JUNE 2021
Vol. 102 Issue 1193
TotalEnergies:
Frederic Meyer on strategy
Wärtsilä interview: Kaj Portin on alt engines
PBST radial TCs: New TCP family
Vale interview:
Rodrigo Bermelho
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: MAN ES’ DF VLCC | Berg’s direct drive solution | WinGD’s German Weisser on biofuels | Gate Rudder projects
YOUR CONNECTION TO THE FUTURE GEISLINGER DIGITAL SERVICES Condition Monitoring
Digital Twin
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Safety. Efficiency. Connectivity. geislinger.com
CONTENTS
JUNE 2021
8 NEWS
19
19 PBST to launch new radial TC families
PBST is to launch a new modular radial family, TCP, which should be able to achieve pressure ratios of above 7, and will update the TCT family.
22 First DF reference for 80cm-bore ME-GI
The first reference of MAN ES’ 80cm bore dual-fuel ME-GI engine will be installed aboard a new VLCC.
41 Stator technology trial
US printed circuit board (PCB) stator motor designer ECM reports volume reductions and 90%+ motor efficiencies from a stator upgrade trial.
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36
FEATURES
12 REGULARS 8 Leader Briefing
Vale’s Head of Marine Engineering, Rodrigo Bermelho discusses the mining major’s perspective on emissions reductions targets, alt fuels and more.
12 Shipyard Report
Dutch shipbuilders have reasserted the industry’s prominence in the short-sea domain, landing a succession of new domestic and export contracts this year, writes David Tinsley.
42 Design for Performance
Prof Noriyuki Sasaki discusses insights from the expanding list of Gate Rudder installations, noting larger vessels should equally benefit.
For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101
14 Renewables and biofuel
Frederic Meyer, TotalEnergies Marine Fuels’ Head of Strategy and Projects, shares the energy major’s plans to introduce a new bio-fuel, SMF.
22 More worlds to conquer
MAN ES’s head of promotion and customer support Thomas Hansen discusses a spate of recent orders for the company’s high-pressure DF engines from the bulker market.
33 Where there’s muck…
Researchers from the University of Minnesota have patented a thermochemical recuperation reactor that can improve the efficiency of ammonia-diesel dual-fuel combustion.
34 Next-gen biofuels
German Weisser, Senior Adviser in WinGD’s Research and Development discusses the outlook for the biofuels market in an interview with Paul Gunton.
36 Burning issues
Kaj Portin, General Manager, Fuel and Operational Flexibility of Wärtsilä Marine discusses the company’s alternative fuels research and plans to add a methanol engine to its portfolio by 2024.
100
YEARS
2021
The Motorship’s Propulsion and Future Fuels Conference will take place this year in Hamburg, Germany. Stay in touch at propulsionconference.com
JUNE 2021 | 3
NEWS REVIEW
VIEWPOINT
VIKING SKY BLACKOUT HIGHLIGHTS SAFETY POTENTIAL OF DIGITAL TWIN
NICK EDSTROM | Editor nedstrom@motorship.com
Since the last issue, we have seen the introduction of the Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) and Carbon Intensity Index (CII) at the 76th session of the MEPC in mid June, the 2021 G7 summit reaffirm the primacy of the IMO as the channel for medium and long term environmental regulation of shipping, and further announcements about the EU’s energy transition plans. The focus of environmental regulation will shortly switch to the proposed introduction of market-based measures, including a proposed levy on CO2 emissions. Some non-European states have identified the proposed extension of the emissions trading system to cover shipping emissions with other elements of the Green Deal as part of a broader shift towards import-substitution. The proposed introduction of an import levy on imports of carbon-intensive goods from locations with allegedly lower environmental standards (the Carbon-Border Adjustment Mechanism) was confirmed earlier in June. This is already leading to investments in low emission materials in countries with large renewable energy endowments (or potential), such as Iceland, Norway, Chile and New Zealand. What is interesting is that similar moves towards reorienting product portfolios and production locations is beginning to be seen in the energy sector. This will have direct implications for fuel availability and the types of fuel being offered for the shipping sector – and could improve LNG’s environmental credentials if LBG or synthetic LNG were blended in. Frederic Meyer, TotalEnergies Marine Fuels’ Head of Strategy and Projects, told The Motorship in an exclusive interview that the energy major planned to develop and commercialise hydrogen-derived e-fuels, based on captive renewable energy generation and a new electrolyzer capacity, by the early 2030s. Meyer also noted that TotalEnergies envisaged the emergence of new production hubs for e-fuels, located in areas with significant low cost renewable energy. This might see the emergence of mono-fuel satellite bunkering hubs located near current bunkering hubs. He underlined that shipping was likely to have to pay higher prices for fuels in future where different markets were “in competition for the same molecules”. Elsewhere in this month’s issue, we feature an exclusive interview with mining major Vale’s Head of Marine Engineering, Rodrigo Bermelho. We also feature an interview by German Weisser of WinGD, Senior Adviser in their Research and Development department about the current status of their biofuels research. We also interview Kaj Portin, General Manager, Fuel and Operational Flexibility of Wärtsilä Marine about their plans to add a methanol engine to their engine portfolio by 2024. Daniel Albrecht of turbocharger supplier PBST exclusively shares details of a new modular radial turbocharger family, TCP, which will be able to achieve pressure ratios of above 7. Albrecht also shares details of the successor to PBST’s TCT range, the new TCF family. Elsewhere in this month’s issue, we include a dedicated feature on ammonia as a potential alternative fuel, and a feature on Woodward L’Orange’s new high pressure dual-fuel injectors for four-stroke engines. We also include an in-depth feature on Berg Propulsion’s direct drive propulsion solutions.
4 | JUNE 2021
Credit: CHC
Market moves
Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have analysed the 2019 blackout of the Viking Sky cruise ship and posed the question: could the blackout have been prevented if a digital twin condition monitoring platform was in place? The Viking Sky came within a ship's length of grounding after the vessel's generators shut down in response to low lubricating oil conditions. Oil levels were relatively low but within set limits, but the ship's movement in stormy conditions experienced in Hustadvika waters off Norway's coast resulted in the shutdowns. Earlier alarms had been accepted and cleared within a few seconds, and at the time of the blackout, the engineering team could not immediately identify the cause. The study, published this year in Engineering Failure Analysis, documented technical precursors to the incident including that one of the vessel's four diesel generators had been inoperable for about a week before the incident due to a turbocharger failure. Study authors Drs Michaela Ibrion, Nicola Paltrinieri and Amir R. Nejad, all from NTNU, also highlighted the belief by some stakeholders that such a modern vessel, delivered in 2017 and built to SOLAS Safe Return to Port standards, could overcome stormy weather in a place that had previously earned a reputation as a 'ship graveyard' due to the number of vessels sunk there. Noting that the advantages and challenges associated with digital solutions remains to be further explored by the shipping industry, the researchers say that a digital
8 NTNU researchers noted that there were a number of technical precursors before the Viking Sky blackout
twin based condition monitoring system could have been used to simulate fault scenarios. This would reduce the risk of unexpected shutdowns, such as the one caused by the turbocharger failure. In particular, they note the value of vibration analysis as a reliable and cost-effective monitoring method, along with other potential data sources such as infrared thermography, ultrasonic measurements and oil analysis to predict component life. A project is underway that aims to develop the digital twin concept for polar operations. The Life Prediction and Health Monitoring of Marine Propulsion System under Ice Impact (HealthProp) project was initiated last year and is being coordinated by NTNU. Over three years, the project partners aim to develop a digital twin platform - by combining intelligent sensors, data acquisition systems and fault detection algorithms through physical and data-driven models in the cloud - for monitoring the propulsion system and drive line of ships in Arctic and Antarctic operations. While there was no ice impact in the Viking Sky incident, the NTNU researchers indicate that the project will help develop a relevant approach for preventing similar incidents, and they recommend that classification societies and equipment manufacturers support ship operators in developing condition monitoring capability that takes a prognostic approach to failures.
For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101
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NEWS REVIEW
ME-GA ENGINES FOR LNGC ORDER
BRIEFS Zvezda Arc7 LNGC
Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex held a keel laying ceremony on 15 June for an LNG carrier ordered by Sovcomflot. The vessel is the first of a series of 15 Arc7 class LNG carriers that will be constructed at the shipyard. The vessel, along with the other 14 vessels in the series, will operate along the Northern Sea route under a long-term time charter agreement with Arctic LNG2. All 15 vessels are scheduled for delivery in 2023-2025.
6 | JUNE 2021
8 MAN ES confirmed the first order for a MAN B&W ME-GA engine on 2 June
Credit: MAN Energy Solutions
MAN Energy Solutions has announced that it has won the first confirmed order for its new dual-fuel low-pressure ME-GA engine. The order is understood to be associated with an LNG carrier newbuilding project at Hyundai Heavy Industries' shipyard. The engine order, which has been specified with the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) option, has been placed with licensee HHI-EMD in Korea. The first engine will be delivered to the shipyard in August 2022, according to the engine licensee. A MAN ES representative was unable to confirm the details of the order. While the order represents a significant milestone for MAN ES' low-pressure dual-fuel engine, The Motorship reported that the ME-GA engine had already been specified in “several LNG carrier newbuilding projects” in late March, at the time of the first public demonstration. Thomas S. Hansen - Head of Two-Stroke Promotion & Sales, MAN Energy Solutions commented: “We are very pleased to announce that we have secured the very first orders for our MAN B&W Otto cycle ME-GA engine, in collaboration with our licensee Hyundai Heavy Industries. The world, as well as the shipping industry, has an increased focus on decarbonization, which in turn has led to an increased focus on
the reduction of CO2 and methane slip emissions. Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) is a key technology for an Otto Cycle
engine, as EGR has a strong effect on the reduction of emissions and improvement of performance.
We are proud to say that we at MAN ES are the industry leader in the use of EGR with 2-stroke engines, with more than a decade of successful experience from engines in service. This, combined with our proven track record in bringing reliable dual-fuel technologies to the market, provides assurance that the ME-GA with our well proven, cost-efficient EGR design, safeguards investment. We look forward to announcing more ME-GA orders from other shipyards and engine builders very soon.”
SHI signs deal to develop nuclear-powered vessels Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has signed a joint development agreement (JDA) with Korea's nuclear research institute, KAERI, to design and develop nuclear-powered ships using compact molten salt reactor (CMSR) technology. The project targets the development of MSR-based power barges to provide electric power to shore for use in the electric grid or hydrogen production, as well as nuclearpowered vessels. The Motorship notes that the Southeast Asian market is seen as a potential export market for the technology. Unlike Russia's power barge, the SHI technology is based on a newer small molten salt reactor technology. The technology addresses safety concerns about
the potential for radioactive discharges, as the liquid molten salt fuel can be solidified in an emergency, proponents argue. The fuel source has a shorter operational life than traditional nuclear-reactor powered vessels, estimated at between 20-24 years, but would be aligned with the operational lifespan of many vessels. Under the agreement, SHI will actively participating in the design of small MSR-based power barges, as well as the development of
solutions and equipment, such as heat exchangers, for the MSR technology. The agreement includes the development of technoeconomic evaluations of the economic potential of nuclear power barges, as well as the development of a business model, including performance verification criteria.
H2 refuelling station
NYK DF PCTC order
TrAM modular project
CMB.TECH is to open a multimodal hydrogen refuelling station producing green hydrogen for ships and land transportation uses. The world’s first hydrogen refuelling station will be built at thePort House in Antwerp, Belgium. The hydrogen refuelling station extends CMB’s role in the hydrogen supply chain in ports, where it expects supply, whether through large electrolysis plants or imports, and demand will expand in future.
NYK Line has placed an order for 12 more LNG-fuelled pure car and truck carriers (PCTC). A memorandum of understanding has been signed with Shin Kurushima Dockyard Co., Ltd. and Nihon Shipyard Co., Ltd. The order lifts NYK's LNG-fuelled PCTC orderbook to 20, including its first dualfuel 7,000 ceu vessel, Sakura Leader, which was delivered in October 2020. The 12 dualfuel PCTCs will be delivered between 2025 and 2028.
8 Samsung Heavy Industries signed a JDP agreement with Korea's KAERI to develop nuclear power barges based on SMR technology
The TrAM project has begun construction of a full-electric passenger ferry in Norway. The project seeks to introduce modular design and production concepts from the automotive sector into the shipbuilding market, drawing on Fraunhofer IEM’s experiences in modular production techniques from the car and aviation industries. The project aims to lower production costs and engineering hours for electric fast ferries by 25% and 70%, respectively.
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LEADER BRIEFING
VALE’S PERSPECTIVE ON DECARBONISATION
Image: Agência Vale
Vale’s ambitions to lead the low carbon agenda extend beyond low carbon product developments and net zero mining operations and include its maritime supply chain, Rodrigo Bermelho, Shipping Technical Manager at mining major Vale explains, in an exclusive interview with The Motorship
Before we look at Vale’s plans to lower environmental emissions from its marine supply chain, would it be possible to assess Vale’s own environmental emissions targets. You announced ambitious targets to reduce GHG emissions from your overall operations by 33% by 2030. Vale aims to lead the transition to low-carbon mining. For that, we have Paris Agreement-aligned emission reduction targets for scopes 1 and 2, which include a netzero goal by 2050. In the mid-term, we will reduce our scopes 1 and 2 emissions in 33% by 2030. We aim to deliver this goal mainly through increased energy efficiency, 100% renewable energy, bioenergy and electrification. To achieve these targets, we will invest at least US$2 billion by 2030. We can only be leaders in the low carbon agenda if we induce our value chain in the same direction.
Q
A
As a company, you have been an early adopter of lowemissions technology in your operations, with a wide range of initiatives ranging from electric vehicle mining vehicles to increasing zero-emission energy generation. Just to look at initiatives in the 12 months, we approved the installation of overhead electricity lines for mining trucks at our Carajás mine, which will allow trucks to cut consumption running uphill. The project will lower CO2 emission reduction for the fleet between 2023 and 2031 by 20% at the largest iron ore mine in the world. It is also a key enabler in the adoption of future battery-powered mining trucks. We have also been testing a new 100% electric battery
Q A
8 | JUNE 2021
8 Ore Tianjin, a second generation 400,000dwt Valemax, at the Port of Tubarao
powered switchyard locomotive on Estrada de Ferro Vitória à Minas at Tubarão Yard Complex in Brazil since the turn of the year. Railways represent approximately 10% (or 1.2 million tons of CO2 equivalent) of Vale’s annual scope 1 GHG emission (2020 data) and electrification is a potential technology to compose the solution to reduce those emissions. We are also investing to meet our goal to consume 100% renewable electric energy in our Brazilian operations by 2025 and, globally, by 2030. We have invested US$500 million in a 766MW capacity solar plan, Sol do Cerrado in Jaíba (Minas Gerais state), that will meet 13% of Vale’s electricity demand in 2025. We have a long term power purchase agreement for a wind farm in Bahia state, and we are installing one of the largest lithium-ion energy storage systems in Brazil to meet electricity demand at the Ilha Guaíba Port Terminal (in Mangaratiba, Rio de Janeiro state). In addition to strengthening energy supply management and reducing costs, this initiative is part of our strategy to replace fossil fuels. Your mining products will also play an important role in supporting the decarbonisation of other sectors for customers globally. We are also holding discussions with our partners at Kobe Steel and Mitsui about the terms and conditions to establish a New Venture with the objective of delivering low CO2 metallics to the global market, providing new technological solutions to our clients.
Q A
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LEADER BRIEFING These solutions are based on technologies for production of biomass-based pig iron (Tecnored) and HBI (using natural gas). Vale is committed to helping its steelmaking clients with the challenge of reducing their carbon footprint. Turning to your maritime plans, you mentioned in your Carbon Neutral strategy that you planned to reduce your Scope 3 emissions by 15% by 2035 [compared with 2018]. Could you provide any more detail about your objectives for maritime transportation? At Vale, we recognise that to lead the mining industry’s transition to net zero, we need to act along the supply chain. We have announced a target to reduce net scope 3 emissions from our client and supply chain by 15% by 2035. The target will be reviewed in 2025 and every five years thereafter, given the uncertainties regarding low carbon technologies and climate policies. Currently, Scope 3 emissions account for 98% of Vale’s annual GHG emissions, but they are not under the company's direct control and management. While Vale emits approximately 12 million tons of GHG in Scope 1 and 2, Scope 3 emissions account for approximately 563 million tons of CO2e per year (2019 data). Of the Scope 3 emissions, almost 16.9 million tonnes of CO2e came from shipping, while the remainder came from the steel making process. Aiming at consistency and alignment with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement, Vale will reduce absolute net Scope 3 emissions by 15% by 2035, through the development of new products, nature-based solutions, partnerships and engagement with customers and suppliers.
Q
Would it be possible for you to give some examples about the efficiency savings you have achieved with own digitalisation solutions? Vale has created in 2017 the Integrated Operations Center (COI, in Portuguese), which is responsible for scheduling and controlling the production and logistics of iron ore, in the short and medium term, from mines to the clients. At COI there is a multidisciplinary team and process with an integrated, real-time view of the production and value chain, ensuring greater flexibility in decision making. One of the process running is the fleet allocation of the more than 300 vessels that transport our iron ore, matching products, ports, and clients.
Q A
As a beneficial cargo owner, would it be possible to discuss the challenges of encouraging vessel owners to modernise equipment or to employ modern route optimisation software? In the long-term contracts, upgrades are funded by the shipowners who will also collect the benefits of the fuel consumption reduction. Although shipping is known traditionally as a conservative industry, we also recognize that there has been a lot of improvements over the past decade when ships from same class have evolved to become almost 15% more efficient. To accelerate these improvements, we believe that we must foster a collaborative environment including a more open approach to data sharing.
Q A
Your very large ore carriers and ValeMax vessels are among the most efficient vessels every built in terms of tonne mile CO2 emissions. Since 2018, the company has been operating with second generation Valemaxes (VLOCs) and since 2019 with the Guaibamaxes (VLOCs) with a capacity of 400,000dwt
Q A
Image: Agência Vale
A
and 325,000dwt, respectively. Both carriers produce up to 41% less CO2 equivalent emissions than a 180,000dwt Capesize ship (built in 2011) and are among the most efficient vessels in the world. The second generation Valemaxes and Guaibamaxes were also designed for future use of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which may further reduce emissions by 23% per vessel after the system is installed. The efficiency of these vessels has already greatly contributed to reduce the emissions compared to the 2008 IMO baseline.
8 Vale has a multidisciplinary team at its Integrated Operations Center monitoring the allocation of over 300 vessels that transport its iron ore, matching products, ports, and clients
What is your perspective on the upcoming introduction of EEXI and CII regulations on your fleet? Vale is committed to supporting the shipping industry in fulfilling the ambitions of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The recent adoption of the efficiency regulations known as EEXI and CII represent an important step to reduce emissions. Although we transport iron ore in the most efficient vessels in the world, according to the EEDI database, we believe there are still further energy efficient gains to be captured to reduce fuel demand. that will allow a transition to alternative fuels.
Q A
Do you have a specific programme to reduce emissions with these vessels further? The first Rotor Sails technology ship, expected to be delivered this month, has begun tests in China. The technology uses wind to propel the ship and consequently consumes less fuel and thus, lower GHG emissions. There are five rotors installed on a Guaibamax ship (325,000dwt). The ship will sail to Brazil this month. With additional 5-8% efficiency, there will be a reduction of 3,400 tons of CO2 per ship per year. Next week, the first Guaibamax ship (325,000 dwt) with the Air Lubrication system will also be ready in China. The technology creates a carpet of air bubbles under the ship reducing water friction against the hull. Conservative expectations of fuel savings are around 4 to 8% with a potential to reduce 4.4% of Vale’s scope 3 emissions by 2030. One of the principles to develop pilots within our Ecoshipping program is the scalability aspect and we believe that the Very Large Ore carriers are a great platform for that. Taking for example the case for the Rotor Sails, the project we have developed could be replicated to all 47 vessels of this series plus another 67 Valemax in operation.
Q A
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JUNE 2021 | 9
LEADER BRIEFING However, at this stage our focus is to collect and analyse data about the pilot to learn how we can improve the performance of each equipment for future projects. The sails, for example, could be more in number and larger in size, but to reach that we must first learn from this experience. Within your Technical Institute, you have been evaluating a number of different technologies. Would it be possible for you to provide insight into the range of different technologies that you are assessing? In addition to rotors sails and air lubrication, we have been studying a variety of technologies such as hydrodynamic devices, waste heat recovery , carbon capture, shore connection for our ports, fuel cells, multifuel tanks for different types of fuels such as ammonia, methanol and others. And besides that, to accelerate innovation and reach widest range of solutions we have created a Shipping Innovation Hub that is connecting with various technology ecosystems around the world. For example, we have been with Rainmaking in two cycles of the decarbonization challenge that have scouted more than 2000 start-ups, and we have engaged in further detailed study with some of them.
Q A
Could you provide any details about other renewable energy solutions under consideration – what is your perspective on PV energy generation, for example? Renewable energy will play an important role on the development of zero emissions fuels and we have been researching on the various technology pathways to produce clean fuels. Recently Vale has signed a MOU with ITOCHU and another 21 companies from different industries to develop a project Study to the use of ammonia as a maritime fuel. With regards to shipboard renewable energy solution, unfortunately at this stage the possibilities are limited. The current capability of PV energy generation, even in very large ships like the Valemax are simply insufficient compared to the energy needed.
Q A
What is Vale’s perspective on the alternative fuel debate within the shipping community? Some other multinational mining companies have recently signed longterm charter agreements for LNG-fuelled vessels. Is Vale evaluating LNG as a potential solution? Vale has been preparing for the adoption of alternative fuels for many years. Dozens of second-generation VLOCs already in operation since 2018 have LNG-Ready class notation and have been designed for future liquefied natural gas (LNG) system installation, including an underdeck compartment to receive a tank with capacity for the entire voyage. Since then we have been constantly evaluating LNG as a fuel. We note that there are two main challenges to it: the
Q
A
development of the bunkering infrastructure and the price mechanism in relation to current fuels that will allow the appropriate business case to be developed to recover in the midterm the high investment needed for the vessel retrofit. However, even more important than the LNG retrofit business case, we are focused on expanding the optionality of our fleet not only to LNG but also to other alternative fuels that have greater potential to reduce emissions. The ambition to achieve low carbon shipping means LNG can only be a transition fuel. The 23% reduction in CO2 emissions (on a tank to propeller basis) it can provide is not enough for the future emission reduction required.
8 Norsepower's first installation of its tiltable Rotor Sails on board a bulk carrier
Would you be able to provide any detail on your view about other potential fuels, including methanol, ammonia or LBG or synthetic LNG? We think that there is still uncertainty about which fuel or mix of fuels will be selected by the maritime industry to achieve its ambitions and therefore we are developing a multifuel strategy. In 2019, Vale started a multifuel tank conceptual design to expand the optionality of Valemax and Guaibamax vessels that were built as LNG-Ready, by studying the characteristics of a type-B tank able to store and handle not only LNG but also methanol and ammonia as fuel. A preliminary study suggests that the emission reduction could range between 40% to 80% on those vessels with methanol/ammonia. By standardizing the tank, we remove the cost risk for the most expensive part of the system and will be able to test different solutions to be able to move to the selected one. The tank could be used for 77 Valemax and Guaibamax vessels that were built as LNG-Ready with endurance for round voyage at low speed and partial voyage complemented by fuel oil on higher speeds.
Q A
8 The North and South berths at Pier IV at the Ponta da Madeira Maritime Terminal (pictured) have nominal loading rates as high as 16,000t/h
10 | JUNE 2021
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SHIPYARD REPORT
RESILIENT DUTCH YARDS PLAY TO SHORT-SEA STRENGTHS
Photo courtesy of Wagenborg
Dutch shipbuilders have reasserted the industry's prominence in the short-sea domain, landing a succession of new domestic and export contracts this year, writes David Tinsley
Innovative inland waterway vessel design and propulsion solutions, and a reinforced competitiveness in mega-yacht production, have also yielded fresh business. However, heavy losses and severe financial difficulties experienced by some of the sector's leading names, coupled with the intensification of the Oriental challenge for an everwidening range of vessels and related systems, have focused minds even more sharply on strategies. Divergent views have accordingly been expressed within the national maritime cluster as to the future direction for Dutch yards. Some consider that the emphasis should be placed on the value-adding, specialised equipment and technological elements, making increased recourse to the practice of subcontracting hulls to low wage cost countries. Others contend that maintaining the full shipbuilding capability provides the real basis for vessel quality, industry knowledge, skills and innovation, such that increased endeavours should be applied to raising efficiency and design performance in fields of construction, typically in the under 12,000dwt category, in which the Dutch are expert. The EasyMax concept of multi-purpose cargo carrier exemplifies the spirit and comprehensive capabilities of the north Netherlands' maritime industry, blending innovation with pragmatism in the design, construction and equipping of the smaller classes of vessel. The 14,300dwt first-of-class Egbert Wagenborg had set a new record four years ago as the largest ship ever built on the landward side of the sea dyke, within the inland waterway network, giving form to contractual owner Wagenborg Shipping's principle of “easy to build, easy to operate, easy to load”. That blueprint has been taken up for a second time and brought to bear as the Maxima, commissioned into the
12 | JUNE 2021
8 Efficiency-driven Dutch innovation: the latest EasyMax, the Maxima
Wagenborg fleet from Royal Niestern Sander in February 2021. Maxima applies all the efficiency and versatility attributes of the lead vessel to the north European short-sea business, and potentially also to North Atlantic trade, with the added distinction of recent certification to CSI 3 standard under the Clean Shipping Index. Clean Shipping Index The index is an in-depth and holistic labelling system for assessing a vessel's environmental performance, and for assisting cargo interests in identifying and choosing more 'sustainable' shipping alternatives and carriers, and can also serve as a practical tool for differentiating port and fairway dues. For shipping companies prepared to make the requisite commitment, it engenders competitive economic advantage. The CSI ranks vessels on 'green' credentials beyond regulatory compliance. Salient to the grading, fixtures for the new ship have include deliveries of woodchips to HOFOR's Amagervaerket combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Copenhagen, which is a player in the city's aims to be CO2-neutral by 2025. With an installed power just shy of 3,000kW and an aerodynamic hull shape, the 625,000ft3-capacity, 150m Maxima has an extremely low fuel consumption, resulting in over 60% savings in CO2 emissions compared to her peer group. While shipbuilding contractor Royal Niestern Sander has a long track record in producing optimised tonnage both for short-sea specialists and also the ocean-going, 'polyvalent' cargo ship sector, the company has continued to seek business opportunities across a broader sphere, to ensure production continuity and value creation. A current case in point is the repowering and rebuilding of a 79m German ferry with LNG dual-fuel machinery.
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SHIPYARD REPORT The project, backed by public funds from German and EU coffers, plays to Royal Niestern Sander's dual strengths in shipbuilding and shiprepair. After drydocking, the aft part of the vessel was removed and replaced by a newly constructed stern, incorporating the dual-fuel plant, LNG storage and propulsion system. Following conversion, the Munsterland will emit considerably less CO2 and will be subject to lower hull resistance due to the new shape of the stern, requiring less engine power than before for the equivalent speed. Also in hand is the construction of a shallow draught, icebreaking 'walk-to-work' offshore service vessel, specially designed for year-round operation in the challenging Russian Far East conditions on the east coast of Sakhalin in temperatures as low as minus 30degC. Claimed to be the first of its type worldwide, the newbuild incorporates technology proven in Wagenborg icebreaking support ships, with icemilling, pulling-type azimuthing main thrusters, and the capability to break through level ice up to 100cm thick. The vessel will undertake crew transfer services for up to 40 persons at a time from the draught-restricted Nabil Port to offshore platforms, deploying a motion-compensated gangway for transfers.
includes, for instance, engine performance indicators such as power, speed (rpm), and fuel consumption, data as to fuel, lube oil and fresh water volumes on board, and other operational details. Triton renders 'smarter' vessels, and allows remote monitoring. Data can be used to optimise operational efficiency, make the most efficient routings and reduce both fuel consumption and emissions, as well as aid preventative maintenance. Moreover, the system feeds back into newbuild and equipment design. Denoting a technical milestone, a 135m newbuild of 3,700dwt awarded this year to Concordia Damen is claimed to be the first hydrogen-fuelled inland waterway cargo vessel contracted to date. Ordered by Lenten Scheepvaart with the benefit of a EUR 4 million (US$4.9m) construction subsidy from the Dutch government, and due in 2024, the vessel will be equipped with a proton exchange membrane (PEM)-type fuel cell supplied by Nedstack. A leading light globally in dredger construction, dredge and offshore technology, Royal IHC was saved from bankruptcy last year through its acquisition and recapitalisation by a consortium of investors, bankers and industry partners, with support from the Dutch government.
Royal Bodewes Builders who have augmented their dry cargo vessel workload so far this year include Royal Bodewes, with seven 6,600dwt coasters booked by Arklow Shipping of Ireland and two 5,000dwt self-dischargers ordered by Norwegian owner Hagland Shipping. VEKA's Bijlsma Shipyard at Lemmer secured a pair of Bijlsma Trader-series multipurpose cargo vessels for Groningen-based Longship. Ferus Smit, whose prolific headquarters yard is sited on the Winschoterdiep near Groningen, assigned a new contract from Symphony Shipping for two 12,500dwt geared cargo carriers to its German subsidiary at Leer. Notwithstanding a net loss of EUR 161.5 million (US$196.5m) in 2020, following the EUR 287 million (US$349m) deficit the year before, Damen Shipyards maintains that its financial position is solid, backed by strong growth in the orderbook value to a record EUR 8 billion (US$9.7bn) at the end of last year. The figure is almost double the EUR 3.7 billion (US$4.5bn) at the end of 2019, buoyed by the frigate programme for the German Navy, Concordia Damen's 40-vessel contract for inland tankers, and a deal entailing the design and construction of the largest-ever Dutch-built mega-yacht, of 120m length. The group operates 36 shipbuilding and repair yards worldwide, and constitutes a vital part of the Dutch maritime cluster. The trademark production of standardised designs of small vessels and craft has been increasingly complemented by technology-intensive one-off newbuilds and specialised batch output, and the overall, prolific global output year-onyear is reflected in 2020's delivery of 143 newbuilds. Processes and systems honed in the Netherlands have provided the template for the continuing expansion of shipyard activities and influence overseas. Damen has this year implemented measures to develop its scope in providing clients with comprehensive financial packages. The creation of a dedicated Financial Services division has been attended by new initiatives in ship leasing, including solutions covering 'green' shipping projects. Also gathering pace is a strategy of transforming the group from a conventional shipbuilder into a digitally-connected shipbuilder, to provide cradle-to-grave vessel lifecycle service. Pivotal to such capability is the Connected Vessel Platform, known as Triton, which collects data from the multiplicity of sensors fitted on Damen-built vessels. Information relayed to the Connected Vessel Platform
The vessel will undertake crew transfer services for up to 40 persons at a time from the draught-restricted Nabil Port to offshore platforms
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There had been widespread concern that the collapse of Royal IHC would have meant a loss of knowledge, expertise and business volume in the Dutch maritime cluster. A particular worry was that the group might have been sold to Chinese interests, resulting in a transfer of specialised technology from the Netherlands. Dredge market recovery A plan has been set in train to focus the company on core activities and bring the size of the organisation in line with a more realistic revenue expectation, entailing substantial cuts in the payroll and divestment of a number of engineering businesses. Steady recovery in the dredging market since the second half of 2020 has benefited design and equipment sales, while new endeavours are being made in the offshore mining and naval defence sectors. The 2021 newbuild delivery programme features two 29,190kW rock cutter suction dredgers for the Suez Canal Authority and a 44,180kW cutter suction dredger ordered by DEME of Belgium. After heavy losses in 2019 and 2020, Royal IHC anticipates “a slightly positive result” for the current year. In building a portfolio for the future, the company recently received approval in principle (AiP) from Bureau Veritas for the design of a hydrogen-fuelled, trailing suction hopper dredger. Last year, trade association Netherlands Maritime Technology (NMT) called on the Dutch government to take certain steps support the industry, as an important economic generator and export earner for the country. It recommended more funding for research, development and innovation (RDI), investments for alternative fuels, and contracts for 'sustainable' or 'smart' ships through state agencies and public operators. The body also advocated enforcement of a “global level playing field”, relative to Asian competition, through unilateral measures and improved access to finance.
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JUNE 2021 | 13
FUELS & LUBRICANTS
TOTALENERGIES POSITIONS FOR CHANGING MARITIME LANDSCAPE
Credit: Dunkerque LNG - HappyDay
Frédéric Meyer, Director Strategy & Projects for TotalEnergies Marine Fuels explains how the marine fuels business unit of TotalEnergies plans to leverage the company's investments into cleaner, renewable energies to serve its shipping customers
Frédéric Meyer, Director of Strategy & Projects for TotalEnergies Marine Fuels, shared details about TotalEnergies' product development strategy in response to developments in the marine fuels market. Meyer has a unique vantage point, as he oversees a team that focuses on low-carbon alternative marine fuel projects, R&D programs and industry initiatives at TotalEnergies' dedicated business in charge of worldwide bunkering activities. Meyer noted that since the IMO 2020 global Sulphur cap regulation came into force, TotalEnergies Marine Fuels has been introducing changes to its product portfolio on a near term (1-3 year), medium term (3-7 year) and longer term (10-15 year) basis, with a strategic focus on providing cleaner marine fuels. Its goal is to be a leading clean marine fuels supplier to support its shipping customers' decarbonization strategies. Sustainable Marine Fuel In the near term, Meyer noted that TotalEnergies is exploring the introduction of biofuels, or a future Sustainable Marine Fuel (SMF), which the company can produce from its biorefineries. The resulting product will be blended with existing fuels, such as VLSFO, to produce SMF, a fuel that can be used on existing vessels without any modification. “We plan to begin trials with biofuels later this year,” Meyer noted, adding that TotalEnergies has plans to introduce the product at major bunkering hubs in Europe and Asia.
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8 The LNG bunker vessel Gas Agility seen during recent operations at the Dunkerque LNG Terminal
Announcements about this commercial biofuels offer can be expected later in 2021, Meyer confirmed. However, SMF is likely to face competition from other markets for similar fuels: in the transportation sector, HEFAbased sustainable fuels are already consumed commercially, while government-mandated targets are already creating demand from the aviation market. Ramping up LNG supply Over the medium term, TotalEnergies will continue to expand its supply of LNG to cover the main bunkering hubs worldwide. Meyer highlighted that LNG is an immediate and pragmatic fuel solution to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Leaving aside LNG's undisputed environmental advantages, which compare well against the other commercially available alternatives, TotalEnergies will continue to innovate to improve the emissions profile of LNG. Apart from carbon capture and storage (CCS) solutions and using renewable power at the production stage, one of the means by which TotalEnergies will lower the GHG emissions from LNG will be supplying parcels in which biomethane is blended with conventional LNG. The multi-energy major has recently expanded its biomethane production capacity in Europe while becoming the leader in the French market, but Meyer noted that TotalEnergies' plans to supply bio-methane will likely be
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aligned with the development of demand for the energy sector as well as for transport. While TotalEnergies Marine Fuels' goal is to be able to provide physical supply of liquefied biomethane bunkers to its shipping customers, the high costs of liquefying and transporting this fuel makes it uneconomical as an immediate standalone solution. One associated development that may create demand for greener LNG blends is consumer demand for green fuel certification such as the Guarantees of Origin (GO) mechanism. “The first trial of LNG with bio-methane for container shipping was concluded end of 2020 via the GO certificates mechanism,” Meyer said, adding that, “we are looking forward to ramp up this offer to our customers and steer them towards these lower-carbon marine fuel solutions.” Commenting on which vessel-type is anticipated to jump on this certification bandwagon, Meyer said, “Containerships are likely to lead the shift, because operators already have a mechanism to transfer the higher cost of lower carbon fuels to customers, followed probably by the cruise industry where ticket surcharges can be applied.” Meyer noted that the industry will work for now on a product certification solution in response to customer demands for greater supply chain transparency and GHG emissions associated to a fuel. This solution will also allow customers to have greater certainty and traceability about the embedded greenhouse gas emissions in fuel supplied
Credit: François Lacour/TotalEnergies
FUELS & LUBRICANTS
along its life cycle. Electrolyzers and e-fuels Meyer noted that TotalEnergies has plans to be one of the world's top five renewable energy producers while investing US$60 billion to reach a gross capacity of 100 GW by 2030. These plans are part of the Company's climate ambition to get to Net Zero emissions by 2050, together with society, as
8 La Mède biorefinery in Provence, France, which was converted from a conventional refinery in 2019
A decade of change The decade 2020-2030 will be a decade of change for TotalEnergies as it becomes a broad energy company. TotalEnergies plans to increase the proportion of gas in its sales mix from 40% in 2019 to 50% in 2030, and triple the proportion of electricity sold over the same period to 15% (most of which will come from renewable sources). By 2030, oil will account for about one third of TotalEnergies' energy production and sales, down from 55% in 2019, while including a growing proportion of biofuels. Looking further ahead, TotalEnergies expects that liquids will occupy a smaller share of its energy production and sales mix. By 2050, the mix could be 40% renewable power, 40% gas (primarily carbon-free) and 20% liquid products (including biofuels).
The Biogas business unit plans to produce 1,500 GWh of biomethane annually by 2025 and 4,000 to 6,000 GWh a year by 2030. It will draw on the Company's existing operations in the biogas industry and its sale and purchase agreements for more than 50 GWh/year through its affiliates, including: Quadran-Methanergy, which builds methanation and waste gas recovery units, Clean Energy in the US, and its affiliates in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany that maintain a network of bio-natural gas vehicle fuel and bio-LNG stations. Additionally, in January this year, TotalEnergies acquired Fonroche Biogaz, the largest producer of biogas in France which holds an installed capacity of 500 GWh, thereby further strengthening the Company's presence in the market.
Increasing energy in gases With sales of 34 Mt of LNG in 2019 and global market share of about 10%, TotalEnergies is the world's second largest private-sector LNG player, and aims to continue expanding its LNG portfolio to reach about 50 Mt/y by 2025. Decarbonising natural gas with biogas and hydrogen, as well as continuing to reduce methane emissions will contribute to TotalEnergies' efforts towards its Net Zero climate ambition. In September 2020, TotalEnergies created a Biogas business unit within its Gas, Renewables and Power (GRP)'s Gas Division.
Renewable energy TotalEnergies has ambitious plans to increase the proportion of renewable energy generation in its renewable power business, with plans to increase the capacity of its wind generation and solar power generation business from 7GW in 2020 to 35GW in 2025 and 100GW by 2030. This growth reflects an acceleration in new projects in 2020 with, for example, more than 5GW of wind power of sanctioned projects to be developed in France, the United Kingdom and South Korea; more than 2GW of solar assets in operation in India; more than 5GW of
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solar projects in Spain and one of the world largest solar farm with 800MW in Qatar. Biofuels TotalEnergies has also announced plans to increase its biofuels production capacity as part of its new strategy. It plans to increase its biofuels production capacity from 0.3mt/ year in 2020 to 2mt/year by 2025 and 5mt/ year by 2030. While TotalEnergies anticipates demand emerging from the transportation and energy generation sectors, initial investments have been dedicated to the aviation sector, where the French government has established a first target for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) adoption from 2022, with the European Union expected to follow soon. To make that ambition a reality, TotalEnergies is seeking to develop synergies with existing assets, such as its La Mede biorefinery, which was converted from a conventional refinery in 2019 and has the capacity to produce 500 KT of biofuels annually. In September 2020, the Company also announced a project to convert its Grandpuits refinery into a zero-crude complex including biofuels and bioplastics units, which are expected to be commissioned by 2024, with an annual production capacity of 170 KT of sustainable aviation fuel, 120 KT of road biofuel and 50 KT of bionaphtha for producing bioplastics.
JUNE 2021 | 15
redit: Blondeau Manuel - Capa Pictures/TotalEnergies
FUELS & LUBRICANTS
announced last September (see A Decade of Change). On May 28 this year, it announced the Company's name from Total to TotalEnergies to anchor its identity in this strategic transformation into a broad energy company. As part of this strategic development, Meyer confirmed that TotalEnergies Marine Fuel will leverage the Company's new business units dedicated to Hydrogen and Biofuels that are looking at the development of renewable fuels and e-fuels from renewable energy. Meyer noted that the demand for such e-fuels is likely to grow in the power generation and transport sectors, in line with decarbonisation targets. However, TotalEnergies Marine Fuels has also identified emerging demand for e-fuels, by which Meyer meant hydrogen-based vectors generated from renewable energy, including synthetic LNG, as well as green methanol and hydrogen, as long-term solutions to the challenge of decarbonising the shipping industry supply chain. “All hydrogen derived e-fuels will be a solution for different industries, including marine transportation,” Meyer confirmed. Wider perspective After discussing TotalEnergies' product development plans, he offered his own perspective of the evolving global bunker market that shipowners will have to navigate. Meyer noted that the market will become increasingly complex and fragmented over the medium term, with the potential emergence of different fuel preferences in different regions, and in different vessel types. “Ship operators should accept that the days of a simple market with a fuel almost dedicated for maritime needs will end in the future, as there will be competition with other transport and industries for different fuels we are looking at,” Meyer said. “The emergence of regional markets for some fuels may also create price pressures for niche fuels - particularly where the alternative fuels in question have expensive bunkering infrastructure costs,” Meyer commented. That said, looking further ahead at the market for fuels towards the end of the decade, different end-user markets are likely to have specific preferences for different fuels - or
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8 Frederic Meyer noted that TotalEnergies is exploring the introduction of a biofuel-based Sustainable Marine Fuel (SMF), but that it was likely to face competition from other markets, such as aviation, for similar fuels
as Meyer termed it, a situation in which “the molecules are in competition”. Meyer sees the potential for ammonia as an alternative marine fuel especially for deep-sea vessels. For shipping, one of the key advantages of ammonia is that competition from other segments such as transportation or aviation is likely to be limited. The Motorship notes that countries like Japan, Australia and Korea have significant interest in ammonia for energy generation applications. Meyer notes too that the industry's experience with developing LNG bunkering will also help to inform the development process of ammonia as a marine fuel. He sees potential for LNG-fuelled vessels to be ammonia-compatible and there is now several ongoing R&D work and efforts to prove this LNG-ammonia compatibility. Satellite bunkering hubs The shifts in the fuels offered to customers are also likely to have an effect on the main bunkering ports. In some cases, new regional bunkering hubs may emerge, located close to emerging regional suppliers of green e-fuels. This is likely to be a function of the availability of low-cost renewable energy. In addition, the introduction of some alternative fuels may alter vessel bunkering patterns, as different alternative fuels have different energy densities which are likely to lower operational ranges. 8 TotalEnergies plans to triple the proportion of electricity sold by 2030 (most of which will come from renewable sources)
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FUELS & LUBRICANTS
FLEXIBLE MP DIRECT INJECTOR CONCEPT FOR FUTURE FUELS Woodward L'Orange is expanding its medium-pressure offerings to support the growing uptake of synthetic fuels, either gaseous or liquid
8W Woodward L'O L'Orange's highpre pressure dual-fuel inj injector family en enables the inj injection of both die diesel fuel at up to 2,200 bar and a se second/PtX fuel at 60 600 bar directly into the cylinder
In most regions regi gions ons of the th he world, w worl orld d, the cost of renewable power is now cost-competitive with fossil fuels, even without subsidies. Using green hydrogen, it will be possible to create cost-competitive synthetic fuels with zero carbon footprint, and hydrogen and Power-to-X (PtX) technologies are also expected to follow a strong cost decline as they are scaled up to meet demand created by globally ambitious GHG targets. It is still not clear which fuels and engine technologies offer the most future-proof investment, but the shipping industry has great potential for using hydrogen, and there are various PtX fuels currently being investigated. Looking to the future, Woodward L'Orange predicts that for short-range and especially highly utilised applications, direct electrification or a fuel cell might be the best solution for a vessel's propulsion, but for many long-range applications, a retrofitted or new internal combustion engine is more feasible. MP direct injector platform To fill the gap between its existing high-pressure dual-fuel and port fuel injection technology, the company is currently working on a flexible medium-pressure direct injector platform. This injector can be designed to either inject the fuel at pressures of around 20 bar or up to several hundred bar, making it suitable for a range of new fuels, including ammonia. In general, direct injection with spark plug ignition (possibly with a prechamber) is conceivable for all engine sizes, in applications where dual fuel concepts with a second pilot fuel is not needed or desired. The company anticipates that the technology will be primarily used for high-speed propulsion engines (about 200 kW/cyl) and is working with MTU on methanol engines as part of the MethQuest research project. DNV has forecast that ammonia will have about a 30% share of the maritime fuel market by 2050, and Woodward L'Orange is also a project partner in MAN Energy Solutions' AmmoniaMot project which aims to define the steps necessary to produce a dual-fuel, medium-speed engine capable of running on diesel and ammonia. Woodward L'Orange will produce the injection system, and together with MAN, the technology will be scaled up to large, 4-stroke engines as part of the project. For high-pressure dual fuel applications, Woodward
L'Orange L'O introduced its new high-pressure dual-fuel injector family last year. This technology enables the injection of both diesel fuel at up to 2,200 bar and a second/PtX fuel at 600 bar directly into the cylinder. This allows for diesel-like engine performance at highest efficiencies and power densities. The engine can be operated with both fuels at 100% load. Pilotignited, high pressure direct injection suits combustion of low caloric value fuels even though they require greater injection quantities, and because those quantities are fairly similar, even external components, such as the fuel tank or high pressure pump are similar for some of the fuels. Where Woodward L'Orange's existing GD-series injectors are designed for engine bores of over 320mm, the new injectors are targeted at bores of 170mm. They have a nozzle tip diameter of 25mm and use diesel as a sealing oil rather than engine oil. They are compact and can be fitted to most engine configurations. The standard configuration has three gas needles around one single diesel nozzle - a configuration with one diesel and only one gas needle is also possible. For liquid fuels such as methanol, a separate accumulator is integrated into the design. For many years, the company's solenoid operated gas admission valve (SOGAV) port fuel injector has been used for applications where gaseous fuels need to be injected at low pressure upstream of the cylinder intake valves. It offers a direct actuation and is therefore an easy to use and robust injection solution. With a virtual sensor included, it is possible to monitor in real time the position of the valve. This makes it a good solution for pure gas or dual-fuel engines. As ignition source, these low-pressure dual-fuel engines use Woodward L'Orange's diesel injectors that can inject the smallest quantities of fuel with extreme precision while being able to run at full power in diesel-mode. Different pathways for fuel “bridging” are possible, and Woodward L'Orange says its injectors are designed to allow a fuel switch with minor changes. Choosing a flexible engine technology today gives shipowners the opportunity to change to other fuels during the long lifetime of an engine, and the company's expanding range of injectors is designed to support those changes.
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JUNE 2021 | 17
TURBOCHARGERS
KBB DIRECTS TURBOCHARGING R&D TOWARDS HYDROGEN ICE German turbocharger manufacturer KBB is collaborating with a range of engine manufacturers and engineering partners looking at the introduction of hydrogen into the new fuel mix and the development of associated dual-fuel engines
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drop in fuel consumption and emissions. Additionally, turbocharging efficiencies of more than 75 percent are being achieved as a result of intermediate cooling. Upgrade solutions KBB continues to support customers in meeting IMO emissions regulations. This can involve the addition of after-treatment systems as well as turbocharger upgrades, says Account Manager, Florian Hermann. A turbocharger upgrade (available for engine output range between 500 and 6,000kW (per turbocharger)) results in higher engine efficiency and lower fuel consumption, better acceleration performance of the engine and lower emissions. It also results in quicker and easier maintenance and longer maintenance intervals. However, Hermann notes that the recertification of engines by classification societies can add to the burden of a retrofit turbocharger project, making the option of engine replacement more desirable in some cases, with the associated turbocharger upgrade coming as part of that larger project.
8 KBB is carrying out research to boost the pressure ratio for its two-stage turbocharger operation - with the ultimate goal of increasing the pressure ratio from 10:1 to 12:1
8 KBB offers turbocharger upgrades for turbochargers paired with engine output range between 500 and 6,000kW (the ST6 is pictured)
Credit: KBB
Determining the changes in operating parameters needed d to ensure efficient and reliable charging of hydrogen n combustion is a key focus for KBB, says Engineering g Director, Dr Silvio Risse. This impacts the compressor and d turbine's operation, and KBB is running simulation testss to determine the adjustments that are required due to o hydrogen's unique combustion characteristics. It burnss much faster than natural gas, knocking occurs more easily, y, and the engine requires combustion adjustments and more e boost pressure to achieve comparable power. Other key considerations are confirming that the housing g sealing systems used are adequate, particularly on the e compressor side when the fuel is mixed before reaching the e compressor. In most cases it is adequate, but it must be e checked to avoid safety critical leakages after long-term m operation. Attention also needs to be paid to the bearing g housing on the compressor side to prevent blowby if the e shaft sealing is not 100%. The presence of hydrogen in the e lubricating oil also needs to be considered, says Risse. “It iss the same sort of discussion we have regarding gas enginess with premixed biogases.” Minimising condensation and corrosion, with adjusted engine shut-off procedures and exhaust piping design is another issue. “The water content increases on the turbine side, and this is a consideration for avoiding corrosion fouling,” says Risse. Using hydrogen as a fuel is unlikely to affect turbine blade shape design, but there is discussion on how to fit an aftertreatment system to reduce NOx-emissions. This can determine which turbine size and nozzle rings are fitted. Engine load dynamics are unlikely to be an issue, as the load profile does not change due to the presence of hydrogen. Rather it is the need for flexibility in the proportion of hydrogen used in the fuel that needs to be considered. “If it's 30% hydrogen or 100%, you can run with it, but there is also a compromise on performance,” says Risse. “It depends on what the starting proportion to be used is and then the final proportion. If this involves a big step, then some retrofitting is required. In most cases, though, this would only involve nozzle rings and diffuser on the compressor side.” KBB is also involved in preliminary discussions with engine manufacturers about ammonia as a marine fuel and anticipates greater involvement in projects as COVID restrictions ease and engine development proceeds. Meanwhile, the company continues development of its existing turbocharger range with recent work involving boosting of the pressure ratio for two-stage turbocharger operation - with the ultimate goal of increasing pressure ratio from 10:1 to 12:1. A research priority is to obtain higher charging pressures to enable the highest engine efficiency, especially in diesel, heavy fuel oil, gas and dual-fuel applications. In conjunction with adapted engine valve control times (Miller cycle timing), engine efficiency can be further increased with a simultaneous
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TURBOCHARGERS
PBST IS READYING TWO NEW SERIES OF MODULAR RADIAL Both turbocharger families are based on newly-developed technologies, leading to a significant step in product capabilities, says project manager Daniel Albrecht. They use significantly smaller rotors and thereby allow for a fast dynamic response of the engine. Albrecht says the main innovation behind both series is the advanced numerical simulation used for their design, something that wasn't possible several years ago. Improved numerical methods and steadily rising processor capabilities allow complex simulations to improve flow parts for higher performance. As part of the development work, both aerodynamic and structural mechanics behaviour was simulated, and a key design consideration was to ensure the highest possible component lifetimes given the higher pressures and temperatures they are exposed to. The designs developed based on the numerical research were then tested on the company's test rig confirming the positive results. Current 1-stage turbocharger systems achieve pressure ratios of 5 to 6, but the new TCP range is significantly increasing this pressure ratio to well above 6, and pressure ratios beyond 7 are feasible, says Albrecht. “We've developed completely new aerodynamic stages for both the compressor side and the turbine side to reach this industry benchmark.” The new turbochargers use the same connection dimensions as similar turbochargers with lower output and can be exchanged without major adaptions. The increased pressure will allow customers to significantly increase engine power output, and a first application of the technology has achieved power increases of around 20% with only slight engine modifications. This means more power with similar costs or smaller engines or less cylinders for the same output. “In parallel, we managed to significantly increase the efficiency of the turbochargers to reduce fuel consumption and emissions from our customer engines,” says Albrecht. The second turbocharger range, TCF, offers significantly increased volume flow. The new range is an expansion and upgrade of the existing TCT range but with newly optimised flow performance. The technology has been designed to achieve the highest efficiencies at pressure ratios below 5 and is especially well suited to optimising engines for part load. Significant improvements in fuel consumptions, especially for gensets, have been demonstrated in studies with first customers. Due to the turbochargers achieving their highest efficiencies gains in part load, and easy exchangeability, they are especially well suited to help shipowners to better comply with future Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) requirements and reduce emissions of engines already in the field, Albrecht says. In one study case, fuel consumption in the relevant operation range was reduced by 4.5% with a TCF retrofit and engine optimization package. The series is also suited to work as a low-pressure stage turbocharger in two-stage applications.
Credit: PBST
PBST has achieved pressure ratios of 7 with a new product line of radial turbochargers and boosted flow in another new product, with both expected to be ready for first customers in 2022
Modular design Both new turbocharger series have been designed to be modular in construction, using as many parts in common as possible, although some rotating components and casings will differ between the two families. In this, PBST has leveraged the Volkswagen Group's expertise in developing modular systems for the car industry. The new turbochargers are designed for gensets or main propulsion engines and will include models for high, medium and low speed engines, including TCF models for 2-stroke engines. “To enable for full decarbonization of our customers portfolio, the turbochargers are being designed for operation for a wide range of future fuels including hydrogen and ammonia,” says Christian Reith, head of technical sales at PBST, although he notes that the company's existing ranges are also suitable for use with new fuels on test engines without any show stopper already today. “Now it's time to implement a new turbocharger series to cope with the upcoming CO2 targets we see being set all over the world leading up to 2050. We expect, of course, the need for higher efficiencies and the need for higher pressures to get increased power density out of existing engines as well as equal power density out of the new engines being developed for burning future fuels, and this is what we are prepared for.” PBST is conducting on-going tests of new-series TCP and TCF turbochargers, and component tests are also well under way. Engine manufacturers are engaged in several projects, and first series hardware will be available for engine tests starting from 2022. Seven frame sizes are currently planned for each series to cover a wide application range of high, medium and low speed engines for marine as well as other mobile applications including rail and mining and also stationary power generation applications. The range will be rolled out over time in response to customer demand.
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8 The new TCP and TCF families have significantly smaller rotors than previous ranges
JUNE 2021 | 19
TWO-STROKE ENGINES
GREEN FUEL CONVERSION STUDY ADDRESSES RISKS OF INACTION
Image: Bernd Flickenschild/Pixabay
A new project aims to clarify the costs and optionalities of dual-fuel conversions, addressing the design configuration options and how to de-risk opportunities for future asset investments
The Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping is coordinating a project focused on identifying the costs and optionalities of dual-fuel conversions, and subsequently producing scenarios addressing the design configuration options and how to de-risk opportunities for future asset investments. Claus Graugaard Head of Onboard Vessel Solutions at Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, spoke to The Motorship in May 2021 to discuss the development of pathways for the conversion of the world's vessels to zero carbon and net zero fuels. The project brings together participants from across the shipping industry, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, NYK, MAN Energy Solutions, ABS, Total, Seaspan and Maersk. Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping The Center itself is an independent research and development center, bringing together industry participants from diverse sectors, including classification societies, as well as representatives from the shipping, shipbuilding, manufacturing and energy sectors. Founder partners include ABS, A.P. Moller-Maersk, Cargill, MAN Energy Solutions, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, NYK Line and Siemens. The Center is seeking to accelerate the transformation of shipping, which will require significant investment from outside the industry, the development of new fuels and powering solutions, as well as the correct alignment of regulatory and commercial incentives.
20 | JUNE 2021
8 The study is intended to produce reliable estimates for the economics of conversions, based on accurate estimates around retrofit costs
The Center's ambitions were underlined by an announcement shortly before the interview that the Center was participating in a joint Zero-Emission Shipping Mission together with the Global Maritime Forum and the governments of Denmark, Norway, and the United States to scale and deploy new green maritime solutions. The three main goals of the Zero-Emission Shipping Mission are: 5 Develop, demonstrate, and deploy zero-emission fuels, ships, and fuel infrastructure in a coordinated fashion along the full value chain. 5 By 2030, ships capable of running on hydrogenbased zero-emission fuels - such as green hydrogen, green ammonia, green methanol, and advanced biofuels - make up at least 5% of the global deep-sea fleet (by fuel consumption). 5 By 2030, at least 200 of these well-to-wake zeroemission fuelled ships are in service and operating on these fuels along their main deep sea shipping routes.
Modelling and more A separate R&D team within the Center is conducting indepth research into the technical, economic and infrastructure requirements of deploying zero-emission fuels and fuel infrastructure.
For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101
“We're getting very close to being able to analyse the costs of producing up to 17 different potential energy carriers,” Graugaard said. By combining granular insight into the power configuration of bulkers, containerships and tankers among deep-sea vessel types, with the economic and environmental aspects of supplying zero-carbon fuels, the model will be able to produce pathways assessing how the introduction of different energy carriers could affect the industry transition and the power demand of the fleet. No analysis of the introduction of alternative fuels into the global fleet would be complete without an assessment of the overall impact of operating on such fuels, both from an operational cost perspective, but also taking into account the capital costs of ordering a newbuilding. Graugaard noted that the Green Fuels Conversion Optionality Study is the first stage in conducting research into assessing the cost of converting existing vessels to operate on such new fuels. The project aligns closely with Graugaard's other research responsibilities within Onboard Vessel Solutions at the Center, which include energy efficiency technologies, emissions abatement technologies, ship design, safety and risk management design and operations. “Everything from quay to wake, covering everything from design questions - such as how to configure vessels to handle larger tank structures, fuel supply, fuel gas systems, power solutions and so on - to new technologies, such as solid oxide fuel cells.” A trained naval architect, Graugaard has first-hand experience of working with alternative fuels from a classification society perspective at DNV, during the early stages of LNG rule development. Graugaard also understands the commercial imperatives of fleet management, gained during his extended period as Head of Technical Management at J. Lauritzen. Green Fuels Conversion Optionality Study The study is intended to produce reliable estimates for the economics of conversions, based on accurate estimates around retrofit costs. In the context of converting existing vessel from fuel oil, but also preparing new buildings of tomorrow with minor or larger readiness scope. One of the project partners involved in the project is from a Japanese shipyard, while other project participants have experience in converting engines between fuel types as a supplier . “This is an area that really has attracted huge interest from many of our partners, because it should clarify the various technical configurations, including the choice between fuel oil or LNG configuration versus the optionality of subsequently converting to ammonia or methanol. By addressing these combinations in this project we want to try to get clarity on the impact on the technical designs and configurations of the vessels.” The project is around creating scenarios around the conversion of existing shipping to operate on a comparatively limited number of zero carbon fuels. The fuels were selected on the basis of their likely commercial availability within a short timeframe, and include green ammonia, green methanol and advanced biofuels, as well as bio methane. The project is intended to be delivered by the end of 2021, and will produce detailed analyses for lifetime cost of operating vessels on a variety of fuels, including the total cost of conversions, as well as the cost of operating on different fuels. The studies are intended to take a granular look at the cost of installing additional fuel tanks for various types of vessels, as well as structural alterations and the preparation of gas systems.
Credit: MHI
TWO-STROKE ENGINES
Graugaard also noted that the production of detailed assessments of fuel consumption and environmental emissions for different vessel types, routes and fuel types would also allow GHG emissions to be derived. This is central to the Center's objectives, but also a necessary requirement for the impact of different environmental regulatory schemes to be modelled. Graugaard noted that the technological aspects of the introduction of new fuels are closely integrated with regulatory questions. “As our intention is to accelerate the decarbonization of shipping globally, we also look closely at strategic and regulatory levers that could make the transition occur more quickly. In a similar way to how we are analysing the potential impact of market-based measures or a CO2 tax.” The project will not only look at CAPEX and OPEX requirements, but also at the wider implications of alternative fuel conversions for the future value of vessels. Such considerations are highly topical, given the potential risk that changes in the regulatory landscape or regional fuel availability could leave an asset stranded. Meanwhile, many observers expect environmental premiums to emerge in some markets in the near future, perhaps initially as a means of recompensing owners for higher fuel costs. “The financial angle is important for shipowners, who are looking for a more profound basis when making investment decisions,” Graugaard concluded. The conversion of vessels to operate on alternative fuels is an area that has enormous scope for further study, Graugaard adds. One potential area might be incorporating life cycle type thinking into conversions, factoring in the emissions from the newbuild process, while the potential for retrofit costs to fall with serialised conversions was another. “Our ambition is to try to bring stakeholders together and hopefully see the best solutions, while thinking across the entire value chain, because we see that there are so many stakeholders there. It is very y exciting,” g Graugaard g concluded.
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8 Project participant MHI brings a shipyard perspective to the project
8 Claus Winter Graugaard, Head of Onboard Vessel Solutions at Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping
JUNE 2021 | 21
TWO-STROKE ENGINES
MAN ES EYES VLOCS FOR ITS ME-GI ENGINE In just three months, MAN Energy Solutions has seen orders for its G80ME-GI engine increase from an initial order in March, as one of 10 seven-cylinder Mk9.5 models to be installed in VLCCs for three shipowners, to stand at 17, all for VLCCs, as at 15 June. As The Motorship reported on 24 March, that first group of orders marked the ME-GI's arrival in the VLCC segment but now the same 800mm-bore model is being spoken of in connection with potential expansion into another market sector: very large ore carriers (VLOCs), such as the 400,000dwt Valemax segment, popularised by Brazil's Vale. MAN Energy Solutions has already claimed that its ME-GI engines are the market standard for dual-fuel bulk carriers, most recently when it announced orders for three 6G70MEGI engines for a trio of 210,000dwt Newcastlemax bulkers for Eastern Pacific Shipping, as mentioned in The Motorship on 27 May. Yet this move into bulk carriers was not originally in the company's dual-fuel development plans. “All of a sudden, something happened, which we didn't really foresee,” MAN ES's head of promotion and customer support Thomas Hansen told The Motorship. That surprise was “very strong interest [in dual-fuel engines] from mining companies,” he explained. These companies have identified that Scope 3 emissions from their transport operations represent an obvious area where GHG emissions can be cut, making dual-fuel engines attractive, especially for ships serving dedicated trades, such as Australia or Brazil to China. High-spec engines This benefit justifies investing in high-spec dual-fuel engines and their associated auxiliaries, even though bulk carriers are generally viewed as low-spec and low-speed vessels, Mr Hansen said. Instead, their operators were attracted to the ME-GI engine because “it has the lowest methane slip and best consumption in the market for both gas and conventional fuel,” he said. For the same reasons, scaling up from 210,000dwt to 325,000dwt, for which a six-cylinder model is anticipated, or a 400,000dwt Valemax, which would use the same sevencylinder engine as the VLCCs, also justifies a dual-fuel power plant: the GHG savings will be larger and, as a percentage of the ship's cost, the extra expense of supplying and installing the higher spec engine is a lower proportion of the ship's total cost. In addition, with the 800mm-bore ME-GI engine now established in the VLCC market and also suitable for container ships of up to about 7,000TEU, VLOCs provide a viable additional market for the design, even though annual orders for Valemax ships may be few in number. In fact, Vale already operates a number of ships on charter that were ordered about 10 years ago as dual-fuel ready vessels, so could be converted to use LNG. Their design includes space above and around the engine and sufficient strength to accept additional auxiliary machinery.
22 | JUNE 2021
Image: MAN Energy Solutions
MAN ES is eyeing new markets for its 800mm-bore dual-fuel engine scant months after its G80ME-GI made its debut in a VLCC project, Paul Gunton learns
Whether any of these ships will be upgraded is not known; the cost would include not only the engine conversion kit and extra machinery, there is the yard time and off-hire to consider, pushing the upgrading cost beyond the premium to incorporate a dual-fuel arrangement into a newbuilding, Mr Hansen pointed out.
8 Six-cylinder 80mm-bore versions of MAN Energy solutions’ dual-fuel ME-GI engine could power future VLOCs
Fuel would follow If Vale were to support dual-fuel Valemax vessels, there is little LNG marine fuel available in Brazil at present - its first LNG bunker vessel, Avenir Accolade, went into service in March. But this need not be an issue, Mr Hansen pointed out, since major energy suppliers would certainly make it available if there were demand from a number of VLOCs operating from the country on long-term charters, he said. Globally, LNG is now widely available and offers reductions of 20-25% in carbon emissions compared with conventional fuels when combusted via the diesel principle, but “you don't get GHG-neutrality by using LNG, we must admit that,” he said. But because the ME-GI engines use the diesel principle, they can “combust nearly any fuel with a high efficiency,” he said, “so our engines can be retrofitted to use one of the other fuels.” With this flexibility, an operator choosing the engine could operate it initially on LNG “but they are not locked with that decision.” Green fuels, such as methanol or ammonia created using green energy could be used in them in future if the ship is prepared in advance with space above the engine to change the injection system. There will be a cost to that, he agreed, but the bigger the ship, the bigger its residual value and the better the business case for conversion, he argued. Ultimately, the decision to invest in dual-fuel for large bulk carriers is now an environmental one, he suggested. “The owner or charterer wants to be able to demonstrate that they are transporting their goods as environmentally-friendly as possible,” especially if they have ambitions to be zerocarbon-emission companies, he said.
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PORTSTRATEGY INSIGHT FOR PORT EXECUTIVES
TWO-STROKE ENGINES
DEFERRED FINANCE UNDERPINS TURNKEY LNG RETROFIT OFFER
Credit: Newport Shipping
Newport Shipping is launching a new turnkey LNG retrofit solution including a deferred repayment option, board member Cenk Ozeker explains
The LNG retrofit solution is targeted at tankers and dry bulk vessels, and is based around an IMO Type C fuel tank concept. The concept has received an approval in principle (AIP) from classification society DNV, confirming the feasibility of the concept for the VLCC and Capesize vessel classes. As part of the solution, Newport Shipping will offer shipowners a long-term payment plan, permitting payments on up to 60% of the cost of the retrofit to be deferred for six years. Newport Shipping will act as the system integrator for conversions undertaken at a number of participating shipyards in both hemispheres. By directly overseeing the supply of components and acting as the project integrator, Newport Shipping claims to be able to shorten the overall project duration of conversions and mitigate the risk of unforeseen conversion project overruns. The retrofit and conversions provider expects the solution to appeal to shipowners considering converting existing tonnage to dual-fuel propulsion as a means of meeting upcoming Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) and Carbon Intensity Index (CII) targets, or longer-term fleet level decarbonisation objectives. IMO Type C-based design Ozeker noted that the company was engaging with “the main engine suppliers” around the possibility of converting engines to either low-pressure or high-pressure two-stroke LNG-fuelled engines. The specific conversion of the engines to dual-fuel operation would be carried out by the engine designers' service suppliers, Ozeker added.
24 | JUNE 2021
8 Newport Shipping's LNG retrofit concept is applicable to bulkers ranging from Panamax to Newcastlemax vessel types
Around three-quarters of the design and engineering tasks associated with a dual-fuel conversion were not directly connected with the retrofit of the engine. including the installation of an fuel gas supply system (FGSS), as well as the LNG bunkering modules and the LNG fuel tanks. Newport Shipping would offer shipowners the choice of FGSS and fuel tank suppliers, including Germany-based collaborators TGE and Marine Service Gmbh, as well as LGM Engineering. The Motorship notes that LGM Engineering is familiar with the design requirements of supply FGSS for dual-fuel VLCC, having won the order to supply such as system for the newbuilding project at DSIC. Serial conversion benefits By acting as the system integrator, Newport Shipping expects to be able to offer customers assurances about the scheduling of the retrofit conversion work. The group has sufficient slot availability to handle around 1,000 retrofits annually. While the establishment of project management controls at shipyards in Newport Shipping's network, and the development of close relationships with component suppliers might mitigate the risk of unplanned project overruns, the advantages of introducing a pipeline of retrofit conversions extended further. “We expect to shorten the duration for a retrofit project to 12-14 months, from the beginning of a project to completion, excluding the initial contractual negotiation phase,” Cenk Ozeker said. Ozeker cited compressed design requirements for
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TWO-STROKE ENGINES
Green Finance Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Newport Shipping's solution is the attractive financial terms that the group is able to offer shipowners. The group has reached an agreement with unspecified financial institutions to provide deferred finance to shipowners. Ozeker declined to identify the financial institutions providing the long-term finance for the dual-fuel conversions to The Motorship. He noted that the environmental benefits of LNG-fuelled propulsion meant that the conversions met the institutions' ESG criteria, and were eligible for Green Finance funding. The economics of conversions to LNG-fuelled propulsion meant that the payback period ranged from 5 to 7 years, although the potential introduction of a carbon levy or other regulatory initiatives might make the economics of LNG conversions even more attractive in the future. Ozeker also noted that shipowners might also be able to take advantage of emerging interest from beneficial cargo owners in paying a premium for environmentally-friendly tonnage, citing recent contractual terms offered by dry bulk charterers in Singapore, and also developments in the dual-
Credit: Newport Shipping
conversions of sister vessels built by a single shipyard based on a serial design as an example of the benefits of shifting from a bespoke to a serial production basis. “We think we could shorten subsequent retrofit projects by up to three months after a first conversion design project,” Mr. Ozeker said, adding that Newport Shipping would leverage the group's in-house design capabilities.
8 Newport Shipping managing director Lianghui Xia with the AIP certificate awarded by DNV
fuel VLCC space. “This would allow ship owners to speak to charterers and identify their additional costs, while meeting demand from charterers for reduced supply chain emissions.” Such a financial model also represented a potential model for funding conversions to other alternative fuels, Ozeker concluded.
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JUNE 2021 | 25
TWO-STROKE ENGINES
KEEP LARGER DECARBONISATION PICTURE IN MIND OWNERS URGED Traditionally, shipowners have tended to wait until shortly before new legislation affecting their ships takes effect, Esa Jokioinen, Sales and Marketing Director of Deltamarin, the Finnish consultant naval architects explains. Once a major owner has decided how to comply, many others have often tended to follow suit. However, Jokioinen says this onesize-fits-all approach is no longer appropriate. Instead, a much more complex picture has emerged. Each owner will have to think about the specifications of each ship, the trade they are employed on plus a plethora of other considerations, he pointed out. Owners do face considerable challenges as there will be at least two separate changes, Mia Elg, who is in charge of R&D as well as consulting services, continued. The first one is already taking place: it means thinking of the best solutions to meet the requirements of the Energy Efficiency of Existing Ships (EEXI) and Carbon Intensity Index (CII). At this stage, LNG has emerged as a good transitional option to meet near term requirements. “But then, at some time in the future, there will be a much greater leap. That will involve a switch to ammonia, hydrogen or carbon neutral fuels. Organisations like the IMO, EU and others will insist on tighter regulation,” she told The Motorship. She added that fuel suppliers and technology developers were already developing solutions to meet future demand. This is the big picture in which the shipping industry currently is facing, but Elg pointed out that there are no final rules in place to cover the requirements of the big leap at the moment. “During the 20 to 25 year lifespan of a ship now being designed, a transition to a green fuel will take place. The key task for today is to future proof the ship,” she noted. “Environmental goals affect every newbuilding project today. However, the situation now is very different from the days when sulphur emission legislation was being planned. Then the question was about one issue. Now we are talking about something that we will continue to improve and perfect for the next 50 years,” Jokioinen pointed out. Fuel will cost more in the future and planned carbon taxes will push its effective c out even higher. This again means that energy saving devices of all kinds will be of interest for shipping. Concept study stage gains importance The ship design process itself has changed considerably in the recent past. Traditionally, an owner would present Deltamarin with the rough specifications for a planned newbuilding and the design work would be built around these parameters. However, owners approach the task from the point of view of what task and where a projected vessel should perform. The process becomes much more complex and involves optimisation of technical, commercial and environmental inputs, Elg said. The importance of data has increased significantly in the past few years and in order to being able to process it to the best advantage of clients, Deltamarin has invested heavily in
26 | JUNE 2021
Credit: Deltamarin
The journey towards carbon neutral shipping is a much wider challenge than simply meeting EEXI and CII standards, Esa Jokioinen and Mia Elg of Deltamarin explain to Kari Reinikainen
data processing capacity. The concept study stage has grown in complexity and many calculations require the use of artificial intelligence, allowing human resources to be used for tasks for which they are best suited, Elg continued. Owners might be unwilling to pay for a more complex concept design stage that comprises analysis of data from commercial, technical and operational aspects of what the projected vessel should do. However, the use of AI means that the cost of such an analysis does not need to increase even if it was more extensive than what an owner is used to, Elg noted.
8 Mia Elg, R&D Manager at Deltamarin
Bespoke vs off-the-peg In any case, the times are changing. “The message to the business is clearer. It's the time to stop copying one another! The package of right solutions is different for each owner and optimisation lies at the heart of it - and the ship itself may not be at the core,” Jokoinen said, noting that the business models of shipping are also under scrutiny as it attempts to reduce its environmental footprint. Carbon strategy forms part of the business plan of every major shipowner - and of quite a few smaller ones as well. As owners need to look for solutions that meet the requirements of their particular vessel, trading area and a plethora of other considerations, there is a risk that some ships might become stranded assets. Their lifespan may turn out to be shorter than anticipated if they cannot be adopted to match requirements of the future that will retroactively affect all ships. Both Elg and Jokoinen urge owners not to focus simply on upcoming requirements, such as EEXI and CII, and neglect
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TWO-STROKE ENGINES the likely impact of wider changes on their projected ship. Such an approach would obviously mean that the new ship would pass the known hurdles, but the design would quite likely turn out to be too inflexible to meet the challenges of the future. Elg pointed out that the work of a naval architect has become much more interesting as the concept stage has become loaded with a far greater number of variables that cover a much wider range of factors than what was the case in the past. For a company like Deltamarin, this means that data the company has collected e.g. from commercial aspects of ship operations has become an increasingly valuable asset in its toolbox. It is not only the legislators and owners that demand more environmentally friendly ships, the entire supply chain is becoming greener and all members of it are taking a growing interest in the green credentials of shipping. Mission not impossible “Shipping accounts for about 3% to 4% of the global greenhouse gas emissions. That's equal to the emissions of a country like Germany or France,” Jokioinen pointed out, adding that the demands to reduce that will gather momentum in the time to come - and not vice versa. “Sometimes people say that new legislation and new rules are introduced at a too short notice. But let's look at the sulphur emission rules: it was known nearly a decade ahead before this actually happened that the rules would change. And then some owners said they are in a hurry to fit scrubbers,” he continued.
“Martin Stopford (of Clarkson Research) has pointed out that it took shipping more than 130 years to go from sail to steam engines and carbon fuels. We now need to get from where we are today to zero emissions in less than half of time. It can be done, it's not impossible, but of course requires a lot of determination, investment and hard work” Jokioinen concludes.
8 Deltamarin's digital design tools include energy simulations to address "highly complex, multi-objective optimization problems"
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JUNE 2021 | 27
LNG & ALTERNATIVE FUELS
UNDERSTANDING METHANOL’S POTENTIAL AS A MARINE FUEL Methanol can provide a straightforward, regulated transition for the shipping industry, writes Panos Koutsourakis, ABS Director of Sustainability Strategy, Singapore Numerous alternative fuels are under consideration as a means to reduce carbon emissions in shipping. Of these Methanol is one of the two principal options currently available to shipowners, with methanol-powered vessels already in service, further ships under construction and numerous development projects underway. Available worldwide and used in a variety of applications for many decades, Methanol is most commonly produced on a commercial scale from natural gas, but it can also be produced from renewable sources such as biomass or electrolysis powered by renewable power and supported with carbon capture utilization technology. Either production pathway, blended into conventional methanol in increasing volumes could considerably reduce the carbon dioxide (CO2) footprint of its use as fuel. This potential to reduce CO2 output – as well as its ability to provide compliance with IMO2020 regulations – means that application of methanol is drawing wider interest from owners of oceangoing vessels, short sea shippers, ferries, cruises, and inland waterway vessels. Properties Methanol is a colourless liquid at ambient temperature and pressure with a characteristic pungent odour. It is easier to store and handle than liquefied natural gas (LNG), ammonia and hydrogen fuels and there are also fewer challenges in adopting methanol as marine fuel compared to these alternatives. Its properties are shown in Figure 1. Methanol has the highest hydrogen-to-carbon ratio of any liquid fuel, a relationship that potentially lowers the CO2 emissions from combustion when compared to conventional fuel oils. When used as the primary fuel, methanol can reduce CO2 emissions by around 10 percent. However, methanol has the potential to be a carbon-neutral fuel in the future if it is produced renewably through biomass/biogas or renewable electricity. Methanol’s specific energy of 19,700 kJ/kg is much lower than that of LNG and conventional liquid fuels. For the same energy content, methanol requires about 2.54 times more storage volume than conventional fuels. When comparing methanol to LNG, an overall decrease in the effective volumetric density of LNG is to be accounted for due to packaging factors for cylindrical tanks, insulation and filling factors, boil-off gas, and custody transfer losses. Methanol has significantly less impact if spilled or leaked into the environment than conventional hydrocarbon fuels. Methanol dissolves readily in water, and only very high concentrations in the environment create lethal conditions or any changing effect on the local marine life. This means that a methanol spill would result in limited damage to the environment except for the release of carbon into the marine ecosystem. Methanol in the ocean is common, produced naturally by phytoplankton, and is readily consumed by bacteria microbes, thus entering and supporting the food chain.
28 | JUNE 2021
8 Figure 1: Methanol Properties
Regulatory Approval The general safety principles of the IMO’s IGF and IGC Codes provide the framework for the use of low-flashpoint marine fuels such as methanol. Common safety principles such as fuel tank protective location, double barriers on fuel supply lines, ventilation and gas detection, hazardous area classification, explosion mitigation, etc. are equally applicable to all low-flashpoint fuels. However, the specific fuel characteristics may require specific safety features. For methanol, any fuel leaks produce heavier-than-air vapours requiring additional detectors are necessary as the fuel is toxic if ingested or inhaled. The fuel characteristics would be considered during the risk assessment analyses. The adoption in November 2020 of IMO Interim Guidelines for the Safety of Ships Using Methyl/Ethyl Alcohol as Fuel cover considerations for ship design and d arrangement, fuel containment system, materials, pipe design, esign, bunkering, fuel supply, power generation, fire safety, afety, explosion prevention, hazard area classification, on, ventilation, electrical installations, control systems, crew training and operations. Methanol does not have cryogenic complexity mplexity and is a liquid at ambient conditions. Liquid fuels such as d be closer methanol are simpler to handle and would on to to conventional bunker vessels. In addition
8 Panos Koutsourakis, ABS Director of Sustainability Strategy, Singapore
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LNG & ALTERNATIVE FUELS methanol being traded and transported in chemical carriers for many years, there is also the experience of the Offshore Support Vessel (OSV) and Platform Supply Vessel (PSV) fleets handling methanol for the offshore industry, which can therefore also be reference points for the wider adoption of methanol as a bunker fuel. Methanol is a widely traded commodity with an existing global distribution network that could be leveraged to support marine fuel bunkering. Vessel Applications The adoption of low carbon and net carbon-neutral fuels for large vessels is more challenging than for smaller ones. Using fuels with low energy content, such as methanol, would require a significant redesign, not least because their fuel tanks would need to be expanded to store enough energy for longer deep-sea travel. However, methanol is more suited to storage in near conventional fuel tanks so can be easier to accommodate in ship designs than other low- flashpoint fuels and also under MSC.1/Circ.1621 5.2.1 may be bounded by the vessel shell plating when located below the lowest possible waterline. The trade and regulatory landscape of short-sea vessels make them ideal candidates for early adoption of new technologies such as methanol. Fuels such as methanol have strong potential to lower the carbon footprint of shipping, but one of methanol’s challenges is its low energy content and the comparatively lower amount of energy it can store in the tanks of a ship. That said, compared against other alternate fuels, methanol is relatively efficient at energy storage by volume based on physical tank space. Consequently, short-sea shipping can accommodate the use of fuels with low energy content — such as methanol — that require more frequent bunkering. Research projects are proceeding on land before testing onboard including research projects focusing on engines fuelled by either pure methanol or a methanol mix. Other ongoing research and industrial projects are focusing on scaling up methanol to become available for use in the wider transportation industries. For use in marine applications, infrastructure such as methanol bunkering facilities and fuel supply systems are to be developed. A partnership between Copenhagen Airports, A.P. Moller-Maersk, DSV Panalpina, DFDS, SAS, and Ørsted has formed to scale up the production of industrial hydrogen in Denmark, with a vision of producing sustainable fuel for the road, air, and marine transportation networks by 2030. Near Term Potential The benefits of reduced emissions from burning methanol could be a significant contributor to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the maritime industry. Existing methanol trade infrastructure can also be an important factor for the cost and availability of methanol over other alternative fueling options. One of the main challenges to owners during this fuel transition is to decide on an alternative fuel to prepare for 2050. Early adoption of such fuels depends on the demand and the supply landscape. In the case of methanol, even though its trade is evolved, its many uses and demand for manufacturing may not allow surplus for maritime use without incentives. Due to this widespread use of methanol across the globe, the marine industry can at most claim a fraction of the amount available unless methanol is produced synthetically. However, this option can also incur extra costs. The use of methanol as a fuel in methanol carriers for propulsion and power generation, along with the development of efficient and feasible dedicated propulsion systems, has already seen an increase in new build cargo vessels powered
by methanol. If methanol is produced renewably, these tankers could have an even greater potential to reduce lifecycle emissions while concurrently improving the renewable methanol fuel supply chain for other applications. The use of methanol as a fuel in dual-fuel marine engines may allow for robust operations with various types of alternative fuels in the future. Such applications may use methanol when it is available, with the option to burn other fuels at the convenience of availability and economy. The advantage of methanol over other gas fuels is its liquid state and ability to re-purpose existing infrastructure to include engines and vessels with efficient retrofits. Methanol is significantly easier and more economical to store on board than gas. Retrofitting a vessel’s tanks from conventional fuel oil, ballast, or slop to hold liquid methanol fuel is also easier than installing LNG tanks. One of the challenges of methanol as an alternative fuel is the lower energy content when compared to conventional fuel oils. However, as methanol is a liquid at ambient temperature and pressure, tanks can be converted with a minor retrofitting to hold larger volumes of methanol required for an equivalent amount of energy. Further methanol applications in marine fuel may only require a scale-up of existing trade, storage, and generation activities. Bunkering facilities and fuel supply systems are to be developed and scaled. Ongoing research is striving to rapidly scale up methanol availability in terms of infrastructure as well as onboard applications and installations. Figure 3 shows the projected marine fuel use to 2050 as the industry strives to meet the GHG emissions-reduction targets mandated by the IMO.
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8 Figure 2: Heatmap of Methanol applicability by vessel type.
8 Figure 3 Projected Fuel Use by 2050
JUNE 2021 | 29
LNG & ALTERNATIVE FUELS
NH3 TECH DEVELOPMENTS OFFER SOLUTIONS FOR LATE ADOPTERS
Copyright: Christoffer Björklund
There's enough interest from shipowners in ammonia as a fuel that engine designers and classification societies are pushing forward with addressing its poor combustion properties, toxicity and corrosiveness, but not everyone wants to be an early mover, and the solutions are having to factor that in as well
The cost of green ammonia is expected to be higher than the fuels in use today, and as ammonia has a low cetane number, it requires an ignition source which will eventually need to be carbon neutral or carbon free. René Sejer Laursen, ABS Director - Fuels & Technology, Global Sustainability, says the simplest option for incorporating ammonia as a fuel is to use a dual-fuel ammonia engine. “By combining biodiesel with green ammonia 100% neutrality can be reached. DME is produced from methanol which itself can also be produced solely from renewables. Instead of using diesel to ignite the ammonia, an ignition improver can be added in the form of DME, which will improve its ability to self-ignite without the use of pilot fuel. Using a diesel cycle engine to burn this mixture will require very few modifications to the engine system.” DME is a good ignition improver since it has a cetane number of 60, he says, and DME and ammonia are fully mixable and can be stored in the same tank system that contains ammonia. This mixture has already been lab-tested on a small engine operating around 1,000rpm with good results, so using it in large bore engine operating at 70100rpm will leave more time for combustion and much improved performance, says Laursen. “With this solution no pilot fuel is needed, potentially leading to a pure ammoniafuelled engine.” Another option is to crack a small part of the ammonia into
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hydrogen and nitrogen and use the hydrogen to ignite the ammonia. “This is however an engine solution that may be some years out in the future. The use of hydrogen in combustion engines requires new construction materials, because of risk of embrittlement, and the design of the injector nozzles/atomizers is especially challenging. Using fuels like LNG, VLSFO and methanol is already making it challenging to source steel materials that are able to withstand the load from both heat and pressure in the combustion chamber.” Combining propane and ammonia is another option that would be interesting to investigate further, says Laursen, although it may require an emulsifying agent added to the two liquids before they are fully y miscible. “LPG carrier owners are today specifying main engines ngines to be able to burn propane and butane. e. It would be a great benefit for those operators if they could use ammonia as well, mixing 10, 20 or 30% into the LPG to potentially meet GHG regulations over the lifetime of the ship.” Wärtsilä will have an engine gine running on ammonia this year. It is unlikely that carbon-neutral ammonia will ll be available in large quantities initially, and Wärtsilä predicts it will be used as a drop-in
8 Wärtsilä's engine laboratory in Vaasa, Finland
8 René Sejer Laursen, ABS Director - Fuels &; Technology, Global Sustainability
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LNG & ALTERNATIVE FUELS
8 MAN Energy Solutions' 4T50ME-X test engine, which will serve as the platform for the ammonia engine development, on its way to MAN ES's Research Centre Copenhagen (RCC) facility in 2020
fuel while shipowners gain confidence. Wärtsilä's engine development will follow this anticipated trend, moving from a diesel engine with ammonia capabilities to an engine that is more optimised for ammonia. Combining LNG and ammonia is another option being explored. Regulations have not yet specified the pressure and temperature at which ammonia needs to be stored onboard a vessel, and Mathias Jansson, Director, Fuel Gas Supply Systems, Wärtsilä Marine Power, says there are strong signals that cryogenic storage will be considered safer when analysing the consequences of a potential leak. The transition to deploying ammonia as fuel will also have a significant impact on fuel handling on board. For example, if ammonia is used first as a drop-in fuel alongside a dualfuel LNG vessel configuration, there will need to be three different types of fuel tanks and fuel handling systems onboard: for LNG, diesel and ammonia. Wärtsilä is investigating whether fuel mixing systems are feasible potentially based on its existing technology for mixing LNG and volatile organic compounds as fuel. Dominik Schneiter, Vice President of Research and Development at WinGD, says LNG is a good base for converting to ammonia fuel in the future, with LNG-fuelled ships having the tanks, fuel systems and engines suited to conversion. Schneiter says the company is actively investigating ammonia, but notes that there is a wide range of potential new fuels including synthetic diesel, biomass diesel, methanol and ethanol that are suitable for X-DF and X-series WinGD engines. WinGD has developed test rigs designed specifically to assess the compatibility of any alternative liquid or gaseous fuel with existing fuel systems. The rigs include key elements of the systems, including a variety of fuel pumps, common rail and injection actuation elements as well as the injection valves. An additional investment is a single-cylinder engine that allows for optimisation of both dual-fuel Otto and Diesel engine concepts. Practical considerations Schneiter is positive about the viability of combining ammonia with other fuels and the potential for multi-fuel
engine development. Ultimately, though, shipowners will be driven by the price of the fuel and the technology, and this may vary regionally, making it unlikely that ammonia will be initially adopted industry-wide. “It's always a capital operation - expenditure calculation.” Emissions are another major development focus for the industry. Ammonia combustion engines carry the potential for ammonia slip, NOx formation and N2O (nitrous oxide) formation. N2O is a particular concern as it is about 285 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2. Another issue is the toxicity of ammonia. Indeed, says Schneiter, some port authorities may expect traditional fuels to be used in port until confidence in ammonia combustion technology grows. Strategically, WinGD is expanding the scope of its design to include electric power and propulsion solutions. “We have started to look at energy management systems onboard,” says Schneiter. “And we are starting to look at the larger propulsion system, not just the combustion engine, because we see over time that the combustion engine installed power will be reduced in response to IMO regulations. It will still be there, but it will be smaller, a bit more complex, and we can manage this complexity.” Consequently, a new offering has already been established for electrical system and energy storage integration, and Schneiter envisages it playing a role in meeting emissions regulations, also while vessels are in port. Fuel cells are another technology that WinGD is considering integrating into the electric power system going forward, with ammonia being a promising sing fuel choice. MAN Energy gy Solutions is currently developing the he fuel injection system and engine design esign for its 2-stroke dual duallfuel ammonia engine and plans to have a 2-stroke engine gine available for delivery in 2024 and medium-speed engines ready in 2026. The fuel supply system is based on the e LPG supply system for liquid injection, n, and will use the Liquid Gas Injection (LGI) concept known from ual-fuel LPG injection the existing dual-fuel ngine system. The and tank to engine
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8 Peter Kirkeby, Principal promotion manager, MAN Energy Solutions, Two-stroke
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LNG & ALTERNATIVE FUELS supply pump will provide the ammonia at low pressure approximately 80 bar - and a hydraulic booster will be used to reach an actual injection pressure of 500-600 bar. “It is important to note that this is just the pressure when the injection valve opens to the combustion chamber, and only the ammonia injected for that revolution is subjected to that pressure. For reference, a common rail diesel injection in a passenger car has around 1,500 bar. So, this is by no means an untested injection concept,” says Peter Kirkeby, Principal promotion manager, MAN Energy Solutions, Two-stroke. The engine is being designed for fertiliser grade ammonia, and the piping components will be made from stainless steel (316L). “The use of 316L is made possible by the grade of ammonia chosen - where the industry standard is to have a little bit of water in the ammonia, because that puts you outside the risk of stress corrosion in the pipes as long as you use 316L and the appropriate welding,” says Kirkeby. A diesel pilot of about 5% will be used when running the engine on ammonia. Kirkeby is confident that the very long stroke of the low-speed engine will enable designers to tune the combustion to ensure emissions are reduced as far as possible. Added to this ability to control emissions is the fully variable exhaust valve timing, injection timing and control of the turbocharging system. While the engine will have a diesel pilot, Kirkeby foresees that an alternative such as hydrogen could be considered in the longer-term. However, the priority is low given that the amount of pilot fuel required, and which could come from bio or synthetic sources. “Hydrogen is promising in many ways, and it is a very good promoter for combustion, but it increases the complexity of 'logistics' in the engineroom.” MAN aims to make the engine as simple as possible for engineroom crew. “As engineers, our task is to make it simple and reliable and not over-complicated.” MAN is not planning a multi-fuel engine, although its engine portfolio aims to be future proof and can be configured to different fuels. Presently, the company sees no interest from the market that justifies developing a specific engine type that can operate on many different fuel types. A classification society perspective DNV is involved in a range of ammonia engine and ship design projects, and Business Development Manager Christos Chryssakis believes that dual-fuel engines will be favoured and does not expect that multi-fuel engines gines (i.e., engines that can run on both LNG and ammonia) a) will be deployed as a solution for the industry's fuel transition. on. Aside from the complexity, we can reasonably expect that hat these would be very expensive systems, he says. Using LNG and LPG as fuel and then later retrofitting fitting the engine to run on ammonia is one combination that could be advantageous, as the same storage tanks could be e used for both fuels, if designed specifically for this. Ammonia nia has a lower energy density though, so this could mean additional tank capacity is required. Class notations are expected to be published in July, and DNV has already released its Ammonia as a Marine rine Fuel Safety Handbook. The handbook notes some similarities milarities between LNG and ammonia: both require the management agement of boil-off gas and protection from external events ents that could damage storage tanks. Ammonia expands 850 50 times when going from liquid to gaseous state. This means eans that one litre of liquid can expand into 170,000 litres of ammonia gas of lethal concentration. Therefore, fuel systems should be designed with a minimum design pressure off 18 bar. This corresponds to the vapour pressure off ammonia at 45oC which is what the International
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Association of Classification Societies (IACS) specifies as the highest temperature that machinery should be designed to operate at. DNV is supporting shipowners that are interested in transitioning to ammonia by providing a flexible ammoniaready notation. Having a fuel tank that can accommodate ammonia or can be retrofitted for this purpose will be one of the qualifiers, as will be having a design that complies with ammonia class rules. Optionally, the notation can also include having the structural strength to accommodate the additional weight of ammonia tanks and fuel, having piping systems, main and auxiliary engines ready and also boilers. Chryssakis anticipates that many shipowners will wait until after 2030 to take up ammonia, after the engine technology and ship designs have been proven in operation and when green ammonia becomes readily available. Serge Dal Farra, Global Marketing Director, Lubmarine at TotalEnergies, says the group's name change to TotalEnergies reflects the energy major's commitment to investing 50% of its spending on renewables, and this will include green ammonia. The Marine Fuels Division is further developing research into the viability of ammonia as an alternative marine fuel through its participation in a series of leading industry initiatives and Lubmarine is developing the necessary formulation changes to support combustion engines running on ammonia. Lubmarine is one of just two approved providers of cylinder lubrication products for WinGD's Dual Fuel engines, through its Talusia Universal platform, which will form the basis for the new ammonia formulation. Nikolaos Kotakis, Technical Director, Lubmarine at TotalEnergies, says properties such as basicity and thermal stability remaining the same. For 4-stroke engines, longevity is something that will have to be monitored, as ammonia could have an impact not seen with fossil fuels. Changing the formulation to boost product lifetime will involve balancing requirements for miscibility and compatibility, and there are technical and commercial parameters to consider. However, he says, monitoring is an important factor in preventative maintenance anyway and something that will be supported by a new generation of onboard testing kits. Kotakis says the group will be ready when the engines are, although some optimisation may be required after onboard experience is gained. He says that combustion engines are here to stay for at least the next 20 or 30 years, so requirements will change as the new fuel, engine and aftertreatment combinations emerge. “We'll be ready,” he says. 8 DNV Business Develo Development Manag Manager Christos Chryss Chryssakis
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LNG & ALTERNATIVE FUELS
NH3 AFTERTREATMENT CONCEPT OFFERS EFFICIENCY BENEFITS Working in the Thomas E. Murphy Engine Research Lab at the University of Minnesota, Professor Will Northrop and Dr Seamus Kane have built a full-scale catalytic thermochemical recuperation reactor and demonstrated its ability to improve the efficiency of dual-fuel dieselammonia compression ignition engines. The novel system decomposes ammonia into a hydrogen-containing mixture to allow high diesel fuel replacement ratios, and it also oxidises unburned ammonia emissions in the exhaust. The technology was initially developed to facilitate the use of ammonia in farm machinery. A world-first green ammonia production facility using wind power was established in 2013 to provide fertiliser to a Minnesota farm. The production of green ammonia is of interest in farming, as currently, 1% of global GHG emissions are attributed to ammonia and nitrogen fertilizer production. However, fertiliser is not required year-round, and meeting the requirement for fertiliser production on the farm left the question of what to do with the rest of the ammonia produced. The solution was to use it as fuel for farm machinery including tractors and irrigators, so a John Deere four-stroke diesel engine on a tractor was converted to burn ammonia as fuel, and the thermochemical recuperation reactor was added to partially convert ammonia to hydrogen and nitrogen to improve engine performance and efficiency. Northrop and Kane are now working to apply the system to stationary power spark ignited and diesel gensets, and they see marine power as another major application for the reactor technology, especially as the shipping industry is increasingly focused on ammonia as a new fuel in the medium term. Ammonia combustion poses some technical challenges for engine designers, as it has a relatively low heat of combustion, high auto-ignition temperature, high heat of vaporisation and a narrow flammability range. To auto-ignite ammonia alone takes compression ratios of around 35:1 “impractical,” says Northrop. Burning ammonia poses a challenge for spark ignition engines as well due to its very low flame speed. The benefits of adding the thermochemical recuperation reactor to the aftertreatment system of an engine are twofold, says Northrop, because it is simultaneously reclaiming energy and increasing the efficiency of the engine. Waste heat from the engine's exhaust is used in conjunction with a catalyst to partially decompose the ammonia fuel to a mixture of hydrogen, nitrogen and ammonia. This is then burnt in gaseous form by the engine, along with the diesel pilot. “The reactor upgrades the ammonia, because if you decompose the ammonia, you get more energy out. The hydrogen and ammonia mix produced has a higher calorific value than the ammonia coming into the reactor,” says Northrop. “That's why we call it thermochemical recuperation. We're taking thermal energy, converting it to chemical energy and then using it in the engine.” To date, the researchers have tested up to 50% hydrogen in the mixture and have achieved up to 55% diesel pilot
Copyright: Thomas E. Murphy Engine Research Lab at the University of Minnesota
Researchers from the University of Minnesota have patented a thermochemical recuperation reactor that can improve the efficiency of ammonia-diesel dual-fuel combustion
replacement. Energy efficiency was boosted over the range of engine loads tested, and they achieved an improvement in overall thermal efficiency of approximately 2.4%. Northrop says this could be increased further if more waste heat is utilised. The tests confirmed that the hydrogen-nitrogen-ammonia mixture burnt much faster than just ammonia and resulted in lower ammonia and hydrocarbon emissions. Emissions remained fairly constant across different engine loads tested. NOx emissions were reduced, as the presence of additional nitrogen lowers combustion chamber temperature, counteracting NOx produced directly from ammonia, a large challenge for ammonia powered engines. Soot and N2O (nitrous oxide) emissions remain a concern that will need to be managed. N2O has a global warming potential nearly 300 times that of CO2, making it a particular concern, but Northrop says that more work can be done to address the issue, and currently, these emissions are on par with what is expected from a dual-fuel engine without the reactor. The size of the reactor is less than half of that of a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system but would need to be matched with an SCR to reclaim heat and control NOx and ammonia emissions. The amount of ammonia left in the exhaust can be tuned so that it matches the requirements of the SCR, saving operating costs, as ammonia can replace the urea often used when an engine is burning traditional fuels. Northrop and Kane presented the results of their research at the NH3 Event 2021 in Rotterdam in June and are keen to continue optimisation research and to commercialise the technology.
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8 A full-scale catalytic thermochemical recuperation reactor was added to a John Deere four-stroke diesel engine
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LNG & ALTERNATIVE FUELS
STRICT MARPOL INTERPRETATION IMPOSES BIOFUEL TEST BURDEN
Image: WinGD
Every individual engine could require testing for biofuel under a strict interpretation of current Marpol rules, reports Paul Gunton
It may seem a trivial subclause of a subclause of a subclause, but Marpol Annex VI Regulation 18.3.2.2 poses a problem for engines using biofuel that its original drafters probably never foresaw. German Weisser, senior advisor emissions, research and development at WinGD described one of its potential implications for biofuels to The Motorship as “completely excessive [and] impractical.” Regulation 18 covers fuel quality and assumes that fuels will generally be derived from petroleum refining. Its Clause 3.2.2 says that fuel oils derived by other methods shall not “cause an engine to exceed the applicable NOx emission limit”. Dr Weisser said that this could be interpreted such that each ship owner wishing to use a biofuel on one of his vessels would need to demonstrate for each and every engine that this requirement is satisfied. For existing engines, this might ultimately call for measurements on board. In contrast, for engines not yet in service, the regulation could be read as requiring every individual engine to be tested with every possible fuel formulation to the satisfaction of a certifying body, with the results noted in the engine's technical file. “This is not realistic either”, he said. Instead, he urges a pragmatic approach and he suggested that one solution would be to incorporate an allowance into Marpol Annex VI. Another option he proposed would allow test-bed
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8 As currently written, Marpol Annex VI could require every engine to be tested for compatibility with biofuels
measurements on sample engines to be applied to whole classes of engines. For example, engine models with similar design principles and control concepts - or even two-stroke or four-stroke engines of the same make or brand in general - might be treated as single classes with one test on a representative engine providing results for the whole class that would be accepted as proving that all similar engines did not exceed the regulation's NOx limit. NOx emissions from biofuels will vary, too, depending on a number of factors, including the origin of its raw material, its calorific value and its combustion characteristics, but these, too, could be tested as groups of fuels sharing similar characteristics, rather than individually, Dr Weisser proposed. He also referred to the NOx Technical Code, which relates to Annex VI and which allows a 10% variation from the emission limits for ships when performing tests using residual fuels. There is no similar allowance available when alternative fuels are used, so this “puts a stricter requirement on alternative fuels than on traditional fuels,” he said. If extensive engine testing is required, the burden will not fall on engine designers such as WinGD but on their licensee manufacturers, he added. They would have to set up infrastructure to be able to check all the various fuels that are being developed now or might be produced at any time in the future. “That's disproportionate,” he said. This is not a new concern. IMarEST raised its concerns with
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LNG & ALTERNATIVE FUELS the regulation as long ago as MEPC 70 in 2016 and MEPC 76 in June received two submission on the topic, but discussion on them was deferred until MEPC 77, which is expected to take place in November. Informal trials back biofuel in WinGD engines Trials of biofuels in WinGD engines have not shown any negative impact, according to its senior advisor emissions, research and development, German Weisser. Exactly how many tests have been conducted is not clear but he told The Motorship that WinGD has received “dozens” of requests for letters to support such work. These trials typically use a blend of biofuel and conventional fuel and are generally run over only part of a voyage, rather than over a period of thousands of hours that would normally be achieved in a formal trial, “but they are very important because they create confidence in the industry,” he said. Multiple suppliers of such biofuels and their blends have conducted a number of such trials on ships fitted with WinGD engines. Dr Weisser could not comment on specific details of that work, but did say that they had been conducted on ships fitted with its X or RT-Flex engine and that the feedback from them means that the company is “quite well advanced” in its understanding of its engines' operation on biofuels. This feedback contributes to the advice it provides whenever customers plan such trials. “We provide clear recommendations about what should be looked at and what should be considered during the course of the trials,” Dr Weisser said. “We provide the guidance that should keep the operator on the safe side.” It was clear from his comments that there are still aspects of biofuel use that remain to be fully explored. Asked about the effect of different concentrations of biofuel in a blend, he said that it was difficult to make general statements because it depends on the kind of biofuel being used. “You need to
carefully assess the compatibility of the blend components and then look into the behaviour of the resulting blends,” he said. Even when blending components from the same chemical family, such as fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs), “they may vary considerably” in important operational parameters such as acid number. One operator - Containerships; a subsidiary of CMA CGM is already using a biofuel, biomethane, on a regular basis in WinGD engines on its ships. Since 1 May, customers who use its 'ACT with CMA CGM+' services, which were introduced in November 2020 to give shippers an option to reduce their environmental footprint, can choose to have their goods transported on shipss using the non-fossil fuel, which is made from European sourced, ced, organic and plant waste. In a short video posted on LinkedIn in April, Containerships' s' CEO and senior vice president of CMA CGM GM in Europe, Jesper Stenbak, said that the he fuel reduced CO2 emissions by 67% and contributed to CMA CGM's “ambitious ous goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.”
8 Caption: The IdealFuel project aims to convert crude lignin oils into an HFO-like marine biofuel
8 Dr. German Weisser, senior advisor emissions, research and development at WinGD
Biofuel waste has a role in future fuell Lignin-based fuels “can be a part of the future fuel landscape,” believes German Weisser, senior advisor emissions, research and development at WinGD, but their use in operational engines is still a long way off. It has been involved in two EU-funded projects - FALCON, which ended in December 2020, and IdealFuel, which started in May 2020 - both of which are focused on creating useful fuel from lignin, which is itself a waste product from various processes producing e.g. pulp and paper or even biofuel. As WinGD explains on its website, although biofuels are a promising alternative to fossil fuels, large amounts of waste are generated in their production, including lignin, so there are attractions to using this waste to make biofuel production more profitable and sustainable. Lignin is found in cell walls and gives wood its stiffness; it represents about 20-30% of a tree's mass and the IdealFuel project aims to find an efficient and low-cost way of using it as the basis for an ultra-low sulphur biogenic heavy fuel oil that can be used as drop-in fuel for ships.
Dr Weisser said that it has the potential to be part of a “more fragmented and more diverse” future fuel landscape, some of which may only have niche applications, “and this is what makes us participate in such ventures.” From WinGD's perspective, IdealFuel is a successor to FALCON, in which marine applications formed only a small part of its focus. It produced only limited amounts of fuel for testing in WinGD'slaboratories so it was not possible to use it in typical fuel systems and testing cycles. But some experiments were done in WinGD's spray combustion chamber and Dr Weisser said this was instrumental in developing its fuel validation process, which was the subject of a white paper - Future ready: Extending the engine research toolbox to validate clean shipping fuels - that it published in May. So although FALCON “did not lead us to what the shipping industry might have hoped for ... the production technologies and the chemistry development was advanced quite considerably.” A significant learning point taken forward
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into IdealFuel was that “the tailor made production pathway (in this case with enzymes) to solely produce a marine fuel was not the most viable option,” Dr Weisser said, so this project is exploring catalytic and hydrotreating processes to break down the lignin into crude lignin oil (CLO), which can then be treated further. That step will be “very similar to the processing of crude oil into something that is usable on marine engines,” he said. This is a four-year project and the goal is to produce enough fuel to conduct tests on WinGD's fuel-injection and ultimately on its single cylinder engine. That will show whether any adjustments or modifications are needed before trying the fuel in a production engine. But that is in the future: combustion tests are due to start later this year but the single-cylinder trials are not expected to begin until towards the end of the project, he said, by when fuel could be produced in sufficient quantities. Many technologies fail at the scaling-up stage, he said, and “there is a risk that this may ultimately not materialise,” he said.
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LNG & ALTERNATIVE FUELS
WÄRTSILÄ ALT FUEL PROGRAMME ACCELERATES ON RISING DEMAND
Credit: Christoffer Björklund/Wärtsilä
Kaj Portin, General Manager, Fuel & Operational Flexibility, Wärtsilä Marine, discussed progress in developing hydrogen-vector solutions in an exclusive interview with The Motorship
Kaj Portin, General Manager, Fuel & Operational Flexibility, Wärtsilä Marine, confirmed that Wärtsilä Marine was planning to begin running tests of ammonia on a Wärtsilä 32 test engine in Vaasa in the last week of June 2021. Tests had been scheduled to begin at the beginning of the year, but the need to establish safety rules and to train the team has taken time regarding the engine test cell set up. The test process will be shared between a test engine in Vaasa, and a test engine in Norway. “The test engine for Norway is currently being packed up for dispatch, and we expect that endurance tests will begin there by the end of 2021,” Portin noted. Portin noted that Wärtsilä’s targets are to validate some of the concepts it had developed for the use of ammonia on dual-fuel engines. At present, Wärtsilä is focusing on testing ammonia in blends with either diesel or natural gas at concentrations of up to 50% or beyond. The engine will be able to operate with different ratios of ammonia at different loads. “At very low loads, the poor combustibility means that you need to increase the concentration of the other fuel, while at high loads, the fuel injection system comes under pressure because the lower energy value of ammonia requires higher fuel volumes.” Portin previously noted that ammonia slows down the combustion process at higher concentrations, which will also require ignition concepts to be validated. “We would be willing to look at higher concentrations of ammonia, or even 100% ammonia combustion, in the future as availability improves. Portin noted that the company is also investigating a number of issues, including the development of abatement solutions for ammonia engines, as well as the development of lubrication solutions for fourstroke dual-fuel engines operating on ammonia.
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8 Kaj Portin (left) and Juha Kytölä at Wärtsilä's engine test cell in Vaasa
“We will be looking at these issues during our endurance tests, but one solution will of course be to change the lube oils more frequently. Wärtsilä is also discussing potential additives to help lube oils neutralise ammonia-blend fuels.” Portin noted that Wärtsilä had put a lot of effort into lowering the potential GHG emissions produced by the combustion solution. These are the result of incomplete combustion resulting in the production of nitrous oxide (N2O). Unburnt NH3 emissions (ammonia slip) will also be handled. Methanol producer demand pushes engine development Wärtsilä has a long-standing interest in methanol, and Stena Line has operated a vessel on methanol, Stena Germanica, since 2015. Unlike some of the other fuels into which Wärtsilä has conducted research, the performance of the fuel is well understood, and solutions have been developed for some of the fuel’s specific characteristics, such as lower lubricity and the technical requirements of the Low Flashpoint. After 2015, client enquiries into methanol-fueled solutions were not sufficiently high to justify the beginning of a product development programme, Portin noted. This has changed recently amid rising interest in green methanol as a potential fuel that could help the industry meet 2030 decarbonisation objectives. This interest has also come from a potential green methanol fuel supplier, alongside shipowner interest, Portin noted. Importantly, it was clear that demand for methanolfuelled propulsion solutions was not concentrated geographically, “unlike the Stena Germanica experience where the west coast of Sweden played an important role.” As a result, Wärtsilä Marine has begun the process of adapting its methanol-fuelled engine design to develop a commercial solution. The company announced plans to introduce a methanol-fuelled engine into its engine portfolio
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LNG & ALTERNATIVE FUELS at a recent press event. The company’s medium-sized 320mm bore engine was the main focus of engine development at present, reflecting the interest in such engines from smaller vessels, as well as for auxiliary engines aboard larger vessels. Research was also progressing into developing a 460mmbore engine. (The Motorship notes that Wärtsilä Marine recently obtained an Approval in Principle from RINA for a dual-fuel tanker concept based on a 46DF installation). Portin noted that final stages of engine development were often protracted, and that there may be a delay of up to 2-3 years before engine concepts under development complete the process of obtaining approvals and enter the portfolio. Evolution of hydrogen Moving from ammonia to hydrogen, Portin noted that Wärtsilä had made significant progress in developing hydrogen engines that could operate on higher blends of hydrogen. “We are happy to be fuel agnostic,” Portin said, adding that “we are happy to be able to respond to customer requests for different solutions.” The previous 25% threshold was a response to regulatory requirements for hydrogen. “Above 25% of volume, EN67009 no longer applies, and our natural gas engine becomes a hydrogen engine,” Portin explained, with onerous consequences for the qualification of materials and safety systems. While had already developed potential solutions for the combustion of hydrogen at concentrations of above 25%, Portin noted that the decision reflected an increasing interest in pure hydrogen, particularly from customers in stationary energy markets. The main change since 2020 has been the sharp increase in commercial interest in pure hydrogen engines, Portin noted. This partly reflected the influence of hydrogen-based national energy strategies in a few major economies, Portin noted, but also the faster-than-expected emergence of interest in transporting hydrogen via gas pipelines at concentrations of above 25%. Interest was also developing in the use of hydrogen combustion as a potential solution to the problems of grid balancing in the stationary energy market, because of the challenges posed by intermittency issues in renewable energy generation. Energy produced by small-scale nuclear plants could be used to generate green hydrogen via electrolysers during periods of low demand. “So, we are now really looking into what systems are needed in a power plant or in a vessel for our engines to be able to safely operate on pure hydrogen,” Portin added. From a marine perspective, commercial interest in hydrogen as a potential fuel for combustion engines remained largely restricted to the shortsea sector in a few tightly defined markets.
“The energy density and the volumetric issues for containment become a factor when you start to look at long distance deep-sea uses, but you could see demand from the short-sea sector in markets like Norway, where they have a lot of coastal transportation.” Portin added that Wärtsilä Marine is continuing to participate in research projects looking into potential maritime applications of large engines operating on hydrogen, such as the CHEK project, which kicked off in June 2021. One of the workstreams within the project is focused on the development of an engine capable of operating on pure hydrogen for operation aboard a cruise vessel, The Motorship notes. The project is also understood to be looking at the development of an injection system capable of handling pure hydrogen. Retrofit solutions Portin concluded by discussing the engine designer’s concept for developing solutions for existing customers. The underlying concept is to develop solutions for customers, starting from the existing portfolio of engines. These solutions range in size, complexity and cost from small, to larger and finally to the introduction of completely new designs. “It is our intention to develop retrofit solutions for all of our engines in the market,” Portin said, “as part of our plan to offer solutions to help our customers meet environmental standards.” The development of a range of upgrade solutions aligns neatly with Wartsila’s new strategic offering for shipowners, as recently reported by The Motorship. “In the end, we are not promoting one particular fuel or another. We are fuel agnostic,” Portin stressed. However, he concluded by comparing the relative advantages tages of operating on fuels that require relatively little modification cation work, with other fuels that might require significant cant investments in fuel tanks, bunkering systems, and fuel gas as supply systems. “Having discussed the advantages of hydrogen, rogen, methanol and ammonia, it is worth noting that it might require significantly less investment to convert vessels to operate erate on bio-diesel and LBG.”
8 Stena Line has operated a vessel on methanol, Stena Germanica, since 2015
8 Kaj Portin, G General Manager, F Fuel & Operational F Flexibility, Wärtsilä M Marine
8 Wärtsilä conducted tests on ammonia at its centre in Vaasa in 2020
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BATTERY HYBRID
DIRECT DRIVE SYSTEM BRINGS NEW DIESEL-ELECTRIC SAVINGS A direct electric drive propulsion system from Berg Propulsion and The Switch aims to boost efficiency y for shipowners p looking g to make the move to electrification
8 The installation features a full variable speed diesel electric package propelled by two fully-feathering controllable-pitch propellers
Shipping's transition to electrification is well underway, but the new system brings an opportunity that many shipowners might not yet realise is possible, because the technology is an advance in efficiency and robustness beyond current expectations, says Jonas Nyberg, Managing Director West at Berg Propulsion. “This is something very new in the industry.” A traditional approach to electric propulsion is to use an electric motor driving a gear box that in turn drives the propeller shaft. “In our solution, there is no gearbox. The electric motor is actually a part of the propeller shaft and drives the propeller directly, and this means we are eliminating a major component that impacts efficiency, reducing ancillary components and reducing maintenance requirements. It's simpler, and at the same time you are getting a more robust arrangement.” The direct drive system was developed by Berg Propulsion and The Switch jointly and uses already-proven permanent magnet motor technology which results in high efficiency, low electrical losses and allows full capability to vary rpm, torque and pitch. The unique feature of the patent-pending design is how the electric motor is integrated with the shaft. The typical arrangement has an electric motor driving a shaft with its own bearings. In this system the motor has no bearings of its own but rather relies on the ones in the shaft line eliminating the need for bearings in the motor together with inherent alignment and integration issues. “There is no physical contact between the electric motor
38 | JUNE 2021
stator and the propeller shaft,” explains Nyberg. “Instead, the stator of the electric motor sits straight on the ship's hull foundation with the rotor of the electric motor bolted onto the propeller shaft. There is only an air gap connecting the motor and the propeller shaft, so there's no moving parts in this concept except the propeller shaft.” Design advantages of direct drive system Without a gear box, the shaft line can be shorter, fewer bearings are needed and engine room footprint is reduced. The system reduces energy loss with an extremely high torque capability allowing the use of much larger propeller diameters than is usually seen on this kind of installation, further increasing efficiency. Removing the need for a gearbox reduces energy losses by around 1-2%, and the improved efficiency of the motor brings around 2-3% better fuel efficiency, says Nyberg. Add to that the benefits of being able to put a very large propeller onto the vessel and you will see aggregate gains of 10-30% over conventional or podded propulsion systems. “This is what is so brilliant about the concept,” he says. “You are eliminating complex components, making it simpler, and at the same time getting a more robust arrangement. There is no downside.” With the industry-wide shift towards the electrification of ship power already underway, Nyberg says the system is ideal for integration into the new systems being formulated - incorporation of gas or dual fuel engines, use of new fuels,
For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101
fuel cells and batteries. The concept works very well in the medium to high power range, he says, and Berg has already undertaken conceptual studies for icebreakers, offshore vessels, ferries, naval vessels and cargo ships. “We believe that offshore vessel owners will find this solution very appealing, because it's so robust, and this segment is already going electric to a very large extent,” says Nyberg. Ferries are also likely to be early adopters with many battery-electric newbuildings slated. Single screw cargo ships and bunker vessel are also likely candidates as environmental regulations drive the need to incorporate new low-carbon fuels. Additionally, other ships where high manoeuvrability or high redundancy is required will also benefit from electric propulsion. Twin Fin concept The direct drive system is used in Berg's patented Twin Fin system. In this configuration, the propulsion train is housed in fins attached to the hull. Twin Fin was originally developed in partnership with Odense Maritime Technology and Scandinavian Marine Group as a solution to make vessels operating in polar regions less vulnerable to ice damage to the propulsion system. The drive system is arranged so that it is fully protected within the compact, hydrodynamically-shaped fins which are custom-designed to optimise flow through the propellers to minimise fuel consumption and noise. Major transmission parts in the system are accessible from inside the vessel, enhancing ease of maintenance and averting unnecessary drydocking. The fins offer additional protection from mechanical damage, and they can also be equipped with ice knives that prevent ice from hindering the propellers and affecting performance. With the fins positioned externally, they create buoyancy, and in some cases, this can add value to the vessel by increasing available cargo carrying capacity. Flap rudders are used to provide excellent manoeuvrability. The system is tailor-made for each specific project, says Mattias Hansson, Global Account Manager at Berg Propulsion, and can also include tunnel thrusters, attached to the fins or to a central skeg running between the fins to support dynamic positioning. The system suits a wide range of operational profiles including offshore supply, ice-class operation, seismic survey and cruising. Advanced modelling and simulation techniques ensure the tailor-made solution is optimised for the vessel's requirements and operational profile. Berg Propulsion's design work is all undertaken in Sweden, and last year the company moved all its manufacturing
capability there as well, including construction of controllable pitch propellers, azimuthing and transverse thrusters and associated power management and control systems. The company offers a range of components and services, and its designers work with sub-contractors and integrators to meet any requirements that shipowners have for specific products, ship designers or shipyards. The company takes a whole-ofship view, where every interconnecting factor that can impact on vessel dynamics including hydrodynamics, marine rotordynamics (axial, lateral and torsional vibrations) and structural vibrations are subject to rigorous analysis. Hansson says Berg Propulsion will lead the way in ensuring that vessels are prepared for shipping's electric future. He notes that the Twin Fin solution can be combined with batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, gas-electric or diesel-electric gensets. “We evaluate different concepts and present all the pros and cons openly to our clients. We make recommendations and then the iterative optimisation process starts, using advanced calculations and simulations, until we reach peak efficiency.” Nyberg adds: “We believe it's very important to be involved early in the vessel design process as the biggest advances when it comes to efficiency can be made in the conceptual phase.” This follows some of the latest trends in the industry and the shift towards looking more and more towards a wholistic design of vessels rather than a collection of subsystems. “We have the experience to achieve the best efficiency gains from these solutions, as we understand the propulsion technology as well as the electrical systems. This is critical, and as a result we have delivered remarkable solutions in terms of efficiency and cost of ownership.”
8 The 26,000dwt SUL (Self Un Loader) Bulker is under construction at CSSC Chengxi Shipyard
Twin Fin references The Twin Fin direct electric drive propulsion system has been chosen by Canadian shipowner CSL for a large bulk carrier under construction in China. The newbuild 26,000dwt SUL (Self Un Loader) bulker, expected to be commissioned at the end of this year, will have a service speed of 12-14 knots and will operate with a high degree of flexibility, making electric propulsion ideal. The vessel's four variable diesel-electric MaK gensets, having a combined total power of 9.5MW, will have two fully-feathering controllable-pitch propellers. Each shaft will
be powered by Berg's direct drive system, in this case a 3MW permanent magnet electric motor without a gearbox. The project comes after over 60,000 hours of trouble-free operation of a Twin Fin system for shipowner Polarcus. The 2014 retrofit of a similar Twin Fin system on the seismic research vessel Polarcus Nadia has proven to be an excellent reference for Berg Propulsion, with the vessel achieving fuel efficiency gains of 27% compared to the previously installed thruster-based system. With operating costs of US$200,000 per day,
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downtime was a problem for the vessels that normally spend 85% of their lifetime at sea, often in remote locations. In this case, it was possible to retrofit the Twin Fin installation and the vessel's existing gensets could continue to be used, and the new system provided additional reliability, improved fuel efficiency and increased bollard pull thrust. The retrofit had a payback period of less than three years, says Hansson. The vessels' performance has increased significantly, and no wear has been recorded so far.
JUNE 2021 | 39
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ECM STATOR TRIAL UNDERLINES POTENTIAL PCB TECH BENEFITS In a second retrofit project on the same vessel, ECM's PCB stator design technology has proven its value in reducing motor weight and size and has enabled the replacement of an air handler's belt drive for a higher efficiency direct drive The first retrofit on the US Maritime Administration training vessel TS Kennedy confirmed the technology's ability to reduce onboard weight and increase motor efficiency by replacing a conventional motor with a printed circuit board (PCB) stator motor in the vessel's HVAC system. Historically, stators tend to be the bulkiest component of a motor or generator, as they are comprised of layered copper windings and iron laminations. Instead, ECM has developed a new stator design by embedding copper-etched conductors into a multilayered PCB. This allows for the creation of very thin, compact, lightweight motors without compromising torque. The second retrofit project on Kennedy, involving three other air handling motors onboard, took the benefits a step further by increasing motor efficiency as before but this time also using the space savings to convert to a direct drive configuration that replaced the air handler's existing belt drive. The stator upgrade led to a 66% reduction in volume for the air handler, and the direct drive configuration increased motor efficiency to 93%. ECM's cloud-based CAD/CAM software platform PrintStator is able to increase motor efficiency by designing optimum copper geometries that reduce resistance and eddy current losses. Rather than having a uniform copper wire used throughout the windings, ECM varies the shape and thickness of the copper traces to achieve motor efficiencies of over 90%. With no steel in the stator, cogging is also eliminated. PrintStator ensures appropriate heat management by identifying unused space and shaping the copper that does not carry current so that it conducts heat to the outside edge of the stator where it dissipates. These “heat pipes” also bring heat from the centre of the board to the top and bottom layers. Many systems involve off-the-shelf motors that may be the best fit but are not the exact fit for the application. Often an oversized motor is used which is not running at peak efficiency, says Rob Luchars, Vice President, Business Development. PrintStator produces a design that is matched to the specific application and operating conditions. “It's one thing to upgrade your existing motor; that can increase efficiency by around 5%, but you can upgrade system efficiency by around 10% by using the right motor,” says Luchars. The carbon footprint of the machines is reduced because ECM's technology enables very thin lightweight motors that require up to 70% less raw materials than traditionally wound machines. For example, a 2.2kW induction motor uses 5kg of copper and weighs 45kg. With ECM's PCB stator only uses 600g of copper and weighs 12kg. Additionally, permanent magnets can be recycled. If properly cared for, they only lose about 1% of their magnetism every 100 years, so at the end of the motor's life, they can be re-used in another. For shipowners looking to meet IMO targets for energy efficiency, the PCB stators brings the ability to retrofit existing motors to boost fuel efficiency. For newbuildings, shipowners can challenge shipyards to install high efficiency motors rather than sub-optimal off-the-shelf solutions, says Luchars.
ECM is already installing PCB stator technology into HVAC and generator motor systems onboard commercial and government vessels. The reduction in acoustic and electromagnetic noise that results in very quiet operation is particularly attractive for military applications, and PCB is working with around 40% of the world's biggest military contractors. PrintStator facilitates the use of axial flux, air gap permanent magnet motors in new applications. ECM has designed annular motors for fan applications where the propeller blades are integrated in the motor centre to optimise airflow. Stacked or segmented motors are also possible - opening up a nearly infinite number of motor designs, says Luchars. The company does not manufacture motors in bulk, rather it offers design and prototyping services, enabling equipment designers that would otherwise have bought off-the-shelf motors for their products to manufacture motor that are an exact fit for their application. According to the International Energy Agency, electric motor driven systems account for over 40% of global electricity consumption. The US Department of Energy estimates the average efficiency of these motors to be approximately 75%. Therefore 10% of global electricity consumption is wasted due to inefficient motor systems. ECM is working in a range of industries to change that situation.
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8 Converting an air handler's belt drive to a direct drive configuration (pictured) increased motor efficiency to 93%
8 ECM is already installing PCB stator technology into HVAC and generator motor systems onboard commercial and government vessels
JUNE 2021 | 41
DESIGN FOR PERFORMANCE
INVENTOR SEES ‘NO SIZE LIMIT’ FOR GATE RUDDER ESD The gate rudder propulsion device is continuing to build momentum, as recent operational results suggest that the solution offers seakeeping and safety advantages as well as significant fuel efficiencies, Professor Noriyuki Sasaki of Strathclyde University tells The Motorship "Despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the past 12 months have seen significant developments for the gate rudder, including the results of a joint sea trial and the launch of the EU-funded Gaters project," Dr Noriyuki Sasaki said. Noriyuki noted that commercial developments for the solution have also been rapid. Wärtsilä entered into a partnership relationship with the device's Japanese patent holders in 2020, granting the Finnish technology company an exclusive license to the technology outside Japan. Inside Japan, commercial interest is growing and the first newbuilding designed for operation with the gate rudder will be delivered in 2022 (see box). Dr. Sasaki noted that the research had identified additional benefits for the gate rudder solution. Potential wind propulsion benefits One particular benefit of the solution is that it can offset the heeling forces on the vessel. While wind assisted propulsion is among the solutions being considered by European ship owners as a response to the IMO's ever-stricter environmental requirements, wind
forces can generate large drifting and heeling forces on the ship. Consequently, we need a large keel to keep the ship course avoiding so-called leeway. While conventional rudders only generate resistance, and the total hull resistance will be much amplified by ship motions such as yawing, rolling and heeling, the gate rudder can
Japanese gate rudder orders In Japan, President Takayuki Imoto of Imoto Lines Ltd. has specified that a next generation coastal container vessel, Nagara, should be equipped with the gate rudder. The second generation 670TEU container has been ordered at Kyokuyo Shipyard and will be delivered in the beginning of 2022. Mr. Imoto decided to proceed after analysing the efficiency savings achieved by Shigenobu, the first gate rudder ship.
The conversion of the Nagara will increase the number of vessels equipped with the gate rudder to 4 in Japan. Apart from Shigenobu, which was the subject of 2019 Motorship article, two gate rudder ships have been delivered since 2020. A cargo ship Koshin maru, which entered service in June 2020, was designed with the propeller situated further aft from the original position. By contrast, the stern of the third vessel Shinmon maru was
unaltered except for propulsion device itself. It is expected that this vessel will provide valuable information about the potential retrofit advantages for vessels, with a specific focus on potential EEXI and CII applications. In addition to the four vessels mentioned above, the gate rudder which will be installed on a cargo ship Erge in the middle of 2022. The retrofit forms part of an EU-funded project, Gaters.
Sister ship Nagara
42 | JUNE 2021
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DESIGN FOR PERFORMANCE
generate thrust. “It works like 'Under Water Sails',” Sasaki said. The resistance produced by a conventional rudder is huge. It easily goes up 30% of ship resistance by only 15 degree steering, more than offsetting the valuable thrust obtained from the sail on the deck. Sometimes the wind assisted ship need to be equipped with a large bottom keel to resist this large drifting force and heeling force. “It means that the potential energy efficiencies generated by windassisted propulsion should take this handicap into account,” Sasaki added. The gate rudder can compensate for this drifting force and heeling force as the gate rudder produces a lifting force itself. This is based on a similar mechanism as the thrust produced by a sail on deck. The difference is only fluid density, i.e. water is 800 times larger than air, which, Dr. Sasaki insists, guarantees very effective under water sails. Safely Turning Turning ability is important to avoid the accident such as a collision. IMO regulates two performances as standards which are advance and tactical diameter. On the other hand, a vessel's turning ability has a strong relationship with her course keeping ability and her rudder type. It is well known fact that the excellent turning ability can be obtained by the vessel with poor course keeping ability. The excellent tactical diameter can be obtained by the vessel with high lift type rudders such as a flap rudder because of higher rudder resistance. A recent study of sea keeping ability in severe followingquartering seas revealed that the turning characteristics, such as the maximum turning rate, has a dominant effect on a ship's safety. The ship speed at the steady turning condition is also important. The excessive ship heeling angle, the exessive rudder resistance are the main source of sudden speed loss of the vessel at the turning motion. The sudden speed loss or
8 35 deg. Circle Test of Sakura/ Shigenobu
remarkable speed loss will introduce the large turning rate and change of ship attitude which is not preferable from the safety view point, especially in fast ships such as Ro-Ros and passenger ferries equpped with fin stabilisers. Sasaki noted that the gate rudder gives us remakable safety turning ability without excessive speed loss.The speed of a gate rudder ship at the same turning rate (the same tactical diameter) is between 20-30% higher than a vessel equipped with a conventional rudder. Manoeuvring capability at port Crabbing mode and pivot turn can increase operational efficiency in the port. The joint sea trial proved this clearly. Under the same weather conditions, Shigenobu performed very strongly. By the combination of two rudder angles, 55deg and 110 deg, Shigenobu succeeded in showing the best berthing using a pivot turn and crabbing at the extremely narrow port. On the contrary, Sakura decided to use her anchor and head in mode which will require another turning operation at her departure from the quay.
Academic activity The GATERS project led by the University of Strathclyde under the Horizon 2020 Fund (€6 million), will see the 'gate rudder' - a novel propulsion and steering system retro-fitted to a commercial vessel as part of a trial. Professor Mehmet Atlar, who is the project coordinator from Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering (NAOME) at Strathclyde, said: "GATERS demonstrates significantly reduced emissions from ships particularly within
coastal and port areas, challenging and even exceeding the current and future legislative requirements of the International Marine Organization and local regulations for emissions. “As a propulsor-based solution, the gate rudder offers a significant amount of power-saving that cannot be achieved by any other single energy-saving device which is currently available in the market. “An important advantage of the gate rudder system is highly-effective
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manoeuvrability within coastal and port areas as well as navigating more efficient in waves during oceangoing operations. In addition, the gate rudder system is simple, generic and flexible that can be installed on new-built ships or retrofitted to existing ships, as well as integrated easily with other fuel-saving and emission reduction technologies. Based on these features, the gate rudder design presents a great prospect of replacing conventional design.”
JUNE 2021 | 43
DESIGN FOR PERFORMANCE It is well known fact that efficient port operations for coastal vessels are critical from a fuel efficiency perspective. If we take a typical coastal ferry running 25kts with 30 minutes duration time as an example, the vessel can save up to 50% fuel by minimising the port operation time from 18 minutes to 13 minutes by gate rudder. The same saving can be obtained by the use of a stern thruster, but the gate rudder will be more cost-effective. Safety Navigation A recent study about the cargo loss and damage to a RoRo vessel in a severe following quatering wave reveals two remarkable features. The first trend is sudden speed loss due to increased hull resistance. Second, large turning rate due to the excessive turning motion. The gate rudder can protect these trends during the turning motion. In other words, the gate rudder can offer not only fuel saving but also improve the safety operation, Sasaki added.
"We obtained clear evidence from the joint sea trial of Sakura and Shigenobu where the wave and wind were coming from following quatering direction. The gate rudder showed a remarkable damping effect on the ship motions during their running period on the same track. The ship conditions of two vessels can be assumed to be exactly the same because of the short distance between the two vessels (about 300m). The yawing and rolling amplitude of Shigenobu was less than half of that of Sakura." Sea Margin Sea margin (power margin) is not identical for all ships and it depends on customer experiences from previous operations at specific conditions and routes. However, the ship operator will accept the same sea margin for sister ships if they are operated on the same route, as is the case with Sakura and Shigenobu. As previously reported, the two vessels share the same hull form and engine and the same route along the Japanese coast. By comparing 30 months of voyage data from Shigenobu with those of Sakura, it revealed data from the aspect of frequency of sea margin. The result clearly shows an 11% difference between the two vessels' sea margin (Sakura 24%, Shigenobu 13%). The zero sea margin conditions of both ships are different because Shigenobu showed 14% less power at her speed trial condition. This accurate power save of gate rudder can be calculated by summing up the difference between the sea margin and sea trial results Actual fuel saving = Fuel saving ( calm sea ) + Fuel saving (difference of sea margin) For example, 14% + 11% = 25% in the case of Shigenobu Safe structural design The inspections of rudder itself, rudder shaft, rudder trunk and steering gears have been conducted frequently and continuously. The inspection data has been positive. In
44 | JUNE 2021
addition to this, the vessels themselves are very quiet during operation, with reduced vibrations and noise. The three captains with operational experience have commented on the remarkable damping effect that the gate rudder has on the ship's motion, and on rolling in particular. Sasaki explained, “Our rudder design is very safe because we have a lot of margin by applying conventional rudder strength calculations. The most critical aspect for the conventional rudder is fatigue failure due to a propeller periodic force including propeller cavitation attack. The exciting force occurring on the gate rudder is extremely low compared with conventional rudders thank to the positions. We believe the structural design rule for the gate rudder can be much relaxed in the future. We have no limitation for the size of gate rudder. The larger the size, the higher the costeffectiveness that can be expected.”
8 Sea margin for each vogage
Commercial activity Elias Boletis, Director of Wärtsilä Propulsion, said “Wärtsilä has an exclusive license for the application of gate rudder technology outside Japan. Wärtsilä is continuously developing energy efficiency solutions that can help our customers to improve vessel performance, achieve significant fuel savings and reduce emissions. The gate rudder is quite a new idea and we have noticed its difference from other ESDs. We expect the gate rudder can be a game changer in the world of ESDs.” Kazuki Itazawa, senior executive director of Kamome propeller said “Kamome Propeller Ltd. is one of patent holders of the gate rudder technology. We have delivered three gate rudder systems to different ship owners. The performance data we obtained from these vessels has surpassed our expectations. We believe that the gate rudder is a very promising technology, with potential applications as a solution to IMO EEXI requirements.” Itazawa added, “We have received a number of enquiries from our customers after delivering three gate rudder systems, and some of our customers are scheduling model tests soon. This is good news for us because the research and development phase is over, and our customers are thinking about applications for newbuilding vessels.”
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SHIP DESCRIPTIONS
AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH SHIP BOOSTS POLAR PRESENCE
Credit: Damen
Australia has bolstered and extended its capability for scientific research and exploration in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean through investment in the 160m Nuyina, now being readied for her first polar season, writes David Tinsley
The PC3 ice class vessel will form an integral part of the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) programme for the next 30 years, and has been powered and strengthened to break ice up to 1.65m thick while maintaining a speed of three knots. She will become the main lifeline for the country's Antarctic and sub-Antarctic research stations and the central platform for climate research and the study of both terrestrial and marine eco-systems, exercising regional stewardship in the process. Nuyina affords greater icebreaking and transport capacity, increased endurance and operational flexibility, and an advanced environmental standard relative to the outgoing, much smaller (95m) Aurora Australis, dating from 1989 and owned by P&O Maritime. The diesel propulsion system provides the potency for icebreaking and is complemented by alternative provision for 'silent' running on electric power. The design features a moonpool, drop keel, multi-beam bathymetric and scientific echosounders, fisheries sonar system, hydrophones and underwater cameras to support manifold scientific research functions in the extremely harsh Southern Ocean and Antarctic conditions, plus disparate means of transferring equipment, consumables and personnel to the various research bases. Hobart-based AAD, a division of the Australian Government's Department of the Environment and Energy, awarded Serco the contract to procure, operate and maintain the new ship. Serco Group subsidiary DMS Maritime, as prime contractor, entrusted the complex newbuild to Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding. Actual construction and outfitting was assigned to Damen Shipyards Galati in Romania, with Damen Schelde at Vlissingen providing engineering and project management services and undertaking trials and final commissioning. Concept and tender design was undertaken by Copenhagen consultancy Knud E. Hansen, with the UK's BMT
46 | JUNE 2021
8 Australia's new icebreaking research ship on arrival in Vlissingen from her Romanian yard of build
Group contributing engineering know-how to the project. The design development, engineering and project management functions rested with the Dutch shipbuilder. Nuyina is distinguished by a diesel-hybrid propulsion system, based on two drive trains, whereby diesel direct drive is augmented or replaced using a power take-in (PTI) arrangement. A well-proven, widely employed class of medium-speed machinery from MAN's Augsburg stable delivers the primary power in Australia's prestigious new polar ship. Each driveline consists of a 9,600kW, non-reversible 32/44CR common-rail engine in 16-cylinder vee-form layout, plus gearbox, coupling, shaft and controllable pitch propeller. The hybrid nature of the installation derives from the adoption of a generator-cum-electric motor coupled to each shaft, conferring a PTI (power take-in) capability. The PTI shaft motors are fed by the diesel generators through medium-voltage switchboards. The four gensets are arranged in pairs in the two main engine rooms. While the PTO generator function is exercised in transit to economically supply power to the vessel's electrical grid, PTI is engaged to augment diesel-mechanical power during icebreaking and ramming. Maximum shaft speed is then combined with minimum propeller pitch, as opposed to running at maximum rotational speed and maximum pitch at design speed in open water. The technical configuration enables many permutations of thrust and speed, controlled by the diesel, propeller and power management systems to achieve energy efficiency across the load range and varying operating conditions, alongside the primary goals of ship performance and safety. So as to run in 'silent' mode, at up to about eight knots, the main engine and gearbox in use can be decoupled, and switchover made to diesel-electric operation with the shaft motor engaged. In the event of a diesel failure, the related
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SHIP DESCRIPTIONS shaftline can be driven by its PTI device, receiving power from the onboard electric grid. The ship is equipped with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology. A special feature of the plant in the Nuyina is the communication with the engine control system, optimising the temperature for the SCR at individual load points. A very high degree of manoeuvrability is the requisite accompaniment to raw power for Antarctic duties. Working into the various research station transfer points and stationkeeping in the drifting ice sheets calls for exacting handling characteristics, as does navigation through thick ice and ramming at ice ridges, when the practice of star manoeuvring is achieved through erudite use of powerful thrusters fore and aft in conjunction with main propulsion. Having the wherewithal to negotiate extreme ice conditions and obviate ice trapping is, of course, elemental to safety and service dependability. Accordingly, Nuyina has an array of three 1,300kW tunnel thrusters in the foreship skeg and an identical trio in the stern skeg. The outfit will assist the vessel in station keeping up to sea state 4. The redundancy which permeates the entire power arrangements extends to the dual arrangement of switchboards. When the ship is dynamic-positioning, one switchboard will feed two bow thrusters and one stern thruster, while the other board supplies two stern thrusters and a single bow unit. Free-hanging, full spade rudders engineered by Damen Marine Components under its Van der Velden brand offer optimised hydrodynamic properties while subject to the high forces imposed by ice navigation. Working to DMC's specification, MacGregor Hatlapa manufactured and supplied the steering gear assemblies and hydraulic power systems. The stresses that will be imposed on the hull and its appendages by the ship's operating diagram in the polar latitudes are said to be equivalent to those encountered by a conventional, ocean-going vessel of 300m-plus, about twice the length of the Nuyina. The PC3 certification confirms the LR-classed vessel's suitability for year-round operation in second year ice with multi-year inclusions. The bow is designed to bend and break the ice layers ahead, rather than simply crush the ice, so forcing the sheet downward. The shape of the hull bottom is such that broken and submerged pieces of ice will tend to slide aside rather than travel the length of the hull, imposing extra hull resistance and propeller ice interaction. In the stern section, the design waterline curves towards the centreline to assist reverse icebreaking and manoeuvring in ice. Ice cutting knives are fitted at the stern and rudders for protection, and long skegs below both the bow and the stern limit riding up on the ice when navigating thicker cover and ramming ridges. Gondolas around the shafts and bearings give added protection, preventing ice blockage. Whereas the long-serving Aurora Australia was limited to single-station round voyages, Nuyina can visit two stations in one round-trip, an overall sailing distance of approximately 9,000 nautical miles. The endurance level built into the specification also had to take into account 30 days of icebreaking and 30 days on station in conditions down to minus 30degC. In her primary role of support and resupply of AAD's four research stations, the new ship will provide the bases at Casey, Davis and Mawson on the Antarctic continent, and Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean, with consumables, equipment and personnel. To that end, given the differing challenges of operating at the various sites, she is equipped to deploy a wide-ranging complement of craft and vehicles, including up to four helicopters, two 45t-capacity landing barges, tenders and amphibious trucks.
In the forward hold, the vessel can stow 1,200t of solid cargo, consisting primarily of containers and breakbulk goods, including large items of plant and equipment, worked by the ship's own gear that includes heavy-duty, 55t deck cranes. Cargo tanks in the fore part of the hull allow the transport of 1.9m litres of Special Arctic Blend (SAB) fuel used at the research stations. Scope for multidisciplinary and concurrent studies has been considerably enhanced by Nuyina, enabling tasks and campaigns involving sampling, data collection and analysis embracing sea floor, sea ice, sea life and atmospheric research. Accommodation has been provided for 117 scientific personnel besides the ship's complement of 32. The sea trials and system testing programme began last winter in the North Sea following transfer of the vessel from Romania to Damen Schelde's Vlissingen premises in the Netherlands. The final stage before the vessel's imminent departure to Hobart, in preparation for opening service in the southern polar season, entails ice trials in the Arctic region.
8 Nuyina has 16-cylinder MAN 32/44CR main engines. A 12-cylinder model is depicted here
PRINCIPAL PARTICULARS - Nuyina Length overall 160.3m Length bp 152.0m Breadth, moulded 25.6m Depth, to main deck 19.2m Draught, maximum 9.3m Cargo capacity, solid 1,200t/5,300m3 Cargo capacity, liquid 1,900m3 Propulsion system Diesel-hybrid Main diesel engines 2 x 19,200kW PTI electric motors 2 x 3,700kW Diesel generators 3 x 3,000kW + 1 x 2,000kW Main propellers(CPP) 2 x 13,300kW Manoeuvring thrusters, bow 3 x 1,300kW Manoeuvring thrusters, stern 3 x 1,300kW Speed, maximum 16kn+ Speed, economical 12kn Range 16,000nm Endurance 90 days Scientists/passengers 117 Crew 32 Class Lloyd's Register Polar ice class PC3 Flag Australia
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JUNE 2021 | 47
SHIP DESCRIPTIONS
TRANSLOADER BULKERS FOR VIETNAM PROJECT
Credit: ABB Marine
Built to serve a new, coal-fired power plant in Vietnam, the 21,500dwt Calypso heralds Oldendorff Carriers' latest investment in dedicated vessels for bulk cargo transhipment, writes David Tinsley
Self-reliant both in loading from deep-sea bulkers and in discharging at the final point of delivery, two such transloaders were contracted from Chengxi Shipyard in China by the Lübeck-headquartered company. The newbuilds will play a pivotal logistic role, shuttling coal from capesize bulkers at a deepwater offshore anchorage to the power station jetty in shallow waters at Nghi Son, on Vietnam's northern coast. Calypso and future consort Anna have been specified with diesel-electric power and propulsion systems and provide opening references in the bulkship sector for ABB's Azipod azimuthing propulsor. In each case, twin podded units will confer operating efficiency and the high degree of manoeuvrability essential to ship-to-ship transfers and to working into a port restricted in both draught and space. Oldendorff Carriers' agreement with the Japanese-South Korean consortium responsible for the construction, ownership and operation of the Nghi Son 2 plant in Thanh Hoa province means that the transloaders will be assigned to the project for 25 years. The German bulkship specialist's contract covers the entire marine transportation and cargo handling chain, so that transhipment will be effected from Oldendorff capesize bulkers. The transloaders will thereby provide a continual delivery feed from the designated anchorage to the power station terminal, a distance of some 11 nautical miles, using their own gear to lift cargo out of the capesize ocean carriers and to self-discharge at the jetty. Besides controlling one of the world's largest fleets of
48 | JUNE 2021
8 Calypso provides an opening reference for Azipod propulsors in the bulker sector. Inset: The new transloader has two Azipod CZ-series, nozzled propulsion units
deep-sea bulkers, numbering at any one time between 700 and 750 ships, Oldendorff ranks among the leading practitioners of bulk cargo transhipment, and that expertise has fed into the development of the new-generation transloaders. Each is 145m in length overall and of 34m breadth, equipped with two starboard side-mounted cranes for loading from the ocean bulkers and with a gravity selfdischarging system and unloading boom for delivery at the power plant jetty. Bridge and accommodation are positioned forward and the discharge station is aft. Oldendorff capesize vessels will transport about 4.1m tonnes of cargo per annum to the offshore transhipment point from five Indonesian ports, namely the anchorages at Balikpapan, Samarinda, Adang Bay, Muara Jawa and Muara Berau. For the transhipment and final delivery stages in the coal supply logistics, Oldendorff has established a Vietnamese joint venture with Haivan Shipping Services Corporation of Ho Chi Minh City. The nascent Nghi Son 2 (NS2) thermal power plant, comprising two super-critical coal-fired generators with a combined capacity of 1,300MW, is a joint venture of Marubeni Corporation and the Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco). Expected to be fully commissioned in July 2022, the station will adjoin the existing Nghi Son 1 (NS1) plant. Carbon emissions per unit of electricity produced from NS2 will be significantly less than those from NS1. Each transloader shipset of two self-loading cranes has been provided by Liebherr. The four-rope grab cranes incorporate a 10m eccentric platform, rendering handling
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SHIP DESCRIPTIONS flexibility and enhancing the operating radius to 46m. The CBG 360 models selected ensure a 48t bulk load capacity on the ropes and offer an average throughput rate of 1,200 tonnes per hour, and a maximum outturn of 1,300tph. Fenders are integrated along the starboard side of the hull so as to obviate damage from contact with the deepsea bulker during ship-to-ship cargo working. The loading capacity of the newbuilds is optimised by means of high hatch coamings, formed so as to foster self-trimming. The vessels are expected to handle the payloads from two capesize deliveries per month, involving up to two grades of coal. The transloaders self-discharge using a gravity-fed belt conveyor system and a boom of maximum 35m outreach to feed the jetty hopper installation at a rate of up to 2,500tph. Each transloader is propelled by two 1.9MW Azipods, signifying the first such application in bulk carriers, complemented by two 1,300kW bow thrusters. Compared to a conventional propulsion system, the relatively simple design and ease of installation of the podded azimuth propulsors, housing the electric drive motors, reduced construction complexity. The system also frees up more of the hull envelope for cargo space. The propulsion units are CZ 980 models, nozzled versions of the Azipod C-series. The CZ design was developed for dynamic positioning vessels, and is claimed to deliver significantly greater thrust than mechanical thrusters of equivalent power. The Azipods form part of the comprehensive electrotechnical package supplied by ABB Marine, encompassing the diesel-electric plant, drive systems, bow thruster motors, power management systems for propulsion
PRINCIPAL PARTICULARS - Calypso Length overall 145.00m Length bp 139.23m Breadth 34.00m Depth 12.00m Draught, summer 8.5m Deadweight 21,500t Gross tonnage 23,739t Cargo capacity 34,205m3 Propulsion system Diesel-electric Electric propulsion motors 2 x 1,900kW Main generator power 3 x 2,941kVA Bow thrusters 2 x 1,200kW Class ClassNK Class notations NS*, BC-XII, PSPC-WBT, NC, IWS, IHM, NOx-III(SCR), MNS*
and cargo handling, and also the 50/60Hz connections for drawing on shore power when in port. The three main generator sets are each of 2,941kVA capacity. The scale of Oldendorff's involvement in the dry bulk trades is considerable, encompassing between 700 and 750 ships at any one time, plus 10 transhipment projects around the world, and the provision of complete logistic services. The various transhipment operations include iron ore for steel industry clients in the Arabian Gulf, coal for power stations in Turkey and Bangladesh as well as Vietnam, bauxite from a river in Guyana, and a multi-commodity transhipment hub in Trinidad.
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The international magazine for senior marine engineers EDITORIAL & CONTENT Editor: Nick Edstrom editor@mercatormedia.com News Reporter: Rebecca Jeffrey rjeffrey@mercatormedia.com Correspondents Please contact our correspondents at editor@motorship.com Bill Thomson, David Tinsley, Tom Todd, Stevie Knight, Wendy Laursen Production Ian Swain, David Blake, Gary Betteridge production@mercatormedia.com
Once again, the June 1971 issue of The Motor Ship saw the editorial opinion lead article bemoaning the declining state of the British shipbuilding industry in common with most European yards. Despite a degree of optimism from our predecessors that the British industry would weather the storm, as borne out in a special supplement attached to the main journal, focus was shifting towards the relative prosperity of Japanese shipbuilding. The prime reason given for this was the close cooperation between the shipyards and the national government - not just through grants and subsidies, also through efficient management and tight control of the costs of equipment and raw materials. The ship description for June 1971 looked in detail at “what will probably remain the most outstanding merchant ship to enter service in 1971” - namely Euroliner, first in a projected class of four container ships. The distinguishing feature of this vessel, built at Nordseewerke in Emden for Scarsdale Shipping, on charter to Seatrain of New York, was the propulsion system; two aeroderivative Pratt & Whitney gas turbines, each driving a Lips CP propeller through a De Schelde reduction gear, a total power output of about 60,000hp, giving a service speed of 26 knots. Each engine also drove a 1200kW alternator. At 243m length and 29.99m beam, Euroliner was designed to carry 816 40ft containers - equivalent to a relatively small capacity of about 1,632 TEU in today's measurements. The containers were stowed nine or 11 across, and seven deep in eight holds, with a further two tiers carried on the hatch covers. Gas turbine power was chosen, it was said, for reliability and ease of maintenance, with exchangeable engine modules ensuring minimal downtime. This was thought to outweigh the relatively high fuel consumption, running on MDO though the engines were capable of burning waxy distillate fuel when available. With such machinery, a high level of automation and the ability to operate with unmanned machinery rooms was paramount, and Euroliner did not disappoint. Machinery was operated primarily from a machinery control room at second deck level, with control of engine speed and propeller pitch from the bridge.
52 | JUNE 2021
8 Eagle, a Pielstick-powered ro-ro vessel for service between UK, Portugal and Morocco
Operating such a vessel presents something of a challenge, and ship manager Denholm had put personnel through training courses over the 18 months prior to entry into service - not only in gas turbines, but also in Lips propellers and more general container ship topics, in order to ensure a full qualified complement of 10 officers and 15 ratings would always be available. The medium speed diesel engine continued to gain ground as proven in two more ship reports. One was a US-built 37,000 dwt tanker, Falcon Lady. The class of four was originally planned for Fairbanks Morse power, in a departure from the usual US steam turbine practice. However, design problems meant that two British-built Crossley-Pielstick 16PC2V engines, each of about 7,500bhp, were installed instead, driving a single shaft. A later version of the Pielstick design, the PC3V, had been chosen for the 11,500gt Eagle, a luxury ferry/ cruise ship in service between the UK, Portugal and Morocco. The two 12-cyliner engines each developed 10,200bhp which propelled the 142m, 750-passenger, vessel at 23 knots. Built in Nantes, to a Knud E Hansen design, Eagle was a sister to Dragon and Leopard, operating on cross-Channel services by P&O group companies. With capacity for 270 cars, or a combination of trucks and cars, this was the first ro-ro ship serving UK ports to be classified to SOLAS Method 1 fire protection, thanks to fireproof bulkheads and automatic fire detection.
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8 The simple, clean and compact machinery space of the gas turbine powered Euroliner
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