Gas fuelled engines for marine applications
New applications for gas fuelled well proven and efficient diesel
by Mika Laurilehto
General Manager,
Application Development,
Marine & Licensing
Wrtsil Corporation
Using gas as fuel for diesel engines in
marine installations is not a new
idea, but increasing environmental
awareness and advances in gas
engine technology have made gas
operation even more attractive than
earlier. The potential marine market
segments for using gas as fuel are no
longer limited to a few niche
installations but now cover an
increasing variety of applications.
The offshore oil and gas industry has
traditionally used the gas derived from
the production process for power
generation. This segment still has a large
potential and there are already
numerous installations in operation
today to prove the feasibility of gas
diesels as prime movers.
Fig.1 The Texaco Captain FPSO is equipped with five Wrtsil Vasa 18V32GD gensets for main power generation. The combined output is 32 MW and in
addition to gas operation the engines can also run on crude oil.
reciprocating engines are currently
emerging among various types of ferries.
Passengers, cars and lorries are often
transported over short distances by sea
in environmentally sensitive areas and
scheduled trips are frequent. For this
reason many ferry fleet owners, and also
local authorities, are favouring
environmentally sound, green
solutions.
Another natural segment for gas
engines is LNG carriers. Today these
ships are all equipped with steam
turbine propulsion but many owners are
seeking a more efficient solution to
generate the power needed for
propelling these vessels. Wrtsils
recently developed large-bore Dual Fuel
engines operating on the lean-burn
principle provide a good match for these
specific needs.
The offshore oil
and gas industry
Wrtsil began development of gas
burning diesel engines some 12 years
ago when oil companies and production
platform operators in the North Sea
expressed a need for this technology.
The idea was to adapt Wrtsils already
technology for the offshore environment
using the fuel off the well concept.
Importing fuel oil to the platforms is
expensive and on the other hand there
are plenty of gaseous hydrocarbons
available on these vessels.
This development led to the
introduction of the Wrtsil Gas Diesel
engine in the early 1990s. There are
several offshore installations today
ranging from the North Sea to the
Campos Basin in Brazil which are taking
full advantage of the benefits offered by
these prime movers. Market forecasts
show an increase in the need for
offshore oil and gas production units
with the strongest emphasis on
deep-water production. The highest
activity is expected in the deep waters of
Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico, West
Africa and Southeast Asia.
In other traditional areas such as the
North Sea there will be a need to
re-power quite a few of the older
platforms. The gas diesel is a good
choice in these cases as well, since it is
based on the basic Wrtsil liquid fuel
operated engine designs widely used in
the earlier installations. Retrofit packages
to convert these engines to gas
Marine News - 7
operation are available, for example for
the Wrtsil Vasa 32 design. Naturally it
is also possible to replace old power
generation equipment with a complete
new modularised package ready to be
lifted onboard.
The design of the Gas Diesel is quite
different from the conventional system
used on medium-speed gas operated
internal combustion engines. The
conventional system mixes gas and
combustion air before the cylinders and
this gas/air mixture is then compressed
in the cylinders during the compression
stroke. The direct gas injection concept
of the gas diesel takes only air into the
cylinders (like a diesel) and injects the
gas and pilot fuel at the end of the
compression stroke. The biggest benefit
of this type of engine in offshore
installations is the capability to burn
practically any hydrocarbon available
onboard.
In offshore installations gas engines
can be used in the production phase
when gas is available from the crude oil
production process. The main application
is power generation onboard floating Fig. 2 A prefabricated machinery module for a Wrtsil 16V32LN genset prior to delivery to the FPSO
production units (FPUs). In some Glas Dowr operating in the North Sea.
installations compressors and pumps are
driven with gas engines as well. disturbance in the fuel gas supply. coastal and inland waters. Therefore,
To evaluate what type of prime Likewise the flexibility to use low or owners operating on short sea and
mover solution is best for each case the variable quality gas is necessary and inland routes have greater incentive to
characteristics of FPUs have to be switching from one fuel type to another reduce emissions.
evaluated. A common feature of all without disturbing output is essential. The best way to reduce emissions is
installations is that the gas quality, Looking at all of the above it is to generate the required propulsion
availability and pressure fluctuate. Gas is reasonable to conclude that the most power using natural gas. Hence the
in most cases an undesired by-product feasible type of prime mover in offshore number of ferries and inland vessels
and therefore must either be flared or installations is the gas diesel (GD). If the with gas as bunkered fuel is expected to
used as fuel. In practice this means that gas onboard is only available at a low grow in the next few years.
high efficiency is not necessarily a pressure, below 10 bar, the most suitable Several vessels already operate on
priority. choice is the dual fuel (DF) engine gas today. In Canada the method used
On the other hand safety and operating on the lean-burn principle. for storing the fuel is in the form of
reliability are of prime importance. compressed natural gas (CNG). The
Hazards and production disturbances are Ferries using bunkered drawback of this technology is the loss
very costly and generally speaking not gas as fuel of efficiency caused by the energy
tolerated at all. The power range in There is increasing worldwide demand required to pressurise the fuel up to
these installations is very wide, ranging for environmental consideration in all 250 bar. Also public opinion and the
between 5-100 MW. industries. The shipping industry is no authorities are somewhat hesitant about
In most cases back-up fuel is exception and emissions regulations are installing high-pressure gas machinery
required to keep the power generation getting stricter in many locations. The on passenger vessels. On the other
operable, also in case there is a specifications are particularly tight in hand, lean-burn engine technology and

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Fig. 3 The passenger/car/train ferry Tycho Brahe equipped with diesel electric propulsion machinery (four Wrtsil 6R32 gensets) operates in an environmentally
sensitive area. It is a typical example of a vessel that would be suitable for gas engine based propulsion.
also gas liquefaction techniques have
advanced recently. These steps have
made it feasible to introduce engines
that operate on low-pressure gas derived
from liquefied natural gas (LNG) stored
in tanks onboard ferries. The first such
installation has been operating
successfully in highway ferry duty in
Norway for more than a year.
The characteristics of gas operated
ferries are naturally different from those
of offshore installations. The quality of
the fuel gas is good, nearly pure
methane evaporated from the bunkered
LNG. There is no fluctuation or
disturbances in the gas supply to the
engines and the pressure can be kept
constant as well. Safety, low emissions
and high machinery efficiency are of
prime importance.
Normally quite strict redundancy
requirements are placed on the
machinery. Sailing routes and timetables
are fixed, and the operating profiles
normally include a lot of manoeuvring
time. Feasible operating locations are
somewhat limited by the LNG
transportation logistics.
Adding up all these considerations, a
diesel/gas engine electric propulsion
system would appear very competitive
in such installations. Liquid back-up fuel
is not necessarily required and therefore
pure gas engines, such as the spark
ignited Wrtsil SG, may be considered.
This is especially true in smaller vessels
on very short routes. In larger ferries and
ships commuting longer distances the
lean-burn dual-fuel engines would
naturally also be a good choice.
LNG carriers
The LNG business has traditionally been
based on long-term shipping contracts
and dedicated fleets of ships. Due to the
increasing demand and supply of
liquefied gas the number of spot cargoes
has steadily increased and will do so
even more rapidly in the future. The
need for a higher number of Liquefied
Natural Gas (LNG) carriers is evident;
indeed over the last ten years on
average 6-8 ships have been built
annually while 10-12 new ships a year
are predicted in the years ahead.
The key issue when considering
propulsion machinery for LNG carriers is
the best possible utilisation of the
inevitable boil-off gas from the cargo
tanks. Another major issue is the
availability of propulsion power at all
times because of the very high cost of
any disturbances in the gas transport
chain.
Other issues to be kept in mind
during the design phase include the
Marine News - 9
Fig. 4 The LNG carrier Al Hamra is equipped with one Wrtsil Vasa 8R32 auxiliary genset having an output of 2960 kW at 720 rpm.
importance of high reliability, safety,
good efficiency and low emissions. Due
to the large size and relatively high
speed of these vessels, the required
propulsion power is high, 20 MW or
more, and the lifetime of the ships is
very long, 35 years or more.
Steam turbine propulsion dominates
in currently operating vessels mainly
because high power output is available
and it is possible to use low-grade fuels
and boil-off gas. Maintenance is
relatively low cost and infrequent. The
drawback of the steam turbine system is
the inefficiency and hence high fuel
consumption of the propulsion plant.
Recent developments in gas engines
have made it possible to utilise the
boil-off gas efficiently and these engines
are clearly an option to be considered
for modern gas carrier propulsion.
The approach Wrtsil considers
most feasible for LNG carriers is based
on electric propulsion where the prime
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movers in the power plant are
four-stroke low-pressure dual-fuel gas
engines. High thermal efficiency, safety,
flexible and efficient use of installed
machinery have been the main
arguments in the comparison.
The available amount of natural
boil-off gas depends on the ship design
specification and operating conditions.
Typically a natural boil-off rate of 0.15 %
per day is considered as a design point
but values as low as 0.10 % have been
reported in modern vessels. On the
other hand the rate can also be higher in
unfavourable conditions. When
converting the energy content available
in the boil-off gas into mechanical
power at the flywheel of a modern
dual-fuel gas engine it is evident that
even in the best case the natural boil-off
would not be enough to cope with the
energy consumption.
Recent studies suggest that the most
beneficial solution to supplement the
need for additional energy is to use
forced boil-off instead of fuel oil. This
solution in combination with the
dual-fuel engine electric propulsion is
economically superior both in
installation cost and operation.
Conclusion
A wide variety of marine applications
can be supplied with propulsion and
power generation plants driven by gas
engines. The key issues when using gas
operated engines in all marine
installations are the safety and reliability
of the machinery. In offshore
applications tolerance of fuel quality
fluctuations is extremely important as
well. Naturally, environmental aspects
such as low exhaust emissions will also
play an important role. Economy comes
into the picture only after these are in
place. n