at 500 rpm and 5,850 kWe at 514 rpm. MHI received the order for the new vessel through MI LNG Co, a joint venture for the design and sale of LNG carriers established by MHI and Imabari Shipbuilding. The combination of turbines with waste heat recovery is not confined to MHI’s gas carriers. In January, Japanese shipowner K Line installed an experimental binary cycle waste heat recovery system (WHRS) on 91,000 m3 coal carrier Corona Youthful. The system, developed by Kobe Steel, can generate 100 kW of electricity from main engine exhaust heat. The threeyear pilot study aims to verify the system’s durability and performance under operating conditions. Kobe Steel began developing a binary cycle system for ships in 2014, following earlier land-based projects. A sea trial using a prototype was conducted in 2016. The system, which can be used with main engines of more than 5 MW, has received approval from class societies ClassNK, Lloyd’s Register and DNV GL. Binary cycle power generation produces electricity by using a steam turbine. Low-temperature heat sources, including

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

54 | GAS TURBINES

warm water, low-pressure steam or air, are used to vaporise a substance with a low boiling point, which drives the turbine. Kobe Steel notes that the novel WHRS is designed to help ships achieve the greenhouse gas emission reductions that IMO is hoping to achieve. “By effectively using the exhaust heat to generate electricity to serve as auxiliary power for the ship, the system contributes to reducing carbon dioxide and fuel for the generator engines,” the company says.

Turbine-powered LNG carrier newbuilds, 2002-2018 (Source: VesselsValue) 25

Micro turbines

Micro turbines with waste heat recovery could offer an effective and scalable solution for hybrid propulsion

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

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StAGE is not the only hybrid development in turbines. In late 2018, Dutch maritime system integrator RH Marine partnered with Feadship, Seven Turbine Power and Boskalis to introduce a micro turbine that is aimed to function as part of a hybrid power configuration on smaller vessels. The solution consists of a DC65-D Marine turbine generator, a 65 kW turbine-generator set that can run on a variety of fuels, such as marine gas oil, and delivers direct current to the grid, based on a Capstone C65 micro turbine. In combination with waste heat recovery, the potential efficiency of the micro turbine matches that of a conventional diesel generator. The compact design means that it would be possible to stack the units in parallel in a rack to deliver sufficient power. The partners claim it produces extremely low emissions, operates quietly without vibrations and requires very little maintenance. RH Marine technical product manager Michiel Post says: “The DC power output of the micro turbine is perfectly suited to a hybrid-battery-based solution. It is highly efficient thanks to the lack of an AC to DC conversion step and the waste heat recovery functionality.” The micro turbine has received approval in principle by Lloyd’s Register. There are further partnerships that suggest there is more to

come in the gas turbine sector – including one collaboration involving one of the biggest builders of both naval and cruise vessels, Fincantieri. Italian investment bank CDP Group has signed an agreement with Fincantieri and a gas utility company – both companies in which CDP holds stakes – to explore energy-efficiency technologies in the marine sector. CDP Group CEO Fabrizio Palermo says: “Fincantieri and Snam will share their knowledge and technical expertise to make a concrete contribution to the competitiveness of maritime transport, a key sector for both the Italian and wider European economies.” A co-operation agreement between the two companies commits to identifying, developing and implementing medium-term strategic projects focused on innovation and energy efficiency. Ports and coastal areas are a focus area of Fincantieri’s and Snam’s joint investigations, with projects examining the construction of infrastructure for the supply of LNG and alternative energy sources in maritime transport. However, new technologies to take advantage of LNG and other fuels will also be explored. Among the technologies highlighted – drawing on Fincantieri’s significant experience deploying gas turbines in cruise ships and naval vessels – are LNG-fuelled turbines. The emerging interest in new fuels and hybrid technologies could, it seems, be offering a new avenue of development for a technology that was beginning to lose ground in the commercial sector. MP

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56 | INTERVIEW Mark Slawson

Red Funnel prepares for biofuels and hybrid vessels After naming its first dedicated freight vessel in April, UK shortsea operator Red Funnel now outlines its plans for cleaner propulsion

lying the short, 12-mile route between Southampton and the Isle of Wight, it might seem that UK ferry operator Red Funnel is immune to the challenges of the wider maritime industry. Its business is assured by the steady flow of traffic between island and mainland, commercial competition is controlled by licensing, and overcapacity is no concern. But when it comes to environmental impact, coastal vessels serving densely populated areas are on the front line. For Red Funnel, that fact is driving some deep investigations into environmentally friendly fuelling for its eight-strong fleet. In April the company launched its first freight vessel, Red Kestrel. That might seem like a late move for a company that transports 53% of the freight moving between the Isle of Wight and the mainland. In fact, the decision was driven by rising

demand for passenger transport, says operations director Mark Slawson. “There were increasing periods during the year when we were becoming capacity constrained,” he says. “There’s demand for space but we can’t fit the people on. We did some analysis and the swiftest and easiest way to give us capacity, we concluded, was to take the freight off the ropax ships.” Red Kestrel, which came into operation in May, has capacity for 12, 44-tonne trucks. That move frees up the operator’s Raptorclass ropax vessels Falcon, Eagle and Osprey to carry more passengers – an additional 34 CEU each by bringing into play the mezzanine decks. The speed at which Red Funnel brought Red Kestrel into operation – it is just 14 months since the project began and the build, at UK yard Cammell Laird, was completed in a mere nine months – meant that simplicity

Mark Slawson (Red Funnel): The next Raptor-class ropax vessels will most likely be hybrid

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

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Chief engineer Aidan Bannon in Red Kestrel’s fore engineroom

was of the essence. The double-ended ferry features twin enginerooms fore and aft, each with a Cummins main engine and auxiliary. The company opted for direct drive propulsion, although Mr Slawson notes that diesel-electric and even hybrid configurations were considered. “We wanted to add capacity fast and that gets complicated quite quickly,” he says. “In terms of hybrid propulsion, I think we’re too near the cutting edge of technology at the moment.” The company is, however, considering hybrid propulsion for when its Raptor class needs renewal. The oldest, Falcon, was built in 1994, then stretched in 2004 and had two new lounges added to its superstructure in 2014. Renewal is on the horizon, but not imminent, says Mr Slawson. “I said to our board a while ago that when we need new ships, you need to give me a five-year run at it. We need to set the requirement, we then need to design the thing and build it. That will take five years.” The time will be needed to explore an expanding range of propulsion options. Red Funnel has already been running a project looking at hybrid propulsion for the new Raptors. The pace of change in hybrid technologies – especially battery power density – is changing rapidly and Mr Slawson says that being armed with that knowledge will help Red Funnel navigate the many complexities that face hybrid ships. “Our route is only 12 miles, but our current programme is an hour’s journey followed by half an hour alongside. So you need to ask how much power do I need to put into the batteries in that half hour to make sure I can go back and forth? To give you the safety of the operation you would need to have enough in the battery that you only charge at one end. Then you must recognise that you have to run your battery in between around 50-85% discharge to give

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it the longevity. If you dip down too far too often you shorten the life.” Mr Slawson believes the new Raptors will be hybrid – although, as a Tesla driver, he would prefer the fully electric option. But after investigating infrastructure in Cowes and Southampton, Red Funnel has not seen plans that would enable it to run the service using electric ships. The Red Kestrel’s engines will – pending approval from Cummins – be capable of running on hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO), a drop-in biofuel currently being tested on Red Falcon. Mr Slawson reports that a short test last year fitted emissions monitoring equipment to check levels at full MGO operation, full HVO and a 50:50 blend. That test confirmed that HVO is a drop-in fuel that can be used at any ratio. The impact on emissions – SOx, NOx and CO2 – was dramatic. Due to the success of that test, the company is now carrying out a longer trial on Falcon. A baseline set of engine parameters has been determined and engineers will explore settings in order to make the fuel even more efficient. Given the added cost of HVO, fuel efficiency will be crucial, although Mr Slawson believes that the price of the product will come down. “There is a greater focus on emissions and a lot of demand. Production of HVO is growing and I think prices will fall.” When that happens, Red Funnel is prepared to switch its fleet to HVO, even on its thirstiest vessels, a trio of fast ferries. “If we reach the point where HVO is truly competitive with MGO, then we could use it in our Red Jets as well,” says Mr Slawson. With an established fleet ready to run on cleaner HVO fuel and a long-term fleet renewal programme that it expects to be driven by hybrid vessels, Red Funnel is keeping an eye on environmental performance as well as capacity growth. MP

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THRUSTERS | 59

Thruster systems improve reliability and cost efficiency Thruster companies are investing in control and condition monitoring systems that will make pods more reliable and affordable for shipowners

Monitoring and control are crucial to operating thrusters effectively

hen Scandlines chose to upgrade the thrusters on its four hybrid ferries, running between Puttgarden in Germany and Rødby in Denmark, control improvements were a key factor. The company will spend more than €13M (US$14.7M) replacing CTZ35 thrusters provided by Rolls-Royce Commercial Marine with new AZP120 pulling azimuth thrusters. The pulling thrusters – four per vessel – provide a more homogenous flow of water into the propeller because the stream is not interrupted by the gearbox casing. The result is a more efficient propulsion arrangement and, critically for Scandlines, less noise and vibration. The control and automation system relating to the power and propulsion will also be upgraded, offering further efficiencies. According to Rolls-Royce vice president service sales Kjetil Nilsen, Scandlines is taking “a smart approach towards a greener fleet”. “Our tests of the chosen solution have shown a significant

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efficiency improvement, which will deliver a reduction of CO2 emissions,” he said. Meanwhile, Rolls-Royce's investment in the systems behind thruster technologies is continuing. It recently filed two patents that may eventually improve the condition monitoring of azimuthing thrusters. One of the difficulties of monitoring azimuth thrusters involves reliably powering sensors in the thruster body and transferring data from the rotating to the static part of the thruster. One current method of doing so involves using mechanical slip rings to convey data and power, but this has two major limitations: the first is cost, as slip rings need to be modified for each size and configuration of the thruster; the second is the wear this arrangement causes to the slip ring and shaftline, meaning regular service is needed. Rolls-Royce energy and health management specialists Werner Schiffers and Lars Saarinen believe the answer lies in resonant magnetic induction. Two inductors – one generating

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

60 | THRUSTERS

a magnetic field, the other generating an electrical current from that field – are configured so they can be rotated fully while still creating the electrical current. This enables power and data to be transferred wirelessly. “This would simplify wireless data and power transfer during health monitoring of marine thrusters,” said Mr Schiffers. “A major advantage of our idea is that the power and data-transferring parts of the condition monitoring unit can be retrofitted without removing the thruster from the ship’s hull.” There are other benefits too, stemming from the more robust and efficient transfer of power. The sensor in the thruster body would not require a battery, for example, and maintenance intervals could be extended as thruster designs are adapted to accommodate bigger, longer-lasting inductors. The commercialisation of the concept is not yet in sight, but it provides an intriguing example of how control and automation technology can influence the development and performance of thrusters. ZF Marine has recently introduced a condition monitoring system for its thrusters. The system measures vibrations which indicate the condition of the bearings and gears in the thruster's upper and lower gearbox. This helps operators to identify when early components need to be replaced or maintained. Repairs can be planned and a worsening in the condition of the components can be avoided, all of which prevents downtime and shortens maintenance time. This extends the service life of the monitored systems and components, allowing the operators to concentrate on their main job. The company has also introduced an oil cleaning system to improve the quality and service life of thruster oil. By heating up the oil, the water is evaporated while a cotton

filter filters out the particles down to 1 µm. Clean oil is pumped back into the system, which extends the service life of the oil by 10 to 15 times. Fewer oil top-ups are needed, saving ship operators money. ZF Marine sales manager Peter Toxopeus says: “Particularly with biodegradable oil, it is important to keep contaminants, such as water, out of the system so as to prevent downtimes caused by mechanical failures.” Meanwhile, propulsion has been selected for another advanced vessel in Norway, where fertiliser company Yara and Kongsberg have chosen pulling azimuth pods and bow thrusters for the world’s first fully electric and autonomous container ship, Yara Birkeland. Norwegian propulsion company Brunvoll beat competition from a wide field to win the deal for the highprofile project. It will supply two PU74 pulling azimuth thrusters of 900 kW and two FU63 tunnel thrusters of 700 kW each. The pods and bow thrusters feature highly efficient, big, slow-turning propellers of 2.2-m and 1.75-m diameter respectively. Brunvoll collaborated closely with naval architect Marin Teknikk to optimise the hull and propulsion. The companies conducted multiple model tests to deliver an efficient configuration, including streamlining the thruster gearboxes. Brunvoll vice president of sales and marketing Per Olav Løkseth said that the company’s strong relationships and reputation helped it secure the fiercely contested contract. The flexibility to deliver the propulsion arrangement within a tight timeframe was also crucial, he said. Yara Birkeland will be powered by a 6.8 MWh battery pack when it is delivered in 2020. The vessel will transport fertiliser between Yara’s factory at Herøya and the ports of Brevik and Larvik, cutting around 40,000 truck journeys a year. MP

Bakker repairs Stena Line bow thruster engine Sliedrecht-based Bakker Repair and Services has repaired the bow thruster engine of Stena Line ferry Stena Saga within a week of failure. Bakker was hired by Danish electro-technical company Scanel International. Scanel removed the engine from the ship and transported it by road to Sliedrecht. The 3.5-tonne electric motor was dismantled and inspected, revealing that a complete overhaul was required. The rotor had to be repaired and the stator needed rewinding. Within a week the engine was assembled, tested and sprayed externally. A day later, the repaired engine could be transported back to Denmark to be re-installed. "Such a job normally takes up to two and a half weeks, but we didn’t have that much time.” says Bakker Repair + Services sales support co-ordinator Sander Peters. Bakker Repair + Services specialises in the rewinding of electric motors, transformers and generators. It has its own rewinding shop with computer-controlled equipment. In the case of the bow thruster engine, buying a new engine would have been more expensive and would have taken longer, with delivery times of up to two months.

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

Stena Saga’s bow thruster motor under repair by Bakker

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WATERJETS | 63

Fast vessel owners search for simpler waterjets Waterjet manufacturers are streamlining their propulsion systems in response to demand for products that are simpler to install and maintain

he pace of product development across the waterjet sector belies the relatively mature technologies that dominate the market. As suppliers find innovative ways to reduce cost, weight and complexity, operators of fast craft are benefiting. Australian family owned specialist Doen WaterJets is seeing the results of long-term investments in simplifying its products. According to director of engineering Tim Udvary, the developments tackle one of the perennial challenges to waterjet uptake: the price premium compared to installing propellers. For the past decade or more the company has been focusing on two technologies that cut both complexity and cost. The result of both projects combined is a 20-30% reduction in the cost of the waterjet, as well as maintenance and durability benefits. The first development eliminates the need for a thrust bearing that is traditionally packaged with waterjets, explains Mr Udvary. “Waterjets are usually attached to a thrust bearing while propellers are not. But gearboxes are always made with a thrust bearing inside. We don’t need to add our own as long as we can position the jet in proximity to the gearbox,” he says.

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Doen’s direct power take-in recognises the increasing importance of hybrid power configurations for waterjets

No thrust bearing means no lubrication, cooling or maintenance requirements as well as removing parts and cost. The company has had prototypes in operation for about 12 years and started to tell customers about the product five or six years ago. The technology has now been made available to all its models – but it is not suitable to every application, says Mr Udvary. “The engine needs to be in a certain position. It is possible to get the engine close to the aft and in some cases, especially in high-speed craft, this is desirable. Depending on the application, having the engine near to the jets also means that you can carry more crew, cargo or passengers.” The second technology addresses one of the most expensive parts of the waterjet: the intake. These are often made of cast or plate metal, but Doen investigated whether moulded, fibreglass hulls could have intakes moulded with the hull. The moulding process means that the bottom half

of the intake cannot be moulded – a limitation that has led some companies to offer a moulded intake tube for retrofitting after the hull itself is moulded. Doen decided to mould the top half of the intake as part of the hull, bolting the bottom part to the transom afterwards. According to Mr Udvary, the integrated waterjet (IWJ) design is particularly suited to series production. Although there is some upfront cost for moulding, the return comes quickly when more vessels are made. IWJ and direct-thrust technologies have now been installed on more than 100 units. Most recently, two fibreglass catamarans built by Abu Dhabi-based Jalboot Marine have been launched for passenger service in the Maldives. They and their imminent three sister crafts feature twin DJ170HP-IWJ jets. In the governmental sector, which represents around 60% of Doen’s current business, Indonesia has ordered direct-thrust variants of the supplier’s DJ200, DJ200-DT jets for

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

64 | WATERJETS

eight combat boats. The company is also exploring opportunities around hybrid propulsion, driven by interest from customers for both low-speed electric manoeuvring as well as boosting top speeds with an electric motor. Here, the challenge for waterjets is in the design of impellers, which are tailored to a specific power output at a specific speed. “The impeller has a fixed relationship between power and rpm, so the trick is configuring it to work efficiently with both the electric motor and the diesel engine,” says Mr Udvary. “Making this work for both is about having a relationship with the diesel engine and electric motor companies and understanding the design limitations.” Doen’s tailored approach to impeller design, casting specific products for each application, means that it can tackle that challenge. What remained was to find a cost-effective way to connect the waterjet to the electric motor. Gearboxes with power-take in (PTI) are presently only available on some of the larger-size gearbox models. Clutchable PTIs that would be sandwiched between the diesel and transmission are available, but can cost more than the gearbox itself. The solution was to build a PTI directly into the waterjet. This is more cost-effective than a large device between the gearbox and waterjet and means that the PTI only has to be rated to the power of the electric motor, rather than the motor and the diesel

The impeller has a fixed relationship between power and rpm, so the trick is configuring it to work efficiently with both the electric motor and the diesel engine”

HamiltonJet’s HTX30 is the first of its waterjets to be subject to a portfolio-wide redesign

engine. Another advantage is that the captain has only one set of controls whether the waterjet is being powered by the electric motor, the diesel engine or both. Mr Udvary reports that the company has developed a PTI-enabled DJ170HP waterjet that connects with a BAE Systems 150 kW electric motor as part of their Hybrid Assist solution. The company can also make a PTI available on its DJ200 jet.

A trend for hybrids

New Zealand-based HamiltonJet also notes a trend for hybrid and electric-drive solutions on waterjet-equipped vessels. “This is still a small trend, but it is definitely here to stay,” says HamiltonJet CEO Ben Reed. The company is in the process of renewing its entire waterjet portfolio after developing a new design that, according to Mr Reed, delivers three benefits: between 3% and 7% improvement in thrust; up to 40% more bollard pull; and several knots improvement in minimum speed. “Achieving an improvement in all three of these together has been a goal of ours for some time as they usually trade off against each other,” he says. The first new jet to be launched was the HTX30. HamiltonJet, which

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

sells between 1,200 and 2,000 waterjets each year, reports good early sales of the new HTX30 jet. The company will eventually be replacing all 17 models in its portfolio, with the next new model to be launched this year. HamiltonJet has also investigated the perennial issue of corrosion in brackish water – something that affects vessels which spend a long time in estuarine waters, where lower salinities cause anodes to become less effective. The company spent two years capturing corrosion data from a test vessel in Hawkesbury river in Australia. Using this data, HamiltonJet developed advanced corrosion simulations which it now uses in jet design to optimise material selection, coatings, anode position and size. The result, says Mr Reed, is a tenfold improvement in brackish water corrosion resistance for its latest products. Last year HamiltonJet launched a new vessel control system, AVX, which offers a fully dual-redundant classapproved primary control system and improved user interface. The system is designed specifically to make the addition of new features and functions easy. One current function is a low-cost, open-water station-keeping system called JETanchor. Mr Reed explains that the company is working on a precise ⊲

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WATERJETS | 67

⊲ GP-based manoeuvring control that

can allow safe use both around moorings and closer in to obstacles. One key consideration for HamiltonJet as it developed its control system is that it should not be open to the internet, due to the risk of hacking or corruption. The company is working on a new architecture to allow its jets to connect to the internetof-things without breaking this rule. The system will be trialled on multiple vessels this year. “Ultimately it will allow us to provide our customers with connected services such as remote support and upgrades, predictive maintenance, vessel data logging and analysis, without any risk to the control of the vessel,” says Mr Reed. Given HamiltonJet’s exposure in the military and patrol sector – representing more than 40% of sales – it is not surprising that vessel autonomy has emerged as a trend that the company is looking into. The supplier has completed more than 80 installations on vessels with autonomous or remote-control systems. One publicly known example is a minesweeping platform built by Atlas Elektronik and operated by the UK Ministry of Defence. Mr Reed notes that autonomy does not just mean unmanned operation. “We believe ‘skipper assistance’ tools will play a bigger part in the short term, particularly in the commercial space where we are working on products to improve safety and productivity,” he says. One current example of ‘crew assistance’ is the partial automation of firefighting functions on two new vessels for the Singapore Civil Defence Force. The vessels deploy HM721 jets and Hamilton’s new firefighting control system. The fire pumps are driven off the front of the main propulsion engines and the waterjet control system manages the complicated clutch engagement, priming process and speed control. This leaves the captain free to steer the vessel and operate fire monitors.

www.mpropulsion.com

Increased manoeuvrability

The waterjet control system should not be open to the internet, due to the risk of hacking or corruption”

Swedish company Marine Jet Power (MJP) is also in the process of rolling out a new portfolio of waterjets that aims to simplify installation for smaller to mid-sized applications. Last July it introduced its X-series mixed-flow waterjets with the 700kW 310 X model (the 310 references the diameter, in millimetres, of the pump intake nozzle). Borrowing technology from MJP’s bigger waterjets, the X-series feature an aluminium skin to make maintenance simpler. To ease installations the jet comes preassembled on a skid, with hydraulics and an integrated intake. “It’s almost like a jet in a box,” says MJP chief executive Magnus Sörenson.

The 310 X and future X-series models feature cast-aluminium reversing buckets designed to decrease stopping distance and increase manoeuvrability. A new narrow design minimises the installation, while a mechanical tie bar synchronises steering with the helm pump. The first vessel with the new X-series waterjets has recently been on sea trials, Mr Sörenson reports. The 12-m fire and rescue vessel built by Italian builder Stem Marine has dual MJP 310 X waterjets. It reached speeds in excess of 40 knots. The company has already sold two batches of the new X-series waterjets and will serve a wider range of applications when it unveils further sizes – 280 mm and 350 mm – later this year. Durability is a point of focus for MJP, which delivered its first-ever waterjet package in 1987 to the operator of Stockholm archipelago ferry Cinderella II. Thirty-two years later, the company has recently upgraded the waterjets on the ferry after 60,000 running hours. Updates include new steering units, hydraulics and updated control systems. The vessel and its sister vessel still have their original pumps. Cinderella I and Cinderella II will

The improved impeller design on Wärtsilä's new WXJ waterjet series means more power can be introduced to the pump during manoeuvring

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

68 | WATERJETS

also be the first two vessels to receive a newly developed remote monitoring option for MJP’s JetMaster 3 Electronic controls. This allows the supplier to receive real-time data from the vessel to push software updates and run diagnostics remotely, reducing the time operators will have to wait for service. Italian waterjet specialist Castoldi has also upgraded its portfolio with the introduction of a 1,324 kW, 490-mm diameter unit. The major components have been completely redesigned, with a hydrodynamically optimised steering nozzle and reversing bucket offering higher precision. The new design aims to minimise performance loss while turning, as well as improving crash stop capability. Meanwhile, improved pump efficiency leads to better cavitation resistance, higher bollard pull and thrust compared to its predecessor. The new model is equipped with an integrated heavy-duty gearbox with 20 gear ratios, as well as a hydraulic clutch and unclogging system. The jet can be controlled by Castoldi’s ACES electronic control system, which manages the engines and all waterjet functions It can also be configured to include dynamic positioning and autopilot features. Propulsion generalists are also moving in on new waterjet technologies. In March, Wärtsilä launched a new series of modular

waterjets. The WXJ series will eventually replace the well-established LJX series. A new axial pump design has boosted performance, with an increased thrust of as much as 3%, while the improved cavitation margins help reduce the environmental impact by lowering noise levels. Unlike a non-axial design, the Wärtsilä waterjet does not expand in a radial direction downstream. As the water flow is directed through the pump along the most efficient path, it is easier to fit the jet to the available transom space. The reduced transom size also decreases the weight of the installation significantly. These weight optimisations and savings can be as high as 20% compared to non-axial jet designs. Thanks to the increased pump cavitation margin of 35% and the lower impeller tip speed, more power can be introduced to the pump during manoeuvring. This results in a 15% higher manoeuvring thrust and faster response to acceleration. Operating flexibility is improved thanks to a combination of the reduced number of shaft lines and the higher loads of the remaining engines. The first installation of the new jets will be on a new, 100-m wave-piercing catamaran ferry being built for Trinidad and Tobago by Incat in Tasmania. The vessel will be powered by four Wärtsilä

WXJ1200 waterjets. The ferry will be capable of a service speed of 36 knots and will be able to carry up to 1,000 passengers and 239 cars. Kamewa has also improved on one of its established models after more than three years of research and development. The A5 Series builds on the FF range with greater thrust and a more compact inboard footprint. Aimed at smaller boats of up to 25 m in length, the series is manufactured from aluminium and is available in seven sizes with power outputs between 100-1,230 kW. It will eventually replace the FF range. The central technology improvement of the A5 is a new single-stage axialflow impeller. The cavitation margin has been improved significantly which, combined with improved pump efficiency, offers a high bollard pull which improves vessel acceleration as well as station keeping. Other hydrodynamic improvements include a more streamlined steering nozzle and reversing bucket. According to Kongsberg Maritime general manager sales, Americas, Shival Sapre, the short delivery times and simplicity of installation compared to other waterjets of this size offers advantages for shipbuilders. “For vessels operating at speeds between 25 and 40 knots, it is a very cost-effective solution,” he says. MP

Marine Jet Power’s original reference Cinderella II will host a prototype of the supplier’s remote monitoring system

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

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EMISSIONS CONTROL | 71

Why the interest in scrubber finance? Shipowners may be better off refinancing scrubbers instead of trying to secure borrowing against an initial installation

Barry Bednar (Avantis Marine): “Financiers are not agnostic when it comes to scrubber manufacturers – they read the press just like anybody else”

www.mpropulsion.com

aradoxically, some of the factors that make scrubbers an attractive investment for the shipowner are actually a disincentive for financiers. That is according to Avantis Marine chief executive Barry Bednar, one of the speakers at the inaugural Americas Sulphur Cap 2020 Conference, held in Houston on 5-6 March this year. “We can talk a lot about scrubber payback periods, and the differential between high and low sulphur… I firmly believe [scrubber technology] is a valid investment,” said Mr Bednar. “What would be palatable for most people [looking to fund a scrubber purchase] would be an interest rate between 5% and 8% over a three- to five-year term, repaid in stages… In practice, there are a number of roadblocks for financiers to agreeing such terms, which means they are typically looking for annual returns of 10–15%.” One of the key reasons for the higher rate is that lenders believe they can only offer the financing as an unsecured loan. “Scrubbers are especially suited to installation on newbuilding vessels. However, newbuilds typically have a high debt ratio. In the event the owner breaches one of the covenants, lenders see their prospects of recovering anything against a scrubber as very remote.” When it comes to payback periods, no finance company wants to lend over a short period of time. The returns do not justify the work involved in pulling the deal together. Any early repayments would incur “some

serious penalty charges”. There is also trepidation when it comes to the prospects for financial recovery in the event an owner defaults. “How do you repossess a scrubber?” asked Mr Bednar. “It’s going to be nearly impossible once installed on a vessel.” And this in turn raises the unresolved legal question of whether a scrubber unit is an integral part of the vessel. Unlike radars, lifeboats and maybe even ballast water treatment systems, financiers are unclear of the extent they can threaten to remove systems in the event of non-payment.” Mr Bednar also noted that financiers are not agnostic when it comes to scrubber manufacturers – “they read the press just like anybody else” – and there is a sensitivity when it comes to financing scrubbers, given the present conversations in the media around open- and closed-loop systems. Part of this sensitivity is informed by ‘conversion risk’; this applies where a scrubber is incorrectly installed, or the scrubber does not work. Where this happens, the financier is left exposed. Surveying the different financing options available, Mr Bednar said leasing arrangements were of limited value. “Most leasing companies won't cover soft costs. They will only cover the installation of the scrubber itself. Some sort of pre-financing agreement will need to be arranged to cover training, design, modelling and so on.” An initially more promising variant would see the shipowner pay a monthly hire charge to a third party which has bought the scrubber outright and paid the

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

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EMISSIONS CONTROL | 73

associated costs. Such schemes are common in construction and are also attractive because the cost of the equipment is off the balance sheet. “This sounds great in principle until you talk to a finance person sitting in New York or Chicago and they consider the implications of financing a piece of equipment on a moveable asset with international ownership and registration,” explained Mr Bednar. He acknowledged that some major trading and oil companies have touted the idea of financing an owner’s full installation costs in exchange for entering into an agreement to buy high sulphur fuel at a premium. “Uptake on that has not been very good, as shipowners are loathe to give away their bunker choices to one client, or even a consortium of clients.”

In the event the owner breaches one of the covenants, lenders see their prospects of recovering anything against a scrubber as very remote”

Pay-as-you-save

There have also been discussions around ‘payas-you-save’ schemes, famously championed by Richard Branson, where repayment would

be linked to the price differential between high and low sulphur fuel and the savings the owner is expected to enjoy through continued use of high sulphur fuel. “Monitoring that is difficult and owners are likely to feel they are surrendering their competitive edge if they have to hand over all the savings being made straight away,” said Mr Bednar. Export finance arrangements were also seen as constraining, primarily because of their local-content requirements. “There is a scrubber manufacturer based in France that is trying to work with the French Government and French banks on this. But we've had a lot of roadblocks and just haven't been able to put it together,” he said. Governmental green finance initiatives were also considered. Last month ING and the European Investment Bank signed a €110M (US$125M) loan agreement to finance retrofitting 42 Spliethoff vessels with scrubbers and ballast water management systems. “The upside is the rates can be favourable. The downside is that these agreements are

Norwegian tanker owner uses export credit for scrubber retrofits Not all export finance contracts are hamstrung by local-content requirements. A Bergen-based tanker owner is to install scrubbers on its entire fleet using financing from Norway’s export credit agency. Inventor Chemical Tankers’ seven 19,000-gt chemical tankers qualify for export credit because they are deployed in foreign trade. Export Credit Norway and its guarantee agency GIEK will provide around US$10M in seven tranches, mirroring the retrofit equipment deliveries to take place over 2019. Financing is available for 85% of the contract value and will be integrated into Inventor Chemical Tankers’ existing loan facility with banks that financed the building of its fleet between 2015 and 2017. The company bought scrubber systems from Lysaker-based Clean Marine, meaning that the Norwegian component of the contract was higher than the 30% needed to qualify for export credit. “Clean Marine was very proactive in securing the sale agreement with Inventor Chemical Tankers, which liked our financing solution,” said Export Credit Norway senior vice president Laila Johnsen. “We offered the company a loan at a fixed rate set by the OECD. Since then, US interest rates have skyrocketed, and it is precisely when interest rates are rising

www.mpropulsion.com

that a fixed-rate loan is favourable.” Clean Marine CEO Nils Høy-Petersen says: “Securing financing for scrubber retrofits has proven difficult, given the relatively large investment required in terms of both equipment and installation. We plan to continue using export financing as a sales tool going forward.” Shipping companies can also apply for a framework credit agreement to finance retrofits of ballast water treatment systems.

Export credit integrated into existing loans eased the burden of scrubber retrofits for Inventor Chemical Tankers

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

74 | EMISSIONS CONTROL

slow-burning processes, the lenders are very conservative and often driven by localcontent requirements. Most scrubbers will be manufactured in the Far East. With nine months until the implementation date, this will limit uptake.” Mr Bednar’s company is working on approaches that will reduce the perceived risk for lenders, which in turn could reduce the interest rate. These include linking repayments with time-charter income or other interests or assets the shipowner might have, such as hotels or property. “Another thing we've tried to do – and had some traction – is around portfolio financing, or in other words, creating financing around 200 scrubbers for a range of owners.” A further initiative would see lenders able to attach a lien against a vessel in the event of non-payment. Under such terms an owner that had defaulted on the scrubber financing would not be able to

dispose of the vessel until the outstanding scrubber debt is repaid. “It’s a nascent idea and we’re looking primarily at options in English law, but it is something to consider,” he said. Mr Bednar also stressed the value of owners presenting a scrubber implementation plan when looking for financing. This is a plan whereby a shipowner in the run up to the IMO 2020 implementation date documents how they will deploy the scrubber, including on which routes, for what durations, and when using which fuels. “Financiers will feel more comfortable that an owner has their act together with the added benefit for the owner that it codifies their intentions as well.” Mr Bednar was also clear the outlook shifts when it comes to refinancing scrubbers once installed. “At that point you can demonstrate to a lender you have a working system and operational experience,” he said. MP

How do you repossess a scrubber?”

Chemical breakthrough simplifies scrubber consumables handling Easier handling will make magnesium hydroxide a more attractive option for ship operators using closed-loop scrubbers, after a breakthrough in the production of the alkali source. Magnesium hydroxide supplier Nedmag Industries has managed to keep the alkaline compound in stable suspension using wet grinding and the addition of a polymeric dispersant. The process means that the product no longer separates, so ship crew do not need to agitate it continuously.

The company currently supplies its product, under the MH53S Mare brand, to around 50 ships, with a further 30 being added each quarter. These include big ropax and container vessels for European owners. The Dutch supplier has engaged chemicals company Timab Magnesium to ensure global availability for the compound in the marine market. The companies plan to boost current distribution, which covers China as well as Europe, to make the product

A stable suspension brings operational and cost advantages for closed-loop scrubber users

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

available at key bunkering hubs. Nedmag sales manager Henk van den Berg notes that the volume of magnesium hydroxide required for scrubbing is 25% less than for the most common alkali source used with scrubbers, caustic soda. The magnesium suspension is also nonhazardous, meaning further cost savings by reducing the logistical complexity and safety precautions demanded for highly corrosive caustic soda. “Our belief is that more vessels will be driven to adopt closed-loop scrubbers as the use of open-loop scrubbers is restricted further by ports and in coastal waters,” Mr van den Berg says. Alkali sources, including caustic soda and magnesium hydroxide, are sprayed into exhaust gases to neutralise the highly acidic sulphur oxides found in the exhaust. They are not required for open-loop scrubbers, where seawater is used instead.

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GENERATORS | 77

Designers get creative with power generation

s demands for energy efficiency increase, shipowners are increasingly looking beyond their diesel gensets to find ways of generating electricity. The result is that waste energy – whether in the form of engine heat, shaftline torque, turbocharger exhaust or even shipboard waste – is being harnessed on vessels like never before. One example is the well-established power take-out (PTO) capability of shaft generators, as exemplified recently by Stena Line’s new E-Flexer ropax vessels, under construction at Avic Wehai shipyard in China. The first of a series of eight vessels, Stena Estrid, was floated on 16 January, the same day that the third E-Flexer, yard project number W0267, had its keel laid. A variable frequency drive from WE Tech enables efficient power distribution. In PTO mode, this drive allows the propulsion machinery to operate at variable speeds while the shaft generator provides the vessel’s

Conventional generators are not the only option for shipowners looking to boost their electricity supply

grid with electrical power. A common DC-link is used to distribute power, offering a direct link to large electrical consumers, such as thruster or large compressors through dedicated inverter units. This enables efficient power distribution and controlled short-circuit currents, which allows for lighter switchboards. Shaft generators are becoming a mainstay of electric generation on modern vessels. Canada’s Canal Marine & Industrial recently retrofitted an electric generator to Western Towboat’s Ocean Titan. The installation means the twin 200 kW diesel generators are dormant for days at a time during towing voyages to and from Alaska.

Manufacturers are finding ways to generate electricity from waste heat – here, Bowman’s ETC1000 is attached to an MTU 4000 engine

www.mpropulsion.com

Using a motor coupled to the front of one of the two Caterpillar main engines, a power conversion system housed in Canal’s electronic generator cabinet applies a controlled negative torque through the motor. This turns it into a generator which is used to maintain a DC bus that acts as a grid converter, providing power to support vessel services. Canal lead engineer Chris Wright says: “The system acts as a variable speed shaft generator, able to provide ample power at regulated voltage and frequency, while the main engine speed varies from idle to maximum rpm. It is no longer necessary to run lightly loaded diesel generators and the resulting increase in load on the large main engine is hardly noticeable.” But shaft generators are not the only option. A consortium, led by Bowman Power Group in the UK, has created an electricity-generation system that is able to harvest waste heat. After a four-year, £1.5M (US$1.9M) project in collaboration with Rolls-Royce, UCL and Lloyd’s Register, Bowman’s system indicated the potential for achieving fuel savings of up to 7.8% on a frigate vessel test case. The company used electric turbo compounding (ETC) technology to harness energy from the engine exhaust. Applied in-line or parallel to the engine’s turbocharger, the system produces electricity typically at around 1,000 Hz. To maintain engine performance, the turbocharger is re-matched to work with the turbo generator. Through the power electronics element of the system, the high-frequency electricity is converted into grid-quality electricity at 50/60Hz, as suited to a shipboard net. Bowman CEO Paul DowmanTucker says: “In the past year we have

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

78 | GENERATORS

explored and successfully entered a number of new markets, including active discussions with two large marine engine OEMs and a major ferry operator.”

Waste-to-energy

Passenger vessel operators are particularly interested in alternative sources of electricity generation, given their high demand for power from hotel functions. As a result – and as a result of the large volumes of waste generated on these ships – cruise lines are looking with greater interest at emerging wasteto-energy technologies. More suppliers are entering the market for converting onboard waste into heat and power. Expedition cruise company Mystic Cruises will install Terragon Environmental Technologies’ micro auto gasification systems on two ships ordered last year, to be built at West Sea Viana Shipyard in Portugal. The systems heat carbon-based waste, creating a gas comprised of hydrogen and carbon monoxide that is used to fuel the process and provide up to 150 kW in heat energy for other on-board consumers. This avoids the formation of harmful substances associated with conventional incineration, while emissions to air are further reduced by the addition of an exhaust gas cleaning unit. The dual order is part of an overall waste-treatment package to be executed by Terragon, Delitek and Marship Engineering. It follows a similar arrangement for Mystic’s previous newbuild, World Explorer, due to enter service this year. The sister ships will follow in 2020 and 2021. Another gasification technology is close to commercialisation. Norwegian company Teco Tech uses recaptured heat generated in the gasification process through proprietary sodium heat pipe economisers, making the system even more efficient. “Looking at the different vessel segments, our gasiﬁcation unit would offer the greatest beneﬁts to the cruise industry,” says Teco Tech CEO Henrik Brixen. “It would not only cut down their vessels’ energy consumption, it

Bowman’s electro-turbo compounding technology enables electricity generation from the engine exhaust

could also generate large amount of syngas, which could be used to power other systems on board.” The company is running a technology qualification with class society DNV GL and cruise companies Royal Caribbean Cruises, Carnival Corp and Norwegian Cruise Line. The project involves risk analysis down to component level to identify potential weaknesses in a newly developed system. Other technologies are emerging, including pyrolysis, which is like gasification, but also creates a solid or liquid (char) that can be used as fuel. Microwave-assisted pyrolysis uses microwaves to reduce the energy required to turn waste into usable gases. Norwegian company Scanship is developing this technology for shipboard use and has already signed an agreement with new cruise company Virgin Voyages to provide systems. The line’s first ship, Scarlet Lady, is due for delivery next year and is expected to use the technology. Scanship’s process turns all carbonbased waste – including food, sewage, paper, wood, plastics and oils – into flammable gas, bio-oil and charcoal, which can be used to satisfy other energy demands on the ship. The company estimates that a cruise ship carrying 5,000 passengers can reduce fossil fuel consumption by 1,800 tonnes a year, eliminating 6,500 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. Shipping’s big technology suppliers are also beginning to look at the potential of waste-to-energy. Wärtsilä

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

will launch a gasification system this year. The technology will initially be tested on one of Carnival Corp’s existing vessels, with a view to rolling it out on its newbuilds, starting with those due for delivery in 2021. Conventional electricity generation using engine-based gensets is also evolving to accommodate new technologies. Bakker Sliedrecht has developed a generator protection system for dual-fuel vessels which operate with a dynamic positioning (DP) system. Generator protection is used to prevent a blackout and to stop malfunctioning generators from affecting the performance of other generators. Protection is even more crucial with dual-fuel generators, which feature more complex controls and operating modes. Without generator protection, a complex DP vessel would not receive a certificate to operate in DP2 or DP3 closed-bus mode. Bakker Sliedrecht’s system uses software to detect and disable an ‘unhealthy’ generator before it can affect the ‘healthy’ generators, making the entire power plant unstable. It has been extensively tested in a test set-up of four generators and has received approval from DNV GL. “Our technology will prevent the ship from getting out of position,” says Bakker Sliedrecht technology manager Paul Bracké. “That requires not only the first dual-fuel generator protection system, but also a good power management and zone security system, including an experienced operator.” MP

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HEAT EXCHANGERS | 81

Doeksen deploys heat recovery on Wadden catamarans Compact heat recovery will provide enough power for port manoeuvring on two gas-fuelled passenger catamarans

ater this year, Dutch shipping company Doeksen will put two new catamarans into service on the environmentally sensitive Wadden Sea, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2009. The ships, built in Vietnam by Strategic Marine, bundle environmental technologies and materials to make the operation as sustainable as possible. The 70-m vessels, which will sail between Harlingen and the islands of Terschelling and Vlieland from mid-2019, carry up to 66 vehicles and around 600 passengers. A lightweight aluminium body significantly reduces fuel consumption compared to a traditional steel hull. The vessels are powered exclusively by LNG via pure gas engines from MTU. Even more innovative than the engines is the process of using waste heat recovery on the ships. Doeksen managing director Paul Melles notes that – however environmentally friendly the fuel you use – more than 50% of the energy contained in fuel is lost as waste heat when using internal combustion engines. “The waste heat simply evaporates in the air or is dumped into the sea,” says Mr Melles. “Using waste heat to generate electricity that can be used on board is a crucial step forward. But installation space on board a ship is strictly limited, so we were looking for a solution that not only worked but above all was compact.”

www.mpropulsion.com

Doeksen selected a system from Munich-based company Orcan Energy, which has been building solutions for converting waste heat into electricity for industry, mobility and power generation for several years. Orcan’s efficiency packs are the size of a shower cabin. In order to use the heat contained in the engine exhaust gases to drive an electric generator, the catamarans were each equipped with two efficiency packs, each generating an electrical net output of up to 100 kW. The packs are based on the Organic Rankine Cycle, in which a refrigerant is continuously cycled to convert waste heat into mechanical work. Waste heat is withdrawn from the heat source by a heat exchanger and delivered to an efficiency pack by an intermediate hot-water circuit. The heat is transferred through the evaporator into the refrigerant circulation process loop. In the evaporator, the refrigerant is then supplied in vapour form, as superheated steam, to the expansion machine, turning the rotary screws of the expander. This rotational energy is in turn used to drive a generator that generates electricity. After the expansion machine, the still gaseous refrigerant is liquefied in the condenser and then re-pressurised by the feed pump. The refrigerant has now completed the cycle and re-enters the evaporator to absorb waste heat again. The power generated is converted

Compact efficiency packs enable waste heat recovery on Doeksen's vessels

into direct current by a frequency converter to charge batteries, which supply electric power to bow thrusters when manoeuvring in harbour. The waste heat recovery system thus covers the entire energy demand for this intensive operation. The result is an annual CO2 reduction of 318 tonnes for each efficiency pack – a saving of 260,000 litres of fuel and 462,600 kWh a year. The catamarans have yet to enter service, but Orcan is already growing its marine orderbook. According to chief executive Andreas Sichert, the company will soon reach orders for 32 installations. Depending on the size of the heat source on board, Orcan delivers a stack of three to five modules (300-500 kW). For high-powered ships (such as the biggest container vessels), the company could marinise its industrial module, with each module supplying 400 kW, resulting in the supply of 1 MW of electric power to large ships. MP

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

82 | HEAT EXCHANGERS

Heat exchangers deliver cool savings For both LNG-fuelled and electric propulsion concepts, advanced cooling is emerging as a key efficiency enabler

ew research on glycol freezing has driven developments in heat exchanger technology that are set to benefit users of LNG fuel. A fluid mix including glycol is often used as a medium for heat exchange, but the extreme temperatures at which gas is liquefied means that freezing the mix is a risk. This presents problems for the use of plate-and-shell heat exchangers used in the vaporisation of gas fuel. “With more and more ships relying on LNG as fuel, we are seeing greater demand for durable vapouriser technology that can dependably resist freezing and the fatigue caused by pressure and temperature,” says Alfa Laval head of marine heat transfer equipment Jonny Hult. “A glycol mix with a freezing point of around -50°C has the potential to freeze when it meets plate surfaces as cold as -90°C. Solving this problem with a higher glycol flow is a very expensive solution for our customers.” Alfa Laval has worked with SINTEF Energy Research to find the optimal correlation of flows on both sides and thereby avoid freezing of fluid on the hot side. This will allow shipbuilders to use a more compact design with smaller pumps and pipes, reducing cost. Mr Hult explains that the company’s own plate heat exchanger, DuroShell, has been optimised for use as a vapouriser in fuel gas applications. The stainless-steel design allows it to handle LNG entry temperatures that approach -170°C or lower. A patented ‘cutwing’ plate pattern also helps, providing high

turbulence that improves heat transfer efficiency and reduces the risk of freezing and fouling. There is also scope for rethinking the role of heat exchangers in cooling for hybrid or electric propulsion. While electrical propulsion systems are generally more tolerant of temperature increases compared to traditional combustion engines, there is an important area where higher temperatures can have a detrimental effect on the performance of the components within a drivetrain. Tests undertaken by manufacturers show that in order to maintain performance and extend the operating life of drivetrain components, temperatures must be kept as low as possible. According to Bowman marketing manager Phil Allman, a universal principle of electronics says that a 10⁰C lower temperature will double the life expectancy of electrical components and that is certainly true for electric marine propulsion systems. While component lifecycle is significant, there is another issue to consider, he says: “In many electric propulsion systems, sophisticated sensor-based controls are used to monitor the health and performance. If the water temperature within the cooling circuit rises beyond specified levels, this will be identified by the sensors and power to the drive train reduced to protect the system components.” For users, the implications of this switch into ‘limp mode’ could range from simply frustrating, to the

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

Jonny Hult (Alfa Laval): Seeing greater demand for durable vapouriser technology

downright dangerous, depending on water and weather conditions. Mr Allman explains how one company is overcoming this problem by designing the cooling circuit of its 100 kW drivetrain to operate at a maximum temperature of 60⁰C. This is based on a maximum cooling water intake temperature of 35⁰C and using Bowman heat exchangers to ensure consistent and accurate cooling of all components. The rapid development and growth of higher-powered (60 kW plus) drivetrains has also created a need for more efficient component cooling circuits to manage the heat loads generated, something which companies are now designing into their ranges. Primary cooling requirements for these systems include the battery pack and onboard charger (where fitted), AC-DC converter, DC-DC converter, plus the electric drive motor itself. MP

www.mpropulsion.com

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84 | INTERVIEW Ketil Olaf Paulsen

Breathing life into Yara Birkeland Battery charging arrangements for the world’s first all-electric container feeder are as challenging as the plans to prepare the vessel for autonomous operations

t may not be unmanned by the end of 2020, but I hope there will be two guys on board drinking coffee while the vessel sails itself.” That picture of an idyllic workplace comes from Kongsberg Maritime director of technology Ketil Olaf Paulsen. He is responsible for leading the specification of Yara Birkeland, the 120-TEU vessel that will be the first fully electric container feeder when it is delivered in early 2020 and later the world’s first fully autonomous vessel. Unlike those lucky future crew, the scope and pace of work on Yara Birkeland has been frenetic since the project was announced in mid-2017. Kongsberg, which is leading the project to deliver the design, ship systems and automation for the vessel, demonstrated the concept model in September that year. In May 2018 it agreed a co-operation with cargohandling specialist Kalmar to build an autonomous cargo-handling system at Porsgrunn, including the world’s first

“

YARA BIRKELAND PRINCIPAL PARTICULARS Length Beam Draught (full) Service speed Cargo capacity Deadweight Propulsion Battery capacity

79.5 m 14.8 m 6m 6 knots 120 TEU 3,200 tonnes 2 x azimuth pods, 2 x tunnel thrusters 7 MWh

Yara Birkeland will connect automatically to shore power at one port, with a manual back-up at the other

fully automated rail-mounted gantry crane. And in August it awarded Vard the NOK250M (US$29M) contract to build the vessel. Work on the hull began at Vard Braila in Romania in December and the finished ship will be delivered from Vard Brevik. Contracts for equipment supply have also been flowing rapidly. In November Kongsberg selected Swiss battery provider Leclanché to supply the 7 MWh battery packs for the vessel. They are expected to be the biggest in the world when delivered. Norwegian company Brunvoll was selected to provide propulsion for the vessel, via two PU74 pulling azimuth thrusters of 900 kW and two FU63 tunnel thrusters of 700 kW each. There are two very distinct design challenges in that description: first and foremost is the powering. Given the innovative nature of the pure

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

battery vessel, redundancy was a key requirement. The batteries will be split into four separate battery rooms, with just one capable of providing the power to return to port in an emergency. The 900 kW azipulls also provide redundancy through twin shaftlines. The provision of shore power has yet to be contracted for. Connection will be possible in at least one of the ports and, although there will be automatic connection, the company has not opted for wireless charging as some other recent projects have. At present, wireless charging is not capable of providing the amount of energy needed, explains Mr Paulsen. Assessing charging requirements has been a challenge, given the potential for variation in Yara Birkeland’s operating profile. The amount of cargo to be delivered is a decisive factor in determining the window that the vessel

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Ketil Olaf Paulsen INTERVIEW | 85

has for charging. At full load, with 120 containers – each taking up to three and a half minutes to load or unload – there is a relatively long time. But at 70 containers, time will be more constrained. The requirement for charging periods of multiple hours may seem high compared to the fast turnarounds achieved by ferries along the Norwegian coast. But the power demand for Yara Birkeland is much higher, and journeys less frequent than those of small vessels. While ferries require just a short top-up between journeys, Yara’s vessel could be draining batteries down to around 30% capacity each time. Although plans have not been finalised, it is likely that shore connection will be made available at both ports, says Mr Paulsen. “All our calculations show it is possible to recharge at only the main port. But if the other port has infrastructure for charging as well, if something should happen – like bad weather – they can connect manually and charge there.” The other aspect of the design challenge is the planned autonomous operation of the vessel. According to Mr Paulsen this is more of a logistical challenge than a technical one. He reports that most of the onboard systems have been confirmed. “The main challenge there is that we are working with the Norwegian Maritime Administration (NMA) as they are developing rules and requirements. It’s a little bit like aiming for a moving target.” The process has involved Kongsberg making proposals about the systems it wants to install and NMA investigating whether they are sufficient, as well as setting procedures for verification. Between them, regulator and operator must agree that safety is as good as, or better than, a normally manned ship. One example of the challenges ahead for Yara Birkeland’s autonomous operation – and for all autonomous vessels – is a collision avoidance strategy that complies with international regulations. Although,

www.mpropulsion.com

Ketil Olaf Paulsen (Kongsberg): Developing systems as regulations emerge has been “like aiming for a moving target”

says Mr Paulsen, the challenge is “mainly because we know that other ships don’t stick to colregs”. The use of audio channels is one example. Traditionally ships communicate both with other ships and to shore using mainly audio VHF channels. Kongsberg hopes Yara Birkeland will not have to do this in the long run, as digital communications would be much more effective. But as the project starts, Mr Paulsen accepts that the ship will need to have some form of audio communication system. “There will be digital information sent to the vessel traffic system with route plan, timetables and so on,” he

says. “But in some cases, we might also need audible VHF communication. If you encounter a small fishing vessel, for example, you can only communicate over radio.” As soon as the vessel leaves the shipyard, Yara and Kongsberg will begin testing it for autonomous operation, checking functions one by one – including docking situations, transit, mooring and all functions that will comprise the complete unmanned system. The local maritime authority will give the vessel an exemption on crewing levels so that only two crew will be needed on board while these tests are carried out. There will also be a monitoring and remote-control centre capable of taking over the vessel if needed. In terms of autonomous sailing systems, there should be few surprises. Kongsberg has projects on vessels all along the Norwegian coast that are trialing parts of the technology that will feed into Yara Birkeland, including autonomous docking and transit on vessels of a similar size. “For sailing from port to port, most systems should have been tested for some time,” says Mr Paulsen. “But then we will have the mooring system, the automatic shore power connection and the interface with the autonomous crane to test. There will be enough challenges.” MP

Model tests for Yara Birkeland honed the efficiency of hull form and propulsion, reducing battery power demand

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

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ENERGY STORAGE | 87

Better together: batteries and fuel cells As shipping experiments with hybrid propulsion arrangements, batteries and fuel cells are increasingly seen as complementary, rather than competing, technologies

t is five years since the first full battery-powered vessel, the Norwegian ferry Ampere, entered service in May 2015. There were around 55 vessels with batteries fitted at that date; today there are 166 vessels in operation with batteries on board and orders for a further 161, according to the Maritime Battery Forum. Suppliers of battery technology have responded to this surge in interest with dedicated investment in the sector. Early last year Corvus – the marine battery leader, with a 32% market share (59 vessels in operation) – announced plans to open an NOK80M (US$9.3M) fully automated marine battery factory in Bergen in late 2019, with an annual production capacity of 400 MWh. In January this year, Siemens opened its own robotic factory further up the Norwegian coast in Trondheim. With capacity to produce 300 MWh of battery modules, Siemens’ factory is smaller than Corvus’ planned facility. But it is a significant investment relative to the size of the company’s existing business in the marine sector: although Siemens has acted as the battery system integrator on 33 ships in service, it has used its own modules very infrequently. The new site, which can build more than six batteries in each shift, will help it serve what it sees as a growing market in the marine and offshore sectors. Vessels like Ampere that run solely on batteries remain in the minority. Of the battery-equipped vessels in operation and on order, 75% are hybrid. Of those, only 23% are charged by a shore connection, with the remainder taking charge only from engines. And while small coastal ferries remain the mainstay of battery uptake, their use is quickly expanding into other sectors.

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Siemens’ Offshore Marine Center in Trondheim has been supplemented by a robotic battery factory

“Every vessel project now begins with a discussion about the use of batteries or alternative fuels,” says DNV GL maritime systems leader and Maritime Battery Forum managing director Sondre Henningsgård. He highlights the offshore sector as one with big potential for growth, with multiple suppliers – among them Corvus and Siemens – offering containerised solutions for offshore supply vessels. Nearly 30 offshore vessels will be fitted with batteries between 2019 and 2021, according to the forum’s figures. Siemens has its eye on offshore growth. Northern Drilling will introduce the first energy storage system on a semisubmersible rig when West Mira begins operations in the North Sea this year. The rig’s diesel-electric generators will be supplemented by a lithium-ion system, Siemens’ BlueVault, that is expected to cut the running time of the platform’s diesel engines by an estimated 42%. That will cut CO2 emissions by 15% and NOx emissions by 12%. The solution consists of four converter and battery systems with a total maximum power of 6 MW. Siemens head of offshore solutions Bjørn Einar Brath says: “Offshore rigs have highly variable power consumption for drilling and dynamic positioning. By incorporating energy

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

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ENERGY STORAGE | 89

storage, it is possible to reduce the runtime of diesel engines and keep them operating on an optimised combustion level. This ultimately leads to lower emissions.”

Hybrid gas carriers

Other sectors are also beginning to take note. Earlier this year the first of Teekay Offshore’s unusual hybrid shuttle tankers was delivered by Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI). The tanker, one of four on order with a further two options, features dual-fuelled LNG propulsion by engines that are also capable of burning volatile organic compounds (VOC) given off by the vessel’s cargo. Batteries are also installed, meaning that Wärtsilä auxiliary engines can burn VOCs as they are emitted and store the energy to use with the vessel’s dieselelectric propulsion. As a result of that project, Wärtsilä and SHI have formed a partnership to explore the use of batteries on further tankers and – for the first time – in the gas carrier segment. The project will aim to optimise the capital and operational costs of these vessel types while expanding the use of efficient, hybrid solutions. SHI is also interested in entering the marine market with its own batteries – sister company Samsung SDI is a big producer of lithium-ion batteries and is growing its business in energy storage. Samsung will be able to use Wärtsilä’s hybrid centre in Trieste – a facility that enables the full-scale testing of hybrid propulsion arrangements – to explore the best battery properties and specifications for marine use. Wärtsilä sales director, merchant segment Stein Thorsager says: “They see the advantage of using batteries as part of the energy demand on board and strongly believe this will be of value for other tankers and gas carriers.” Gas carrier propulsion is usually provided by two-stroke engines, with medium-speed engines catering for onboard

We are witnessing early indicators of long-term disruption in the marine industry, with dirty diesel engines being substituted by zero-emission fuel-cell systems” power demand including re-liquefaction and cargo loading. Batteries could replace an auxiliary engine and be used to tackle peaks in energy demand, allowing the remaining auxiliaries to be operated at a more optimal load. This would reduce fuel consumption as well as cut maintenance on the remaining engines. Mr Thorsager notes that some LNG carriers already deploy electric propulsion. These arrangements make it easy to consider adding batteries to the set-up. “We believe in electric propulsion for some of the smaller LNG carriers,” he says. “We already see interest in such concepts from shipowners and charterers who are looking at all options to reduce their emissions to meet IMO targets.” Batteries can offer significant fuel economies – the Teekay shuttle tankers anticipate using 22% less fuel than similar vessels as a result of their ability to burn VOC and store energy in batteries. But the extent to which batteries can help shipping to meet its greenhouse gas emission targets depends heavily on how the electricity is generated in the first place. Electricity from diesel engines will not allow ships to eliminate carbon emissions. And while electricity from shore power would eliminate shipboard emissions, current battery technology can only provide enough charge for relatively short journeys. “Batteries alone do not solve the problem,” agrees Mr Henningsgård. “But they will enable the solution.”

Fuel cells to the fore

The shuttle tanker Aurora Spirit is among the first vessels in its sector to deploy batteries for propulsion

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Fuel cells are gaining traction as a potential solution for decarbonisation. Fuel cells do not store energy but convert it to electricity from an external fuel source (often hydrogen), as opposed to batteries which store and then discharge electricity. Investment in these technologies – and the number of projects aiming to deploy them in the marine arena – has advanced rapidly in the first few months of 2019. Mirroring the move by battery makers Corvus and Siemens, in March fuel-cell company Ballard Power Systems announced plans to open a factory dedicated to the production and repair of marine fuel cells. Ballard’s Marine Centre of Excellence will open in Hobro in Denmark this year, with an annual production capacity of more than 15 MW. “We are witnessing early indicators of long-term

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

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ENERGY STORAGE | 91

166

One of Havila Kystruten’s cruise ferries will feature a hybrid fuel-cell-battery combination

disruption in the marine industry, with dirty diesel engines being substituted by zero-emission fuel-cell systems,” says Ballard Europe president and CEO Jesper Themsen. Given the pace of progress this year, his belief is understandable. Although not yet applied in the marine sector, fuel-cell technology is relatively well understood. There have been several large marine research projects in recent years and investigations are turning to how fuel cells can best be operated and integrated. One of the partnerships exploring this topic is GE Power Conversion and fuel-cell company Nedstack, which has designed a multi-megawatt hydrogen power plant for passenger vessels. Crucial to this design – which uses proton-exchange membrane cells fuelled with hydrogen and produces electricity, water and heat with no exhaust gasses – is electric control. Variable-speed electric drives will be used to optimise the control of the fuel cells and distribute the electricity generated. Turning fuel cells on and off frequently reduces their life expectancy and can be limited by using electric drives and a power management system. This will allow fuel cells to reach the required five-year drydock intervals. As with batteries, Norway is proving to be a driving force in the early marine uptake of fuel cells. Two projects for fuel-cell-powered commercial vessels received funding under the Pilot-E initiative. Organised by Norway’s Research Council, Innovation Norway and Enova, Pilot-E supports several environmental projects each year. Of the six to receive

Batteries could replace an auxiliary engine and be used to tackle peaks in energy demand, allowing the remaining auxiliaries to be operated at a more optimal load”

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current number of vessels in operation with batteries on board

funding in the latest round, two are in the commercial marine sector and feature hydrogen fuel cells. Multimodal operator Samskip is leading a project to develop two container ships for shortsea routes between Oslo, Poland and the western coast of Sweden. The ships will be entirely electric and will be powered by hydrogen fuel cells. The Seashuttle project team includes technology supplier Kongsberg, hydrogen specialist Hyon and Massterly, the autonomous vessel solutions joint venture between Kongsberg Maritime and Wilhelmsen. The grant follows €6M (US$6.8M) already received from the Norwegian Government. Meanwhile Norwegian shipyard and marine technology group Havyard has been granted Nkr104.3M (US$12M) to develop a ‘high-capacity hydrogen energy system’. It will be installed on one of four cruise ferries being built for new Norwegian coastal operator Havila Kystruten. The system, combined with batteries, will enable the ship to sail without emissions for five times longer than other planned or existing vessels. It will be installed and in operation by the end of 2022.

Working in unison

The mention of batteries and fuel cells working side-by-side in the Havila Kystruten system is important. For any but the smallest marine fuel-cell application, energy storage is an essential part of the power system. If power produced by fuel cells cannot be used immediately, it must be stored. For some advanced fuel-cell designs that must be turned on constantly, batteries are essential for taking the excess charge. A project by researchers at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) has proposed a hybrid power system centred on solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) running at a constant load. Batteries would store any excess electricity generated when electricity demand is lower than the SOFC output, while syngas produced by the cells would be processed to hydrogen that could fuel auxiliary proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells at peak power demand. SOFCs developed by EPFL have achieved 75% efficiency,

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

92 | ENERGY STORAGE

compared to just over 50% for the most efficient engines, conditions that a ferry is expected to encounter on a highbut can take 20 hours to reach full capacity. They can be frequency, 10-km route. used to produce a combination of electricity, hydrogenFuel cells need batteries – or at least some form of energy rich synthesis gas, and high-temperature heat. This heat storage – to be truly effective in helping to decarbonise would be used in a purifying process – consisting of a twoshipping. And, surprisingly, there could be more barriers stage water-gas shift reactor and a pressure swing to uptake for relatively mature batteries than for the absorption unit – to generate hydrogen. The only fledgling fuel-cell technology. Chief among them by-products would be CO2 and water. are cost and energy density. EPFL researcher Francesco Baldi explains On Hurtigruten’s battery-assisted cruise that the hybrid power system would suit ships, Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen, cruise ships because of their diverse power the installed 1.35-MWh systems occupy just granted to Havyard to demands, compared to the mainly propulsive a fraction of the battery rooms designed help develop a highpower needed for merchant vessels. SOFCs to accommodate installations of up to 6.5 capacity hydrogen can run on a wide variety of gas and liquid MWh. When those installations are complete, energy system fuels, while PEMs use hydrogen fuel, which they are expected to weigh around 80 tonnes. would require vast storage space on board if That is nearly half the total weight of the four used as the main power source. Rolls-Royce B33:45 engines that cater for the While solid oxide fuel cells may be a more distant majority of the vessels’ power needs. prospect, other projects are exploring the combination of It is not hard to see why big battery packs have yet to find ‘traditional’ PEM cells with batteries. One is being conducted applications on more weight-sensitive vessels. And technology by Norwegian shipyard Fiskestrand, which is exploring how advances that are expected to bring battery energy density to hydrogen fuel cells and batteries can be used on a short ferry a new level are proving painfully slowly to emerge. According route from next year. to research institute BloombergNEF, solid-state batteries – the The shipyard’s HYBRIDship project is considering the next great hope in scaling down battery technology – are not optimum engineroom layout for fuel cells as well as how they expected to have a 'meaningful impact' on the electric vehicle can be integrated with other systems. The aim is to ensure market until the late 2020s. For the more conservative and that propulsion (including fuel cells) is robust enough for challenging marine market, it could be much later. repetitive, short-burst service. Even more than batteries though, it is answers to the The SINTEF Ocean laboratory in Trondheim and ABB will hydrogen challenge that will determine the success of fuel assess how fuel cells and batteries can best function together cells in shipping. The difficulty of storing hydrogen in large for short-distance ferry operations. The tests will simulate the volumes is well known. Even in its most compact, liquefied form, hydrogen takes up twice the space of LNG. For vessels taking long voyages between bunkering, this is a key issue. Storage concerns could be overcome only with major changes to vessel design. Adapting bunkering schedules would not be a possibility unless the availability of commercial liquefaction plants, in Europe in particular, is dramatically improved. But there is a more fundamental issue than storage. Fuel cells can only cut greenhouse gas emissions from well-towake if they use clean fuel. There are technologies emerging which could supply renewable hydrogen. Large-scale electrolysis plants have been designed for onshore use, which would deliver many hundreds of tonnes per day. Hydrogen could also be produced cleanly by combining natural gas steam reforming with carbon capture and storage. And a recent breakthrough by Stanford University researchers could make seawater electrolysis effective at greater volumes. None of these solutions will be available at commercial scale imminently. The question therefore remains whether renewable sources of hydrogen can be scaled up rapidly enough to contribute to shipping’s relatively urgent need for decarbonisation. The Norwegian Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Centre, where Fuel cells will play a role in the decarbonisation of shipping. SINTEF is testing marine configurations that could But the size and timing of that role will be decided largely by significantly impact emissions progress in the fields of batteries and renewable hydrogen. MP

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94 | SWITCHBOARDS

Power distribution adds to shipping’s technology challenge New solutions are emerging as increasingly complex ship arrangements bring complications for onboard power distribution systems

hether shipowners are installing new emissionsabatement technology or making the move to hybrid propulsion, each new consumer that is added to a vessel brings more potential complexity to power arrangements. But there is help at hand as some enterprising system integrators and component suppliers are finding innovative ways to simplify the process of adding new equipment. Hamburg-based engineering company E-MS has developed a standardised solution for supplying power to scrubbers. Using its scrubber power-pack technology, the relatively

high power consumption of the scrubber can be integrated simply into the existing onboard electric network. Container-shipping company Peter Döhle is the first to use it. “Scrubber manufacturers, shipyards and shipping companies all face the challenge of how to accommodate exhaust scrubbers on ships and how to connect them to the onboard system,” explains E-MS managing director Peter Andersen. “The energy required just to operate the scrubber on large container ships is around 2 MW. The technical complexity and expenditure associated with this is immense and

Variable frequency drives enable propulsion at varying speeds using a shaft generator

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

often underestimated.” The standardised system is based on a tried-and-tested solution developed by E-MS for supplying power to electric networks and propulsion systems on board megayachts, cruise ships and research vessels. This space-saving propulsion technology allows precise control of the required electrical energy. This both reduces fuel consumption and lowers exhaust emissions. It is especially effective where there are large fluctuations in power requirements. The power supply to the scrubber is controlled directly from the medium voltage circuit of the main switchboard and requires the addition of a single cabinet. The resulting AC voltage can be adapted to requirements and so is available independently of the rest of the low-voltage network on board. This eliminates the need to build a complex and expensive decentralised power supply with additional electrical components. “We are implementing this new technology as part of exhaust scrubber retrofitting on our four biggest container ships,” said Peter Döhle naval architect Philipp Hesse. The four ships involved – Fabiola, Filomena, Fillippa and Faustina – each has a cargo capacity of 13,400 TEU and propulsion power of 41,000 kW. Mr Andersen reports that negotiations are in progress with large charter and liner shipping companies, as well as scrubber manufacturers. Better distribution Stena’s first E-Flexer ropax vessel, of which eight are to be built, was floated out from AVIC Weihai’s shipyard in China in January. The efficient ferry features technologies developed by WE Tech, including a permanent magnet shaft generator that the company says is 5% more efficient than traditional shaft generators. In part load the efficiency gain from permanent magnet motors is even higher. The system significantly decreases ships’ fuel consumption, operational costs and maintenance by allowing

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SWITCHBOARDS | 95

them to turn off auxiliary generators during sailing. In power take-out mode, the permanent magnet shaft generator is driven by the main engine to generate the ship’s electrical power without using the auxiliary generators. The shaft generator operation is made possible by a variable frequency drive – the WE Drive – which ensures that propulsion machinery can operate in variable speed mode while feeding into the shaft generator. Large electrical consumers can have their inverter units connected directly to the WE Drive’s DC-link switchboards for more efficient power distribution, rather than through an AC switchboard. The drive also conditions electricity received via shore power for the ship’s electrical system, managing the variation in voltages and frequencies of national power grids worldwide. Although not deployed on Stena’s current vessels, an energy storage system (ESS) can be added to the WE Drive and shaft generator configuration, to further improve the efficiency of vessel electricpower generation. ESS can be used as a spinning reserve and to avoid blackouts, as well as decreasing the use of generators on low load during manoeuvering. It can also be used as peak shaving to avoid the unnecessary starting of additional generator sets for a short increase in load. This will result in a more optimal running condition for the auxiliary generator that remains online. After its work with AVIC on the Stena project, WE Tech has earned more support for its technology. “We strongly believe that WE Tech’s technology will help to further develop the shipping industry”, says AVIC International Ship Development CEO Hongbing Liao.

Safer connections

Even in the mighty arena of subsea construction vessels, the 153.6m, 18,151-gt North Sea Giant is an impressive specimen. Last year it became even more so; its six 3,600 kW GE engines (driving five Voith-

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One of four container ships to feature scrubber power-packs from E-MS that simplify electrical installation

Schneider thrusters and a Rolls-Royce tunnel thruster) were supplemented by an ESS designed and installed by Wärtsilä. The result is arguably the most capable DP3 vessel on the market. That capability is not just thanks to the vessel’s battery system, which provides over 2,000 kWh across three modules. As owner North Sea Shipping intends to use the vessel, those batteries would be irrelevant if it were not for an even newer technology: the electric bus link (EBL), developed by Yaskawa Environmental Technology, enables the operator to link battery systems in series and (more importantly) to disconnect them at previously unachievable speed. “The EBL splits the onboard grids in a matter of microseconds, isolating faults and protecting the complete operational system,” says Yaskawa general manager Asbjørn Halsebakke. “This offers significant savings on maintenance costs. Also, by rapidly connecting and disconnecting energy sources from one another, including batteries and engines, they can be optimised for efficiency.” In theory, that rapid shutdown capability means that the North Sea Giant can operate in DP3 mode with a single engine, the first vessel capable of this feat. Safety requirements previously required ships to perform several operations, including DP3, with

engines providing power to each grid, rather than using one engine to power the grids in series, or using batteries to power each grid. But with approval from DNV GL – which will now revisit its DP3 class rules – the ultra-fast linebreaking technology deployed on North Sea Giant means that just one engine can be used, with the three battery packs providing redundancy. Wärtsilä Norway general manager Tore Marcus explains that the ship is currently performing these operations with three engines, each supported by one battery string, while the companies await a slot in the ship’s busy charter schedule for final testing. When North Sea Giant finally meets its potential, Mr Marcus predicts that the vessel’s unique DP3 power arrangement will save up to 2M litres of fuel a year. MP

The energy required just to operate the scrubber on large container ships is around 2 MW ... The technical complexity and expenditure associated with this is immense”

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

96 | CIMAC PREVIEW

CIMAC urges shipping to cut power, not speed As CIMAC’s triennial congress nears, the International Council of Combustion Engines is putting itself – and engine technologies – at the heart of shipping’s efforts to reduce emissions

eware unintended consequences. That is the message from the International Council of Combustion Engines (CIMAC) as it views short-term measures for cutting greenhouse gas emissions from shipping. At IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee in May, measures under discussion included ship-specific efficiency targets, engine limiters and speed limits – and CIMAC and its members have clear views on which should be deployed. The idea of ship speed limits – in the form of mandatory, annually calculated average speed limits – has received backing from more than 100 shipowners. But according to CIMAC and several other notable industry bodies (among them the proponents of alternative short-term measures) such a move would not incentivise technical progress and the switch to new technologies that is needed to meet further climate goals. In a statement issued ahead of the May meeting of the MEPC and IMO’s intersessional working group on greenhouse gas emissions, CIMAC said: “Such shortterm measures must be part of a larger toolbox. They must be specifically focused on the least efficient ships, and part of a range of

Engine designers are banking on fruitful discussions at CIMAC Congress to provide answers on low sulphur fuels

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

solutions that shipowners may choose from.” In fact, argues CIMAC secretary general Peter Müller-Baum, power limitation may be a much more efficient way to quickly reduce emissions. “De-rating the engine offers the possibility of lowering the vessel’s maximum speed and thereby optimising the actual load point with the design load point. Such a measure, based on a power limitation on the vessel, would inherently provide a speed advantage for the best performer.” The measure for speed limiters was among those suggested by a submission from Japan to MEPC74. In its submission the country noted that while the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) covers newbuild ships, there was no such measure for existing ships. As there will still be several older ships not covered by the EEDI operating in 2030, by which time IMO is aiming to have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 40%, Japan suggests focusing short-term energy-efficiency efforts on these ships. Last year Germany proposed a concept of limiting shaft or engine power, along with a safety power reserve. Maximum engine power can be easily limited to the optimum level by changing the fuel index seal setting on the existing engine controlling system, without retrofitting a system. Japan supports this idea; as the authors of the Japanese submission explain: “By installing a simple mechanical fuel index sealing system limiting the maximum engine power to the optimum level, the ship cannot be operated above the optimum level of power except for emergency situations. Unlike the operational speed, the engine power is easy to monitor, control and verify. Controlling engine power is also enforceable under survey and certification.” CIMAC agrees that short-term measures need to focus on efficiency improvements and take account of existing or nearly market-ready technical solutions, citing LNG

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retrofits and system optimisation as two current options. But it notes that research and development of new solutions will be critical to meeting IMO’s emission targets for 2050 and beyond. “If new technologies can be developed and brought onto the market in time, there is a good chance that market mechanisms will enable the fulfilment of the IMO targets,” says Mr Müller-Baum, referencing the fact that any innovation would need to be made affordable enough to make a difference. Among the promising technical solutions are battery-driven ships and fuel cells, although these are so far unable to cover the propulsion of seagoing container vessels. Hydrogen and carbon-neutral fuels could be considered but are a long way from being competitive, says Mr Müller-Baum. Other ideas include innovative ship design as well as broader digitalisation. “Only through cross-sector co-operation and an increased focus on research into carbon-neutral technologies will shipping stand a chance of reaching the IMO 2050 target. Consequently, there is a need for a consensus on finely focused research and development activities with well-defined aims that avoid dilution of effort by pursuing several directions at once and so wasting valuable resources. Support from regulatory bodies is key and this means research funding,” says Mr Müller-Baum. Funding of research into new technologies is high on the agenda at IMO. The initial greenhouse gas emission reduction strategy text itself notes that the organisation “is requested to assess periodically the provision of financial and technological resources and capacity-building to implement the strategy”. And last year, member states agreed on the need to establish a voluntary, multi-donor trust fund to sustain these activities. But first and foremost, CIMAC believes that a clear and stable global legal framework is needed which does not predetermine any specific technical direction. “Only a rule-making that is seen to be technologically neutral has a chance of attracting the necessary investments worldwide,” Mr Müller-Baum notes. The necessary developments require co-operation between all shipowners, shipbuilders, engine manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, system integrators

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The engine industry will need to show innovation to tackle shipping’s environmental challenges, says CIMAC

and classification societies. The global engine-builder community will discuss all these questions at CIMAC World Congress on 10-14 June 2019 in Vancouver. The event will feature four streams covering 11 broad topics, all of which bring in the themes of emissions reduction – for example electrification and hybridisation, as well as emission-reduction technologies. Another topic focuses entirely on low-carbon combustion and alternative fuels. There will also be two dedicated sets of presentations on the impending 2020 sulphur cap, one on technical solutions and the other offering feedback from engine users on technologies. It is a sign of the mounting environmental and technical challenges facing shipping that this dramatic and rapidly approaching change is not the sole focus of CIMAC World Congress. “A limit of 0.5% sulphur in fuel represents about 75% of global demand for marine fuels, which would mean a huge undertaking for the bunkering/shipping industry and a significant impact on refineries,” says MAN Energy Solutions head of marine and offshore sales Kjeld Aabo, who also acts as chairman of CIMAC’s fuels working group. “It’s a large-scale experiment with different types of fuels and fuel-blends, and the response of our engines to this diverse new offering remains to be seen. Our industry is banking on fruitful discussions at the CIMAC Congress in order to gain an overview of the available alternatives.” CIMAC Congress meets only once every three years. With IMO set to establish its detailed greenhouse gas emissions strategy before 2023, this year’s event in Vancouver will be critical for ensuring that solutions emerge to shipping’s environmental challenges. MP

Only through crosssector co-operation and an increased focus on research into carbon-neutral technologies will shipping stand a chance of reaching the IMO 2050 target”

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

98 | NOR-SHIPPING PREVIEW

Nor-Shipping aims to keep blue economy green A new space at Nor-Shipping 2019 will highlight the growing opportunities for shipping in both harvesting and protecting the wealth of the seas

Silje Bareksten (Nor-Shipping): “The combination of sustainable operations and commercial growth in the ocean economy is viable”

hen the maritime industry gathers in Oslo on 4-7 June it will have a wider perspective than in previous years. While shipping technology remains at the forefront of the biennial event, two rising trends are setting the agenda – sustainability and ocean opportunities beyond shipping. According to Nor-Shipping’s new head of sustainability and technology Silje Bareksten, a new exhibition and presentation space will be central to her remit of joining the dots between technological and sustainable development. “The combination of sustainable operations and commercial growth in the ocean economy is viable,” she says. “But it won’t happen on its own. For both the future of our industry and society itself we have to get together, discuss opportunities, share knowledge, skills and technology, and define strategic directions. That’s why Nor-Shipping 2019 has introduced the Blue Economy Hall.” Economic value creation from ocean activities is set to double by 2030, according to the OECD. While traditional shipowners and technology companies may not know how they can take advantage of that opportunity, someone else does, says Ms Bareksten. “We just have to connect those parties and sow seeds for collaboration.” The blue economy encompasses any kind of commercial activity relating to the ocean space – from maritime to offshore energy, deepsea mining, tourism, ports, logistics and aquaculture. For Nor-Shipping, there is an equal focus on protecting the ocean and maximising the opportunity. “The ocean is our most important natural resource,” says Ms Bareksten. “It can be the key to providing for a growing global population, but it is also facing enormous challenges, real threats to its health and wellbeing, and so it must be safeguarded.” Nor-Shipping has devoted the 1,300 m2 of Hall A at Norges Varemesse’s exhibition

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

complex in Lillestrøm to the blue economy. Confirmed exhibitors cover a wide scope, from communications company Inmarsat to cybersecurity firm NTT Security and from battery systems supplier Corvus Energy to weather-data specialist MeteoGroup. Also exhibiting are advocate groups, research institutions, public bodies and companies focusing on operational optimisation, IoT, tourism and additive manufacturing. “Everyone that can contribute to the sustainable use of resources and commercial growth is invited, meaning we have a broad spectrum of exhibitors,” says Ms Bareksten. A key ingredient of the hall is the Blue Talks, where companies will share knowledge and ideas in their quest for new sustainable solutions. The talks, says Ms Bareksten, are designed as one-hour hotbeds of innovation and interaction. “The Blue Talks open a stage up for leading minds to discuss themes that are central to development,” says Ms Bareksten. “They will tackle issues of leadership, digital disruption and sustainable growth; three areas that will emerge as cornerstones in the project to realise the huge potential of a new blue economy.” Ms Bareksten believes that no company is resistant to the technological and ecological disruptions taking place across the globe. To survive and prosper in an age of growing environmental awareness and concern, alongside increasingly rapid digital development, companies must be open to new ways of working together. “Shipping has been a key driver of global trade for centuries,” Ms Bareksten states. “But that doesn’t mean we’re protected from new players, trends and disruptive forces. The companies with the vision to lead – collaborating, sharing data, working with transparency and demonstrating environmental care – are the ones that will prosper. The Blue Economy Hall will help them find the way ahead.” MP

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100 | FUELS AND LUBES

Four falsehoods and the truth about EALs Shipowners should dismiss common misconceptions when choosing environmentally acceptable lubricants, writes RSC Bio vice president research and development Dr Larry Beaver

Larry Beaver (RSC Bio): “Sustainability and performance no longer need be in opposition”

The instability and resulting failures of previous EAL technologies have created a barrier to adopting newer, more stable EALs”

nvironmentally acceptable lubricants (EALs) are not just a regulatory requirement; they are safer for employees to handle and have less impact on the environment than traditional lubricants. They can also save operators thousands of dollars in fines, clean-up costs and downtime. Under the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Vessel General Permit (VGP), EALs are required for oil-to-sea interfaces on all ships larger than 79 ft sailing within three miles of the US coast or in the Great Lakes, unless technically infeasible. This requires effort and expenditure by shipowners, who may have concerns about EALs based on four historical misconceptions. The first is that only vegetable oils, triglycerides, polyglycols and esters qualify as EALs. In fact, there are four types of environmental hydraulic fluids (defined by base oil composition) recognised by international standards ISO 6743-4 and ISO 15380: hydraulic environmental triglycerides (HETG), also known as vegetable esters; hydraulic environmental synthetic esters (HEES); hydraulic environmental polyalkylene glycols (HEPG), also known as PAG or polyglycols; and hydraulic environmental polyalphaolefins and related hydrocarbon products (HEPR). HEPR fluids are acceptable, VGPcompliant EALs. The EPA does not approve base fluids used to make EALs; rather, it

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

requires that the finished lubricant meet the environmental guidelines described in the 2013 VGP. There are HEPR base fluids that exceed the VGP-mandated biodegradability requirements without compromising performance or stability. At least one of those is listed on the Lubricant Substance Classification (LuSC) list used to qualify lubricants for Ecolabel status. By definition, if a finished product is Ecolabel-approved it meets the EAL requirements of VGP. Having an HEPR base oil on the LuSC list provides lubricant formulators a clear pathway to build a more stable EAL. The second misconception is that an operator using an EAL must sacrifice lubricant performance. EALs are available that offer operating characteristics and lifetimes that match or exceed those of a toptier mineral oil lubricant. VGP-compliant hydraulic fluids, gear oils, and greases made with HEPG base oils have been successfully marketed for 20 years and compare favourably with non-EAL lubricants, as well as the HEES and HEPG types used in the marine industry (see table). Third, operators often believe that EALs must be used with special ‘bio seals’. Seal compatibility with ester and polyalkylene glycol-based lubricants has been a welldocumented problem in the industry, which has led to the development of these seals, typically made from fluoropolymers. These ‘bio seals’ are substantially more costly than those traditionally used with mineral oil-

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FUELS AND LUBES | 101

based hydraulic fluids, gear oils, and greases. HEPR technology does not typically require the more expensive fluoropolymer seals. Our experience is that seals used with mineral oil-based lubricants can also be used with HEPR-based fluids. A growing service history proves that HEPR-based lubricants have performed well in the field. Major seal manufacturers have tested HEPR technologies using the ISO 6072 standard and find them compatible with both fluoroelastomers (such as FKM) as well as traditional NBR. Finally, some operators believe that the best solution for vessel operators is a ‘not technically feasible’ letter to avoid converting to EALs. But the best solution is to use EALs that are both feasible and sustainable. It is not necessary, or even advisable, to avoid converting to EALs by relying solely on letters of technical infeasibility from equipment manufacturers. HEPR technology, particularly lubricants based on renewable base oils, is the most responsible solution with the least long-term risk. HEPR systems offer VGP-compliant options giving the seal compatibility of traditional mineral oils, while still maintaining VGP compliance and offering long service lifetimes approaching or exceeding those of non-EALs. The more stable HEPR base oil technologies are now incorporated into gear oils and greases as well as hydraulic fluids. If an equipment manufacturer has approved any EAL for their equipment, the vessel owner is then required by the VGP to use an EAL and cannot rely on claims of technical infeasibility. Owners and operators should encourage OEMs to approve multiple EALs to provide as many compliance options as possible. Some criticisms of some EALs have been justified. Many early technologies were very unstable in marine applications, casting doubt on all classes of EAL. Oxidation and hydrolysis of first-generation, unsaturated ester-based products generated acid and sludge, which shortened seal and fluid lifetimes. The incompatibility of HEPGs with many seal materials and other EALs made changeovers costly. Even today, the hydraulic fluids of the triglyceride and saturated synthetic ester types have issues with instability and shortened service life,

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particularly when moisture is present. The most pressing need today is for stable, effective lubricants that can be used worldwide, even in sensitive areas such as the North Sea. The single greatest hurdle is user education. The instability and resulting failures of previous EAL technologies have created a barrier to adopting the newer, more stable EALs. Operators are often unaware that stable, effective, and long-lasting EALs are now available worldwide. Factors to be considered when evaluating an EAL include performance, initial cost balanced against fluid lifetime, fluid compatibility and availability worldwide, discharge or spill potential, operating temperature and pressure, likelihood (and amount) of water ingress, seals or elastomers required and maintenance or drydocking schedules. One must not overlook the costs of non-compliance, both in terms of fines and cleanup costs, but also the negative publicity and harm done to the corporate image. It is critical to recognise that with recent advances in technology, EALs can perform equivalent to, or better than, petroleum lubricants. There no longer needs to be performance compromises when converting to EALs; sustainability and performance no longer need be in opposition. MP

It is not necessary, or even advisable, to avoid converting to EALs by relying solely on letters of technical infeasibility from equipment manufacturers”

PROPERTIES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF HEPG, HEES AND HEPR BASE FLUIDS HEPG

HEES

HEPR

Kinematic viscosity at 40°C (centistokes)

67.97

68.6

Kinematic viscosity at 100°C (centistokes)

13.91

11.1

10.8

214

154

152

Viscosity index Pour point (°C)

-35

-55

-51

850

380

1400

Oxidative stability (hours)

Not Reported

>1000

Hydrolytic stability (copper panel appearance/total acidity of water layer)

Not Reported

2a / 17.37

1b / 2.45

0/0

25/0

0/0

50/0

10/0

0/0

25/0

0/0

40/0/40 (20)

40/40/0 (35)

40/40/0 (10)

Oxidative stability (minutes)

Foaming tendencies (tendency/stability) Water separability (oil/water/emulsion, seconds)

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery | April/May 2019

G N IN IO G S Y R L G A PU LO CH RO NO P H & TEC

hybrid marine

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WORLD EXPO 2019

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