Extra First Class COC Courses (Part ‘B’)

Q1. Discuss the issues and solutions provided for, use of LNG as the fuel of future for
Marine Transportation?

Q2. Discuss the latest innovation’s which has been adopted by the engine manufacturers
to enable slow steaming, Improve energy efficiency and reduce environmental impact?

Q3. Discuss the adaptation of various alternative sources of energy being used as
complete solution or as complimentary, for ship’s propulsion?

Student Name and Number: Samson Roy Chellappan and TMI/EFCE/2016/05

Course name: Advanced Marine Engineering Knowledge (B5) – Assignment B

ASSESSOR: Mr. Sankar Subramanian

Date of Submission: 24 September 2016

 Student ID number: TMI/EFCE/2016/05

Introduction:

The International Maritime Organization (IMO), the governing body of international

shipping, has made a decisive effort to diversify the industry away from HFO into
cleaner fuels with less harmful effects on the environment and human health.

Effective in 2015, ships operated within the Emission Control Areas (ECAs) covering
the Economic Exclusive Zone of North America, the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and the
English Channel will begin to use Marine Gas Oil (MGO) with allowable sulfur content
up to 1,000 ppm. Starting from 2020, ships sailing outside ECAs will switch to Marine
Diesel Oil (MDO) with permitted sulfur content up to 5,000 ppm.*

That tectonic shift also creates openings for a variety of new fuels. Liquefied nature gas
(LNG), newly abundant and relatively affordable, is attracting the attention of many
shipping companies. Although the lack of infrastructure and the uncertainty of future
prices have slowed the “dash to gas,” many expect LNG to establish itself as one of
major alternatives to HFO in the future.

Liquid natural gas (LNG) can be used in reciprocating engine propulsion systems and is
a known technology with classification society rules for the fuel systems already in
existence. Service experience with dual fuel and converted diesel engines, although
limited at the present time, has been satisfactory and currently LNG is considerably
cheaper than conventional fuels. LNG, while not free of harmful emissions, has benefits
in terms of CO2, NOX, SOX emissions, given that methane slip is avoided during the
combustion and fuelling processes.

Page no: (ii)

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Main body:

Q1.
The use of LNG is considered to have significant environmental advantages. An LNG
fuelled ship reduces the emissions of NOx by 85% to 90% (using a gas only engine), and
SOx and particles by close to 100% compared to today’s conventional fuel oil. In
addition, LNG fuelled ships may result in a net reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions.

A number of various potential barriers for an introduction of LNG as a fuel for coastal
and short sea shipping in the WCR (Wider Caribbean Region) are identified. These
potential holdback aspects are related to safety issues, economy, infrastructure
development, technical development and security.

Safety Issues:
LNG is a new and unknown fuel for most seafarers and port officers and it has
completely different properties compared with traditional bunker fuel oil. It is well
known to everyone that spillages or uncontrolled outflow of fuel oil may cause
spectacular contamination and significant impact in the marine environment but spills do
not usually impose severe hazards to human lives. For the use of LNG as ship fuel, the
situation is contrary – an LNG outflow will evaporate and dissipate without any local
environmental impact but if a cloud of vaporized LNG is ignited, fire and heat radiation
will threaten human lives.
If incidents or a serious accident would occur at an early stage of the introduction of
LNG as ship fuel, this could constitute a serious barrier for further development and
expansion of the use of LNG as ship fuel. Therefore it is of utmost importance that
stringent safety standards and regulations are developed and implemented for LNG
bunkering and for the operation of LNG fuelled vessels. Excellent safety records from
many years of large-scale LNG carrier operations demonstrate that it is possible to
control LNG hazards efficiently by adequate design, stringent regulations and competent
personnel.

Gaps and adaptation of technical regulation and standards:

The international trading with LNG by the use of large LNG carriers is a shipping
segment with excellent safety records. In risk terms, it shows a very low accident
frequency but the potential consequences of a large-scale accident are severe. A lot of
the safety experience gained from the operation LNG carriers may be adopted for the

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use of LNG as ship fuel but incidents and accidents may become more frequent as the
number of LNG bunkering operations will be very high compared with LNG carrier
loading/unloading operations. The probability for incidents will thus increase but on the
other hand, the potential consequences of minor bunker related LNG discharges will be
less severe than those caused by LNG carrier accidents. The table below gives some
indicative size relations between large-scale export/import operations and small and
medium-scale LNG distribution and bunkering operations.

LNG specific hazards:

Of the following identified LNG specific potential outcomes of an accidental release of
LNG , fire scenarios are found to be the ones governing for necessary risk control
measures including determination of safety distances and site selection for bunkering
facilities and operations;
- Cryogenic damage – metal embrittlement, cracking, structural failure;
- Cryogenic injuries – frost burns;
- Asphyxiation – if the air oxygen is replaced methane asphyxiation may occur;
- Reduced visibility due to unignited vapour clouds;
- Thermal radiation from various fire scenarios:
 Delayed or immediate ignition of vapour clouds (flash fire),
 Slow fire front,
 Delayed or immediate ignition of vapour-air mixture (fire ball),
 Rapid burn,
 LNG pool fires or,
 Flame jets from leaks in pipes, hoses, tanks or pressure vessels,
 Rapid phase transition, RPT,
 Vapour cloud explosion (in confined spaces and enriched with other
hydrocarbons),
 Boiling liquid expanding explosions (BLEVE),
 Rollover in LNG storage tanks,
 Sloshing in onboard LNG tanks,
 Geysering – expulsion of LNG from a quiescent liquid in piping.

The figure as shown in figure 5.1. illustrates the formation of an LNG pool and vapour
cloud for a large-scale spill.

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FIG 5.1. Possible outcome of LNG spill over water.

(Studies on the Feasibility and use of LNG as a fuel for shipping, published in 2016 by
International Maritime Organization)

The international Code for the Construction and Equipment of Ships Carrying Liquefied
Gases in Bulk (IGC) and International Code of Safety for Ship Using Gases or other
Low-flashpoint Fuels (IGF Code) provides requirement for safety measures for storing,
transporting and using LNG.

Q2.
Slow steaming is a process of deliberately reducing the speed of cargo ships to cut down
fuel consumption and carbon emissions.

Major benefits of slow steaming:

 Higher fuel savings.
 Reduction in carbon emissions. (CO2, SOx and NOx)
 Improved reliability.
 Increased Efficiency.

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MAN B&W Diesel designed and successfully field-tested a package of measures to

suppress the formation of soot in highly turbocharged medium speed engines, even
during long periods of slow steaming.
The full package for these IS (invisible smoke) near-zero soot engines with low NOx
emissions comprises:
 Turbocharger optimized for part load, with a waste gate.
 Charge air bypass below 65 per cent engine load.
 Charge air preheating (80 degC) below 20 per cent load.
 Smaller injection bores.
 Nozzles with short sac holes.
 Auxiliary blower for operation below 20 per cent load*.
 Fuel-water emulsification (15–20 per cent water)**.
 Retarded fuel injection below 80 per cent engine load.

* Can be dispensed with if load below 20 per cent is not required.

** For NOx cycle values between 6.7–8 g/kWh; can be dispensed with if NOx
emission levels meeting the IMO limit curve are sufficient.

(Pounders – Marine diesel engines and Gas turbines, By Doug Woodyard, 8th, Edition
2004, Page no – 83,84)

There is the ability to invoke slower ship speeds since this will result in reductions in
fuel consumed and have beneficial environmental consequences. These slower speeds
can be prescribed for the initial design or as an imposition on an already faster design of
ship; given that the limitations arising from the main engine’s slow steaming constraints
are satisfied. In this latter case further performance benefits can gained from redesigning
or modifying the propeller to accommodate the resulting lower specific thrust loading.
Notwithstanding any benefits derived from slow steaming, there is an operational risk in
fitting ships with too small engines, to meet environmental design indices or other
criteria, as the ships may have insufficient power to navigate safely in poor weather.

(Future Ship Powering options, Exploring alternative methods of ship propulsion, July
2013, Page no: 70)

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Solutions for slow steaming:

Turbocharger Cut-Out:
Reducing speed is the most effective measure to reduce fuel costs. However, at low-load
the turbochargers are operating below their optimal range. This has an adverse effect on
their running performance, which limits the potential fuel oil savings. On engines with
two or more turbochargers, this can be overcome by installing a Turbocharger Cut-Out
as shown in figure 5.2.

FIG 5.2. Turbocharger Cut-Out

Slide Fuel valves:

The Slide fuel valve as shown in figure 5.3. is the latest design and is a must-have for
slow-steaming operation. This new type of valve reduces the amount of waste products
and gives better combustion properties. The elimination of the sac volume also saves
fuel, as fuel used to drip from the sac on to the piston topland.

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FIG 5.3. Slide Fuel valves.

Alpha Lubricator upgrades:

Alpha Lubricator as shown in figure 5.4. featuring Adaptive Cylinder-Oil Control
(ACC) eliminates over-lubrication through precise control of the cylinder lubricating oil
feed rate according to the actual engine power output. This enables immediate and
substantial savings on expensive lubricating oil.

FIG 5.4. Alpha Lubricator upgrades.

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De-Rating:
Vessels designed before 2008 where designed for high service speeds. Many of these
vessels are now becoming increasingly uneconomical in today’s slow steaming market.
De-rating offers the possibility of changing the specified maximum continuous rating
(SMCR) to match the requirements of vessels expected to remain slow steaming. De-
rating as shown in figure 5.5. is the procedure of changing the rating (power and speed)
of an engine.

FIG 5.5. De-Rating.

MAN EcoCam:
MAN EcoCam as shown in figure 5.6. is a hydraulically regulated variable exhaust
timing solution enabling a variable cam profile without any mechanical modification of
the camshaft. MAN EcoCam is a hydraulically regulated variable exhaust timing
solution enabling a variable cam profile without any mechanical modification of the
camshaft. When MAN EcoCam is active, the engine can run at a lower load with
reduced fuel consumption. It can be deactivated whenever necessary, allowing the
engine to run at full load.

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FIG 5.6. MAN EcoCam.

Propeller Upgrade:
Propeller as shown in figure 5.7. and aft ship are very attractive areas when focusing on
slow steaming, fuel costs and emissions. We have provided several ship owners with
fuel savings of over 10% just by installing our newest technologies within propeller and
aft ship. The propeller and aft ship are attractive areas for retrofit and upgrade
investments - with very short payback time, which will clearly optimize operational
economy.

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FIG 5.7. Propeller Upgrade.

(www.primeserv.man.eu/overview)

Q3.
The current use of alternative fuels and renewable energy sources within the shipping
industry is still relatively low. Growing environmental legislation and concerns are
driving the need to develop and apply innovative alternative power and propulsion
technology for ships. The industry must embrace the challenger of designing cleaner
lower carbon emission ship. This conference seeks to investigate some of these
alternatives, including;
 Wind powered or wind assisted propulsion.
 Alternative fuel systems: LNG, methanol, hydrogen, etc.
 Renewable fuels; biofuels, ethanol, Dimethyl Ether (DME) algae-based fuel, etc.
 Pure electric and hybrid electric propulsion.
 Batteries and fuel cells.
 Solar power.

Wind Powered or Wind Assisted:

Merchant sailing ship technology reached its technical peak in 1840’s but even as
recently as 1960s there were still large sailing cargo vessels operating efficiently around
the European coast waters. There was renewed interest in wind powered ships in the
1980’s, due to the 1970’s oil crisis. Recently there has been a reintroduction of a few
small scale commercial freight operations using sail power, although these are generally
based on 19th century technology and run by keen enthusiasts.

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Wind power alone is unlikely to be able to offer the “power density” necessary to
replace a 50MW large 2 stroke marine diesel engine. There may also be issues with
reliability and predictability of wind power on some of the more arduous trade routes. So
wind power may not provide a universal solution for the shipping industry but it does
seem to offer the greatest potential for double digit fuel saving. There have been
numerous concept designs and even a few notable full scale prototype trials for wind
powered and wind assisted motor vessels. There are plenty of existing technologies
including;
 Flettner rotors,
 WingSail,
 DynaRigs,
 Kites, etc.
The challenge may not necessarily be developing new technologies but evolving and
adapting these existing technologies to overcome the shipping industries commercial,
technical and regulatory challenges.

Alternative & Renewable fuels:

LNG is currently the most heavily promoted alternative fuel source but is still only used
on a relatively small numbers of niche or specialized vessels. In March 2015, Stena Line
launched the world’s first methanol powered ferry. The Kawasaki Heavy industry is
designing liquid hydrogen carriers that will also use the hydrogen as fuel.

Sustainable or renewable biofuels are also currently used on a very small number of
vessels. They are biodegradable, non-toxic, and essentially free of sulphur and
aromatics. However, there can be issues with long term storage related to unstable fuel
quality and micro biological growth, water content leading to acidity, flow degradation a
low temperature and currently they have a higher production cost than fossil fuels. There
is also the possibility of using blended diesel oil and biofuels.

Many of the engine manufactures are providing dual fuel technology, which can use
both conventional and alternative fuels. All these fuels all have issues with bunker
availability and lack of established wide spread distribution networks.

All Electric and Hybrid Electric:

Electric boats mainly for use on canal, river and lake were very popular from the 1880s
and even today there are a number of commercially available electric powered leisure

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craft. Ampere the world's first electrical car and passenger ferry powered by batteries
has recently entered service in Norway. Build by Fjellstrand the ferry is 80 meters long
and 20 meters wide and equipped by Siemens. With three battery packs, one on board
and one at each pier, it functions emission free. These systems rely on either mains
charged batteries, solar panels or wind turbines.

Diesel-electric propulsion is used on a number of different types of vessels that have

large variable design loads such as warships, offshore, tugs, dredgers, icebreakers, etc.
They can offer advantages of higher efficiency, reduced noise & vibration, greater
redundancy and flexibility of layout but will have higher initial costs. Hybrid diesel-
electric systems can offer efficiency improvement by running the engines on optimal
load and absorbing many of the load fluctuations through batteries. The system is
designed and integrated to optimize the overall operation of the vessel using battery
power to help cover the vessels peak load or during specific parts of the vessels voyage.
There is considerable ongoing research and development work being undertaken on
battery technology.

Solar:
There have been significant advances in terms of development of more effective
lightweight solar panels suitable of the marine environment Combined solar power plus
batteries have been used successfully for a number of small commercial vessels.
However, solar panels alone are unable to provide the levels of energy need for the
propulsion of a large ship. It can be used as an important alternative source for onboard
electrical systems thereby helping to reduce the vessels overall fuel consumption and
CO2 emissions.

(www.rina.org.uk/Alternative-ship-power)

Conclusion:
Alternative fuels are becoming more frequently used, with LNG and Methanol as two
options that can decrease the emissions, partly CO2 but more important for some cases
SOX, NOX and particulate matter.

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List of references:

 Future Ship Powering options, Exploring alternative methods of ship propulsion,

July 2013, Page no: 70.

 Pounders – Marine diesel engines and Gas turbines, By Doug Woodyard, 8th,
Edition 2004, Page no – 83,84

 Studies on the Feasibility and use of LNG as a fuel for shipping, published in
2016 by International Maritime Organization

 www.primeserv.man.eu/overview.

 www.rina.org.uk/Alternative-ship-power.

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