The increasing demand to supply

gaseous fuel for the needs of more

environmentally focused energy
production is also affecting the
volume of marine transport of gas. A
clear need for more Liquefied Natural
Gas (LNG) carriers is already evident:
10-12 ships are predicted to be built a
year over the next fewyears
compared to the 6-8 ships built every
year over the past decade.
Furthermore, the need to replace
existing capacity will amplify this
need in fact nearly all the gas
carriers built since this trade began in
the early 1970s are still operational.
The LNG trade has been based on
long-term shipping contracts and
dedicated fleets of ships sailing on fixed
routes and schedules between the rather
limited number of LNG terminals in the
world. The increasing demand for and
supply of liquefied gas has steadily
raised the number of spot cargoes and
will do so even more rapidly in the
future. From the shipping point of view
this means that operators are looking for
ships with more operational flexibility
and efficiency in response to varying
contractual situations. This primarily calls
for a flexible and efficient propulsion
plant able to accommodate different ship
speeds and alternative operating profiles.
Steam turbine propulsion dominates
in the vessels currently operating in the
global LNG carrier fleets. One reason for
this is the availability of high power
output combined with the possibility to
use low-grade fuels. Maintenance of the
turbines is relatively low cost and
infrequent and the systems are
considered reliable. The key issue,
however, is the possibility to use the
boil-off gas (BOG) from the cargo tanks.
The boil-off must be disposed of
somehow and the simplest way is to
burn it in a boiler. The drawback of the
boiler and steam turbine system is the
inefficiency, and hence high fuel
consumption, of the propulsion plant. In
modern LNG carriers the amount of
natural boil-off is decreasing due to
advances in tank insulation technology
and design. Hence the energy in the
natural boil-off gas is far from sufficient
to produce the propulsion power
needed for the relatively high operating
speeds. Therefore forced boil-off gas or
fuel oil is needed to top up the fuel
demand of the boilers, which is yet
another argument encouraging shipping
companies to look for a propulsion plant
with higher efficiency.
The diesel engine has for decades
dominated all other sectors of merchant
shipping except LNG carriers. The
accumulated experience of thousands of
propulsion plant installations based on
diesel machinery has helped to ensure
the successful development of this
technology. Meanwhile steam plant
development has virtually stood still as
there has been practically no market for
marine applications since the 1973 Oil
Crisis. The recent development of
dual-fuel operated diesel and gas
engines has made it possible to use the
boil-off gas efficiently and therefore
propulsion based on diesel engines is a
strong option for modern LNG carriers
today.
Optional propulsion concepts
based on diesel and gas engines
When specifying propulsion machinery
options for LNG carriers it is essential to
consider the differences in operating
profiles, fleet configurations and
shipping routes. The basic case is a
138,000 m
3
vessel with an operating
speed of around 20 knots and a
corresponding power required at the
propeller of approximately 26 MW. The
electrical power required for cargo
pumping and other consumers is
roughly 6 MW (when electrically driven
cargo pumps are used). The available
amount of natural boil-off-gas depends
on the ship design specification and
operating conditions. A natural boil-off
rate of 0.15 % per day is typically
considered as the design point
20 - Wrtsil
by Mika Laurilehto
General Manager,
Application Development,
Marine & Licensing
Wrtsil Corporation
Fig. 1 The LNG Carrier Al Hamra is equipped with
one Wrtsil Vasa 32 engine with an output of
2960 kW at 720 rpm.
Propulsion systems
for future LNG carriers
nowadays 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.
Similarly the gas composition varies
during the voyage. The nitrogen content
of the boil-off is high at the beginning of
the journey and decreases during the
trip. This means that the energy content
of the gas is not constant, a factor which
must be kept in mind when configuring
the propulsion system.
When converting the energy content
available in the boil-off gas into
mechanical power at the flywheel of a
modern dual-fuel gas engine, figures
ranging from 12 MW in a worst case up
to 25 MW in the best situation can be
calculated for the laden voyage. In
ballast conditions the figures are roughly
half of the above. This means that even
in the best case the natural boil-off
would not be enough to cope with the
energy consumption and either forced
boil-off or supplementary liquid fuel is
needed to make up the shortfall. The
selection of the supplementary fuel
depends on the result of a feasibility
study taking into account not only the
operating profile of the ship but also the
trends and effects of the unstable oil
price as well as the availability of liquid
fuel in the vicinity of the LNG terminals.
The following optional configurations
have been evaluated to offer the most
feasible propulsion plant for modern
LNG carriers.
Single-screw ship solutions:
l A single-screw, single two-stroke
main engine would be the simplest
solution. However, this arrangement
would not provide any redundancy
in case of failure. The use of
high-pressure gas as fuel in
two-stroke diesel engines has been
tested, but further development and
design would be necessary to make
it commercially available. The biggest
obstacle is the parasitic energy
consumption of the high-pressure
fuel gas compressor and the very
complex control system required.
l A single-screw twin two-stroke
option requires a large gear box and
elastic couplings and a CP propeller.
The use of high-pressure gas as fuel
has the same drawbacks mentioned
above.
l A single-screw twin four-stroke
diesel engine option requires a
moderate gear and couplings and a
CP propeller. High-pressure gas
would be used as fuel in such a
mechanical drive. The technology is
available and used in marine
(offshore) installations. A PTO and
shaft generator would probably not
be feasible owing to low load in port
Marine News - 21
for the running main engine
(electrical cargo pumps). The
drawback of high-pressure gas
operation is the same as described
above.
l A single-screw diesel-electric option
with FP propeller may be selected if
appropriate redundancy is built into
the electric motor or if two motors
coupled to a gearbox are used. With
electrical cargo pumps one diesel
generating set should be sufficient for
cargo operation. A feasible choice for
the power generation would be a
plant with, for example, four 9L46GD
high-pressure gas diesel engines. To
overcome the problems associated
with high-pressure gas operation an
alternative solution is to use
low-pressure gas operated engines as
prime movers. In this case the plant
would consist of four 9L50DF
dual-fuel lean burn engines, for
instance.
l A single-screw two-stroke main
engine with CP propeller and
tunnel gear to enable an electric
booster drive. Either dual-fuel lean
burn engines or high-pressure gas
diesel sets can be used (e.g.
3 x 6L46GD or 3 x 18V32GD or
3 x 18V32DF). The tunnel gears and
booster drives are available and
approved technology. However, the
system is rather expensive and
complicated.
2. Twin-screw solutions
l A twin-screw diesel-mechanical
solution could well compete with a
single-screw diesel-electric in fuel
consumption, offering also
redundancy, manoeuvrability and
lower investment costs in machinery.
Two direct coupled low-speed
engines could do the job, but they
would have CP propellers. Again the
gas would have to be delivered at
high pressure to the engines.
l A twin-screw diesel-mechanical
medium-speed solution could have
two (single-in-single-out gearbox) or
four engines (twin-in-single-out
gearbox). One main engine could
drive a primary generator suitable for
cargo operation, which leads to a
four-engine concept. When the gas
available during the ballast trip is also
taken into account the four-engine
solution is most feasible. Suitable
main engines would be, for example,
four 8L46GD high-pressure gas
diesels.
l A twin-screw diesel-electric system
can be configured with either
FP propellers or podded drives. Here
the propulsion plant could be based
on high-pressure gas diesels
(e.g. 4 x 9L46GD) or on lean burn
low-pressure dual-fuel engines
(e.g. 4 x 9L50DF).
l A single-screw low-speed main
engine with FP propeller
complemented by a podded drive
replacing the rudder. Considerable
propulsive efficiency gain is possible
using the contra-rotating propeller
principle. The main engine would
run on HFO and would cater for
approximately half of the required
propulsive power. The other half
would be provided by the podded
drive and a power plant consisting of
dual-fuel lean burn or high-pressure
gas diesel generating sets (e.g.
3 x 6L46GD or 3 x 18V32GD or
3 x 18V32DF).
Although high-pressure gas diesel
options have their undisputed merits in
offshore oil and gas production
installations they are not the best choice
for LNG carriers. In most offshore
installations the gas is available at
somewhat higher pressure and includes
heavier hydrocarbons and impurities.
Compressing the gas to high pressure
improves the quality of the gas and a
relatively small amount of power is
needed to boost the pressure to the level
suitable for the gas diesel. On the other
hand the pressure of the available
boil-off gas in an LNG carrier is
atmospheric and is in essence nearly
pure methane. Hence, a large
high-pressure compressor would be
necessary and would burden the system
with a high parasitic load (approximately
6 % of the power output of the engines).
The only considerable variation in
the boil-off gas composition is the
nitrogen content, which would not be
affected by compression. Nitrogen as
such is not harmful to the engine the
air that we and also the engines
normally breathe contains more than
78 % nitrogen. However, as it is an inert
22 - Wrtsil
alternator
alternator
alternator
Converters
Other consumers
Diesel generating sets
BOG
MDO
alternator
Electric
motors
Gearbox
Wrtsil
DF engine
Wrtsil
DF engine
Wrtsil
DF engine
Wrtsil
DF engine
M
M
Fig. 2 LNG carrier engine room equipped with four Wrtsil dual fuel (DF) gas engine electric propulsion
system.
gas and does not contribute to the
combustion, the energy content (heating
value) of the BOG is lower than that of
pure methane. The N content in the
vapour phase of the LNG can be as high
as 30 % in volume especially at the
beginning of the loaded trip. This is not
a problem for the Wrtsil dual-fuel
engine as the engines can be operated at
their nominal output without derating
for such a gas mixture.
Electric propulsion based on
dual-fuel gas engines
The approach Wrtsil considers most
feasible for LNG carriers is based on
electric propulsion where the prime
movers in the power plant are
four-stroke low-pressure dual-fuel gas
engines. The main arguments in the
comparison are high thermal efficiency
and safety as well as flexible and
efficient use of the installed machinery.
The selection of either single-screw or
twin-screw ship will be based on the
operating profile and redundancy
requirements specific for each project.
The number of engines and the
power output of each unit are
determined by the shaft power needed
and also by the degree of redundancy
requested. Generally speaking on a
typical 135,000 m
3
ship with the need for
approximately 30 MW total engine
output the power plant would consist of
four gas engine generating sets of the
Wrtsil 50DF type. The MCR output of
these engines is 950 kW/cylinder and
the thermal efficiency as high as 46.5 %!
The recommended plant would
consist of a combination of eight or nine
cylinder units. For example a plant with
four 9V46GD would provide nearly full
redundancy even if one of the engines
were out of service. On the other hand it
would also provide welcome flexibility
for the different operating modes such
as manoeuvring, waiting for port access,
loading and unloading.
Recent studies suggest that the most
beneficial solution to top up the need
for additional energy is to use forced
boil-off instead of fuel oil. This solution
in combination with dual-fuel engine
electric propulsion is economically
superior both in installation cost and
operation.
As the dual-fuel engine is operated
on low-pressure gas, between four and
five bar at the engine inlets, the fuel gas
compressor package is essentially
identical to the one already in use in the
current fleet equipped with steam boiler
and turbine propulsion. The main
difference is that the total efficiency of
an electric propulsion plant based on
dual-fuel engines is well above 40 %
compared to the reported 30 % or less of
the steam plant.
Moreover, flexible preventive
maintenance at sea and during port calls
is possible, which has not been the case
with the steam plant or with large single
two-stroke alternatives. Diesel-electric
propulsion technology is also available
today and has been proven in various
marine applications. Wrtsil dual-fuel
engines have accumulated a
considerable number of operating hours
in land-based installations and are
mature for marine installations. In other
words, everything is ready for taking the
next step towards modern, efficient LNG
carrier propulsion. n
Marine News - 23
Pilot fuel line
Pilot fuel injection valve
(combined)
Gas supply pipe
Nozzle pipes
Inlet channel
Gas admission valve
Fig. 3 Wrtsil DF engine cylinder head and fuel injection arrangement.
Wrtsil 32DF Wrtsil 50DF
Cylinder bore 320 mm 500 mm
Piston stroke 350 mm 580 mm
Engine speed 720/750 rpm 500/514 rpm
Mean piston speed 8.40/8.75 m/s 9.7/9.9 m/s
Mean effective pressure 19.9 bar 20.0/19.5 bar
Cylinder output 336/350 kW 950 kW
Cylinder configuration 4, 6, 8, 9 L 12, 16, 18 V 6, 8, 9 L 12, 16, 18 V
Table 1 Main data of the Wrtsil 32DF and Wrtsil 50DF engines.