MAN Diesel and DSME cooperate to broaden owners' fuel choice

A development agreement signed by MAN Diesel and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. (DSME) could broaden shipowners' fuel choices. The two companies are to jointly develop and exploit the adaptation of DSME's high-pressure cryogenic gas-supply system for installation with MAN B&W ME-GI engines.This could make it feasible to use LNG as a fuel in ships other than LNG carriers.

"Applying the ME-GI engine and DSME system to a 14,000-TEU containership could potentially reduce annual operation costs by $12 million or greater, based on current gas and oil prices," according to YoungMan Lee, Senior Executive Vice President & Member of the Board of Directors of DSME, who notes that "SOx, NOx (with EGR or DeNox) and CO2 emissions would also be reduced at the same time."

The ME-GI engine is a gas-injection, dual-fuel, low-speed diesel engine that, when acting as main propulsion in LNG carriers or any other type of merchant marine vessel, can burn any ratio of fuel-oil and gas, depending on the energy source available on board and dictated by relative cost and owner preference.

While LNG carriers carry a gas cargo, the use of a a cryogenic gas fuel-supply system could make it practical for other vessel types to carry gas for use as a fuel.

MAN Diesel has decided to make a full-scale demonstration and performance verification test of the GI principle for all kinds of marine applications on its 4T50ME-X R+D test engine, which will be rebuilt as a 4T50ME-GI engine ready to operate on natural gas by end-2010.

The agreement covers the terms for jointly deciding a time schedule for developing and installing DSME's cryogenic, high-pressure gas-supply system on the test engine at MAN Diesel's test facility in Copenhagen. The gas-supply system will subsequently be developed for general use on MAN B&W ME-GI engines, and will ultimately be adopted as an integral part of the engine's gas fuel-supply system for applications where a cryogenic gas-supply system is applicable.

Ole Grøne, Senior Vice President MAN Diesel Low-Speed Promotion and Sales, says there is a "huge industry interest in this kind of technology as operators look to control costs and emissions."