MOL to demo LNG burning on temporarily modified newbuild engine

Written by Nick Blenkey

MOL-HQMitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) is to temporarily convert the Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co.(MES) slow speed diesel of one of its newbuildings into a ME-GI (electronically-controlled gas injection) engine. The engine has been designed, manufactured and delivered to the shipyard with oil injection specifications, but will be temporarily modified and will be run with vaporized LNG at Mitsui’s Tamano Works in the first half of 2013.

First unveiled at a major event at MAN Diesel & Turbo’s Copenhagen, Denmark, Diesel Research Center in May 2011, 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 gas or fuel-oil at any ratio, depending on the energy source available on board and dictated by relative cost and owner preference.

LNG has recently been highlighted as one of the potential propulsion fuels for future ship design. MOL is starting to investigate adoption of the ME-GI gas injection technology to future vessels in parallel with its Sempaku ISHIN project.

The ME-GI, which combines gas injection technology and electronic control technology, is attracting attention as a marine propulsion engine.

MES (a MAN Diesl & Turbo licensee) completed a power generating plant a with slow-speed gas injection diesel engine (GIDE) at its Chiba Works in 1994, with an eye toward the application of such engines to ships. Since then, it has accumulated a lot of operation knowhow with gas burning diesel engines.

In July last year, MES adopted ME-GI as the engine for its newly developed LNG carrier “Double Eco MAX” aiming to achieve a 30% reduction of fuel cost and CO2 emission.

The demonstration, says MES, will prove “our established integrated control system including a gas supply system for shop trial facility, and will contribute to our sales and production capability of ME-GI itself and of ships installed with ME-GI, to our customers.”

March 6, 2012

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