Posted on August 25, 2016
Wärtsilä says an inland waterways barge powered with its integrated solution will result in an 82% reduction in NOx emissions, a 90% reduction in particulate matter and a 20% reduction in CO2
Wärtsilä is helping to drive down emissions in the inland waterways sector by powering barges with its LNG dual fuel package, writes Anne-Marie Causer.
Wärtsilä’s package includes a ship from a 6-cylinder Wärtsilä 20DF main engine, a Masson gearbox, a LNGPac fuel system (which includes the LNG tank and tank connection space) and a propeller in a HR-Nozzle.
The Wärtsilä 20DF engine based propulsion package offers ship owners and operators a fully integrated system with the advantages of fuel flexibility.
Environmental benefits
The Wärtsilä dual fuel engine enables ships to be operated on either conventional liquid marine fuels (LFO, HFO or liquid bio fuel) or LNG. Such fuel flexibility enables compliance with emission regulations in controlled areas, while giving operators the option of determining the fuel according to cost and availability.
When operating in gas mode, the Wärtsilä 20DF engine is already compliant with IMO Tier III regulations without any secondary exhaust gas purification systems. Also, when fuelled by gas, the SOx and CO2 emissions are notably reduced and smokeless operation is attained.
In liquid fuel oil mode, the Wärtsilä dual-fuel engines are fully compliant with the IMO Tier II exhaust emissions regulations set out in Annex VI of the MARPOL 73/78 convention. The engine is able to operate efficiently and economically on low sulphur fuels (<0.1% S), making it suitable for operation in emission-controlled areas.
It’s typically used to power Inland barges, small cargo vessels, ferries and tug boats.
Wärtsilä reckons that an inland waterways barge powered with its integrated solution will result in an 82% reduction in NOx emissions, a 90% reduction in particulate matter and a 20% reduction in CO2, when compared with the inland waterways fleet average in the EU.
When this is compared with how much CO2 is produced by the Euro IV truck fleet, the package can result in a 75% reduction in CO2, making the inland waterways concept of getting boxes off the roads even more greener.
The LNG market
Up until quite recently LNG was utilised as fuel only in select vessel types or in selected geographical areas. This situation is changing very rapidly. Today the use of LNG as a marine fuel is available to virtually all ship types, including smaller vessels like inland waterway vessels.
And although there are still more challenges to face in order for LNG to be adopted in a more widespread manner, Bram Kruyt, director inland waterways, Wärtsilä, told GreenPort that Wärtsilä is confident that the 15 DF-powered Inland barges now under construction, will stimulate other ship owners build LNG powered newbuild vessels or re-fit existing vessels.
The market will grow he said, due to the new EU emissions regulations governing the output of stage 5 engines. This will force operators to look at different ways of powering their vessels making LNG engines much more viable.
Mr Kruyt said there are still some challenges to tackle, namely in LNG infrastructure, but within the next one to two years eventually everything will be in place.
“The inland waterways sector is an emerging market for us. European logistics can’t do without inland shipping and as more moves are made to get more boxes off the road and container traffic increases, the market will further grow.”
Wärtsilä entered the inland waterways market a year and half ago when it secured a huge contract with VEKA Shipyard to power 15 inland waterway barges with its dual-fuel engines – more on this later.
“It was a great project for us to be involved with and made us a forerunner in the LNG dual-fuel market. It has set a new standard for the inland shipping sector,” said Mr Kruyt.
Waterways fleet
The European inland waterways fleet is old and will soon have to be reconditioned to keep in line with current emissions regulations.
Mr Kruyt told GP: “Inland shipping has to become cleaner and LNG is the way to do this. Wärtsilä dual fuel packages cut diesel consumed down to around 3% with the engine running around 97% on gas.”
Understanding a vessel’s operations is fundamental to selecting the optimal configuration from a technical, as well as from a business, perspective.
A large amount of power is often installed on existing inland waterway vessels but on many such vessels, the average power consumed is well below 60% maximum continuous rating (MCR). Therefore, consultation with an owner/operator on how much power is actually required often yields important initial savings in both fuel and investment costs.
As would intuitively be expected, the greatest fuel cost saving with LNG fuel is achieved when the engines are well utilised.
Although LNG looks like a great option for inland waterways vessels, it’s not suitable for all of them.
It’s all down to operational profile Mr Kruyt said. A waterways vessel travelling up and down the Rhine from Basel to Rotterdam for example, would be best suited to LNG, while smaller vessels conducting shorter runs may need to look at other options.
Mr Kruyt said that for vessels which do shorter runs, a suitable option is after treatment solutions such as the Wärtsilä NOx Reducer (NOR), which is an emission after-treatment system based on the Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology for Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) reduction.
The system is compliant with various NOx emission reduction needs, such as the IMO Tier III rules.
Smaller vessels can also consider hybrid power solutions.
Payback
Typically, a payback time of five to eight years is achievable for inland waterway vessels running on LNG that are operating more than 5000 hours per year, and with a fuel price difference of 20% relative to the conventional low sulphur marine gas oil (MGO) fuel. Shorter payback times can be achieved when including other factors, such as using boilers for cargo heating or by achieving more running hours at high loads.
Combined knowledge of the vessel’s operations, the propeller characteristics, the engine performance and the control logic all allow for a realistic assessment of how a vessel can be run more cleanly and efficiently.
For many of its customers, Wärtsilä takes care of the entire propulsion research and delivery package. It can supply the motor, LNGPac, propeller, nozzle pumps, seals, engineering and service.
It may be at the forefront of LNG power and propulsion at the moment, but Wärtsilä realises that it can’t stand still in the market. It is continuously working to improve its products by way of its improvement programme for engine performance.
Wärtsilä power for LNG barges
A series of 15 110m inland waterway barges being built by VEKA Shipyard for Belgium based Plouvier Transport, to be chartered by Shell Trading Rotterdam (Shell), will be powered by Wärtsilä dual-fuel main engines.
The barges will operate primarily on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the scope of supply also includes other propulsion equipment and LNGPac fuel gas handling systems.
Bram Kruyt, director inland waterways, Wärtsilä, said: “Wärtsilä’s total solution capabilities, and its unmatched experience in LNG fuel machinery and systems for marine applications, are providing leading ship owners and operators with the added value they require. We salute everyone involved in this important project for their support in making inland waterway shipping more environmentally sustainable.”
At the moment the ships’ hulls are under construction at the VEKA Shipyard CENTROMOST in Poland and outfitting will be carried out at VEKA Shipyard Werkendam.
In optimising the efficiency parameters for these 15 vessels, Wärtsilä was able to draw on its experience from the two latest dual-fuel powered inland waterway vessels with Wärtsilä DF engines. The company also recently introduced a combined engine and thruster package that is ideal for the specific demands of river and inland waterway operation.
Shell will utilise the barges to support its growing operations in the ARA (Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp) and Rhinetrack (Germany/Switzerland) regions.
The equipment is scheduled for delivery to the yards commencing in June 2016. The first engine is currently undergoing Factory Acceptance Tests and deliveries will start from August. The first three vessels will be ready for sea trials at the end of 2016.
Source: GreenPort
