SHIPBUILDING & EQUIPMENT | PROPULSION & MANOEUVRING TECHNOLOGY
Dual-fuel engine using LPG
MAN B&W ME-GI With the new gas code, the use of LPG (propane and butane) as a fuel
for ship propulsion has now come one step closer, and MAN Diesel & Turbo is ready with
an appropriate engine design
Kjeld Aabo
L
PG has been used as a
fuel in the car industry
for many years, and now,
with the dual-fuel ME-GI en-
gine, it can also be used to pro-
pel ships. The general discus-
LPG injection valve
sion of, and growing interest
in, lowering CO2, NOx, SOx,
and particulate emissions have
increased operators’ and ship
owners’ interest in investigat-
ing future fuel alternatives.
LPG vs LNG
Using LPG as fuel source on
the two-stroke ME-GI offers
the same emission benefits as
10 Ship & Offshore | 2010 | No 3
with LNG, where emissions
can be reduced significantly
compared with MDO. There
are accordingly very good en-
vironmental reasons for using
this fuel in coastal areas and
on inland waterways. The GI
system can also be applied to
the small-bore ME-B engines
that suit smaller tankers, car-
riers, container vessels and ro-
ro vessels.
Because of the general need to
reduce CO2 emissions, it has
already been seen in some re-
gions, especially the Mediter-
ranean, that a lot of traffic is
being moved from the high-
way to sea routes. This trend is
expected to continue because
sea transportation has proved
to be less CO2-polluting than
trucks and trains. This CO2
benefit can be further im-
proved by using gas as a fuel.
Many ship owners have real-
ised that the next five to six
years will most likely show an
overcapacity in the LNG car-
rier fleet and in LNG produc-
tion. Obviously, this gener-
ates interest in using LNG and
LPG as a fuel aboard ships as
gas is expected to be cheaper
than other types of fuels for a
significant period of time – a
price difference that becomes
even greater when compared
to other types of low-sulphur
fuels.
Few doubt the prediction that
LNG will become the fuel of
the future. However, establish-
ing LNG bunkering facilities,
comprising small-size LNG
terminals and a network of
LNG supply ships, is costly
and time-consuming and, fur-
thermore, also subject to safe-
ty concerns and broad public
debate.
Currently, only a few countries
have an LNG network in place
to support the general use of
gas as a marine fuel, for exam-
ple Norway. However, unless
an unrealistic price for LNG is
set, its widespread use is not
just around the corner.
LPG as alternative
Establishing an LPG supply
network is far easier because
LPG terminals are less costly
and not such a big safety con-
cern, simply because LPG has
been around for a long time.
As such, older LPG carriers
could be brought into use to
function as bunkering sta-
tions. These all have onboard
reliquefaction plants, which
are less expensive to run com-
pared to LNG reliquefaction
systems. Furthermore, ship-
to-ship loading of LPG is un-
complicated and is a realistic
prospect for bunkering LPG
from an LPG carrier. Some
MAN Diesel & Turbo gensets
already run on LPG aboard
LPG carriers.
The technology behind the
dual-fuel, two-stroke, MAN
B&W ME-GI engine requires a
gas-supply pressure of 550 bar
and a temperature of 45°C.
At this temperature and pres-
sure, LPG is found in liquid
state and different fuel-supply
solutions are available for
generating this pressure for
the liquid. Hence, powered by
LPG, the ME-GI engine uses
liquid gas for injection, as op-
posed to an ME-GI engine us-
ing LNG where the methane is
injected in gaseous form. All
the way from tank to engine,
LPG remains in liquid phase
and non-cryogenic pumps can
be used to generate the pres-
sure. These pumps are stand-
ard equipment in the LPG
industry, where quite a large
number of suppliers operate.
One safety concern with LPG
is that, in gaseous form and
unlike methane, both propane
and butane are heavier than
air and accordingly don’t dis-
perse but, rather, drop down
and pool if leaked.
The ME-GI engine and LPG
During the last few years, the
ME-GI engine has mainly
been considered for LNG car-
riers, but recent fluctuations in
energy prices and ever-tighter
emission requirements have
increased interest in using gas
as an alternative fuel. In this
context, LPG as a fuel aboard
LPG carriers and merchant
ships is a definite possibility.
The high-pressure, gas-injec-
tion system used by the ME-GI
engine has the advantage of
being insensitive to gas com-
position and variations in gas
composition. It is well known
that the engine can burn lean
gas as well as gas containing
higher hydrocarbons. LPG
normally consists of higher
hydrocarbons like propane
and butane, and these can
therefore be used as fuel with-
out changing the engine’s per-
formance in terms of speed,
thermal efficiency and power
output, while maintaining
the same rating as for fuel-oil
burning engines.
In the near future, worldwide
production of LNG from gas
wells is expected to increase
rapidly since natural gas is be-
ing positioned as the energy
source of the future in many
parts of the world. LPG is a
by-product of LNG produc-
tion and the LPG production
volume will inevitably grow
much larger than today. This
will lead to lower LPG prices
as the LPG market is more or
less constant. Therefore, in the
future, the price of LPG fuel
will be more competitive than
today, paving the way for its
adoption aboard ships.
The basic ME and ME-B en-
gine series apply to the ME-
GI operating on LPG as well,
and the new components and
auxiliaries remain unchanged
in scope when compared with
the ME-GI engine type de-
signed for NG (natural gas).
Some design changes to aux-
iliaries and components are
of course necessary, since the
density of LPG in liquid form
is higher than the density of
NG as a gas. As a result, GI/
LPG components can be de-
signed much smaller but, si-
multaneously, the LPG needs
to be pressurised to 550 bar
compared with 250-300 bar
for NG. This higher pressure is
necessary to achieve a full at-
omisation of the liquid when
leaving the nozzles of the in-
jection valves. In comparison,
HFO, which has a slightly
higher density, requires an
injection pressure of 600-
800 bar.
In 1998, the MAN B&W re-
search engine, 4T50MX, was
converted to LPG operation
and a type-approval test suc-
Fuel type modes for the ME-GI engines operating LPG
cessfully completed the same
year. Six of the major classifi-
cation societies witnessed the
demonstration of the gas-safe-
ty system and approved the
GI system. Current IMO rules
do not allow the use of LPG
aboard ships, however, this
is shortly expected to change.
MAN Diesel & Turbo recom-
mends that owners apply for
approval from the flag state for
LPG operation on the ME-GI
engine. This is the procedure
that was followed when the
shuttle tanker Navion Viking
was retrofitted and approved
for operation on VOC (Volatile
Organic Compounds). VOC is
a gas that is released during
crude-oil transportation. On
some tankers, this VOC is col-
lected and processed into an
LPG-like gas.
The future
Two-stroke engine technology
is the most widely used and
state-of-the-art solution for
the optimal use of fuel when
burning HFO and gas. The
technology selected for the
two-stroke solutions, such as
high-pressure LPG pumps and
type C tanks for storing of the
LPG, is well proven.
The ME-GI control and safety
system is based on the experi-
ence garnered from working
gas plants, including an MAN
B&W 12K80MC-GI-S engine
in Japan, followed by the de-
velopment of the VOC engine
in the late nineties. Classifica-
tion societies have contrib-
uted to the development and,
furthermore, after a successful
test, issued an approval for an
MC-GI engine operating on
an LPG/VOC mixture back in
1998. Today’s two-stroke diesel
engine is superior in fuel effi-
ciency and especially in regard
to total operating economy to
older two-stroke technology.
Introducing LPG as fuel on the
dual-fuel GI system gains quite
substantial emission ben-
efits, especially with regard to
SOx, CO2, particulate matter,
and NOx emissions. Further-
more, NOx emissions are sig-
nificantly reduced when LPG
operation is combined with
either an SCR or EGR system.
Operation on LPG seems also
to solve the logistics problems
that LNG has at this time since
LPG in principle is widely ac-
cessible. Nor is cryogenic tech-
nology required, which makes
the LPG auxiliary systems less
expensive than LNG. The im-
minent, increased production
of LNG will also stimulate
and significantly increase LPG
production, which is expected
to affect the price of LPG and
make it competitive with MDO
and MGO fuels in the future.
The author:
Kjeld Aabo,
Director of Customer
Support, Low-Speed MAN
Diesel & Turbo SE,
Copenhagen, Denmark
Ship & Offshore | 2010 | No 3 11