STX Offshore & Shipbuilding, the South Korean shipbuilder, recently delivered the ‘Castillo de Santisteban’ to Empresa Naviera Elcano, the globally active Spanish shipping group. Five MAN dual-fuel 8L51/60DF engines will power the 300-metre long LNG carrier with each delivering 8,000 kW at 514 rpm. The newbuilding has been assigned by her charterer, Spanish energy company Repsol – Gas Natural LNG (Stream), to the Peruvian Camisea/Pampa Melchorita gas project, the first natural-gas liquefaction plant in South America. The carrier has a carrying capacity of 173,600 m3 LNG.
Klaus Deleroi, Senior Vice President, MAN Diesel & Turbo SE, said: “When it comes to ship-propulsion technology, the future is gas. Not only for LNG carriers, but also for cargo vessels, ferries and even cruise liners. Knowing this, it is important for MAN Diesel & Turbo to have a strong reference already at sea with our new 51/60 dual-fuel engine, and that is exactly what we have with the Castillo de Santisteban.”
The Castillo de Santisteban recently passed extensive gas and sea trials before the hand-over to its owner. Its entry into active service represents a milestone for MAN Diesel & Turbo in that the order for the ship’s dual-fuel engines, registered in 2007, was the very first received for this engine type. The engine is especially designed for propulsion systems for LNG carriers and gas-fuelled ships, and focuses on the safety requirements stipulated by classification societies for gas operation.
The LNG Carrier’s new propulsion system is designed to give the vessel a higher degree of redundancy in terms of maintenance while sailing, and takes advantage of the 51/60DF engine’s multiple fuelling options, MAN Diesel & Turbo states.
The 8L51/60DF engines were built at MAN Diesel & Turbo’s own works in Germany. They can run on gaseous (for example, vaporised LNG) or liquid fuels of a wide range of qualities (HFO/MDO/MGO) and have low emission levels.
At 1.5 g/kWh (IMO cycle E2) in gaseous-fuel operating mode, the 51/60DF already complies with future IMO Tier-III limits for NOx by a considerable margin without the need for exhaust-gas treatment or any other countermeasures.
The MAN 51/60DF engine
MAN Diesel & Turbo’s 51/60DF dual-fuel engine offers a market-leading 1,000 kW/cylinder output at 514 rpm for 60-Hz generator sets in both its gaseous and liquid-fuel operating modes. For marine applications, it is offered in inline versions with 6, 7, 8 and 9 cylinders and V- configuration versions with 12, 14, 16, and 18 cylinders in a power range from 6,000 to 18,000 kW.
MAN’s new engine model uses the ‘common-rail’ micro-pilot fuel-injection system for liquid fuel that is necessary when running on gas to ignite the air-gas mixture. This system ensures independent control of injection timing, injection pressure and injection volume.
When running on liquid fuel, the 51/60DF works with a conventional fuel-injection system, injecting the fuel oil through a separate main fuel injector in a camshaft-actuated pump-line-nozzle system. The fuel injection control is integrated within the engine’s SaCoSone (Safety and Control System).
SaCoSone
The SaCoSone safety and control system allows safe engine operation in both liquid and gas mode with optimal fuel consumption and exhaust-gas emissions. In gas-mode, the system controls the various parameters for each cylinder independently, including air/fuel ratio, load, valve timing, pilot-fuel injection and charge-air temperature. This facilitates an optimal combustion while allowing operation within a wide range of the air/fuel ratio and avoiding incomplete-ignition failures, misfiring and knocking.
About Elcano
Empresa Naviera Elcano, S.A is based in Madrid and engaged in the shipping of bulk products, both solid – such as coal, ore and grain – and liquid – such as LNG, LPG, oil, oil products and chemical products. The Spanish company is the parent of an international shipping group with subsidiaries in Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina among other countries. Elcano was founded in 1942 and manages its own fleet of 27 vessels.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Game changing plays at the LNG Shipping Summit 2012
LNG Shipping Frontrunners Meet at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore on 26-27 April 2012 to discuss IGF codes, growth of Chinese shipbuilders and fight for LNG shipping control in the face of tripling orders for new carrier designs
Singapore (4 April 2012) – Increasing environmental pressure, few qualified ships, bunkering system, regulatory uncertainty, growth of Chinese shipbuilders and the impact of the Great East Earthquake exacerbate the challenges faced by the LNG shipping industry. LNG transportation front runners gather at LNG Shipping Summit 2012 in Marina Bay Sands, on 26-27 April 2012 to limn the issues surrounding the LNG shipping business that allow industry not to speculate but have an informed decision on managing the business.
2012 marks the growth of LNG shipping industry, resulting largely from the growth of Chinese and Japanese demand for this cleaner fuel, surging 66 percent to 5.5 million tons last year from a year earlier, now believed to rise to 25 million metric tons and 39 per cent at 5.19 million metric tons of LNG last month, up from 3.73 million tons a year earlier, respectively.
LNG is one of the few profitable sectors in the shipping industry, in contrast to dry bulk and tanker markets, which continue to suffer from oversupply and funding difficulties. About 104 ships are now on order according to MOL, world’s largest fleet owner who will be present at the LNG Shipping 2012 International Conference.
“The supply and demand factors in LNG industry do not concern industry players as much,” says Frank Mercado, Director at Center for Energy Sustainability and Economics, “Transportation is the issue for many LNG players we have interviewed, concerned whether there will be enough compliant LNG ships as emission regulations for all ships continue to tighten.”
Another challenge is the LNG bunker supply and demand. LNG bunker suppliers rely on demand to develop the supply infrastructure, while operators and owners require a supply before investing in a vessel that relies on that supply. In addition, the costs of bunkering an LNG vessel are not necessarily known as there is not a large existing market for small volumes of LNG to be used on gas fuelled ships.” The cost and availability of alternatives to ordinary heavy fuel oil, including LNG, potentially will change over the coming decade. All of this has to be weighed against the relative capital expenditure among competing fuel type concepts,” reports ABS.
Chairing the LNG Shipping Summit on 26-27 April 2012 is LNG shipping veteran Kenneth Wilson, principal of K C Wilson and Associates. He will further highlight the impact of the Great East Earthquake on the shipping industry as Japan replaces its lost nuclear power.
The summit will also discuss the rise of the Chinese shipbuilders as well as the use of LNG as ship fuel in the face of stricter environmental codes. Using LNG as ship fuel will reduce sulphur oxide (SOx) emissions, which are created when using fuel with a high sulphur content, by between 90% and 95%. This reduction level will become mandatory within the so-called Emission Control Areas (ECAs) from 2015. A similar reduction will be enforced for worldwide shipping from 2020 on, pending a review at the IMO.
Learn more about LNG Shipping 2012 at: http://www.arcmediaglobal.com/lngshipping
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