Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
LNG COMES
OF AGE
T E X T: S A M I A N T E R O I N E N P H OTO S : W RTS I L
I
n the marine industry, liquefied natural gas (LNG) When running in gas mode, the Viking Energys
as a fuel is still sometimes mentioned as a novel emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOX) are 85 % lower than
technology, even though platform supply vessels in diesel operation. The dramatic reduction is possi-
have long been using it. The worlds first LNG-pow- ble because the Wrtsil engines operate on the lean-
ered supply vessel, the Viking Energy, hit the waves in burn principle: the mixture of air and gas in the cylin-
April 2003. The Statoil-chartered vessel has been deliv- der contains more air than is needed for complete com-
ering supplies to oil and gas platforms in the North bustion. Lean combustion reduces peak temperatures,
Sea ever since. so the formation of NOX drops a great deal.
There is no denying that the Viking Energy was well Sulphur oxide (SOX) emissions are completely elimi-
ahead of its time. When Norways Eidesvik Offshore nated because LNG contains no sulphur. And since nat-
ASA began planning a new platform supply vessel with ural gas contains less carbon per unit of energy than
Wrtsil Ship Design, there was intense focus on sus- liquid fuels, emissions of CO2 are also lowered. Natu-
tainability and minimizing exhaust gas emissions. ral gas has no residuals, and the production of partic-
Terje Nordtun, Team Leader, System Engineering at ulates is practically zero.
Wrtsil, says that the design process was longer than
usual. The design team was heading into uncharted GAS ALL THE WAY
waters with this project. Nordtun admits that, since the Viking Energy is a
Getting the design concept approved by DNV and dual-fuel installation, he is constantly being asked how
the Norwegian Maritime Directorate took extra time, much it actually runs on gas. The answer is: almost
because the rules for ships powered by LNG were not in all the time.
place yet. In fact, they were developed during the proc- Eidesvik tell us that the use of gas is close to 100
ess. The new ship was built by Kleven Verft in Norway. percent. Gas mode is the normal operational mode.
The engines perform very well on gas during Dynamic
DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE Positioning operations and severe weather conditions
In the end, the Viking Energy was fitted with four in the North Sea.
6-cylinder Wrtsil 32DF dual-fuel engines, meaning Diesel mode is only required during LNG refuelling
that the engines can also use diesel oil as a backup or certain minor preventive maintenance operations.
fuel. This adds fuel flexibility into the mix. The switch Another strength of the Viking Energy is how
between fuels is conducted automatically, without smoothly she runs for a completely new system. In 10
any loss of power. The safe operation of the vessel is years of operation not a single hour of technical off-
ensured at all times. hire has been caused by the gas system.
66 Twentyfour7. 1.13
in detail
ASTONISHINGLY
SMOOTH
OPERATION
FOR A
COMPLETELY
NEW SYSTEM
Thats no small feat, since the average running hours five years for the Viking Queen (2008) to be launched,
for each of the dual-fuel engines onboard is about followed by the Viking Lady (2009) and the Skandi
40,000 hours at the ten-year mark. The total running Gamma (2011).
time for all four engines, then, is a staggering 160,000 The breakthrough year for LNG was 2012, with as
hours without as much as a bump in the road. many as four dual-fuel supply vessels starting oper-
ations: the Normand Arctic, the Viking Prince, the
PRACTICALLY PERFECT Olympic Energy and the Viking Princess. All in all,
Terje Nordtun confirms that this sort of flawlessness is this means that Wrtsil has amassed an impressive
not something usually seen on new ship types. record: nine dual-fuel engine Platform Supply Ves-
There were a few minor technical issues on the sels in nine years.
dual-fuel engines during the first couple of years but, Waiting in the pipeline are eight more PSVs, five
as this is a multiengine installation, it did not inter- for Harvey Gulf alone. In November 2012, when Siem
fere with the vessels operation. placed an order, the number of LNG-powered PSVs
Proving that the concept is solid, her sister vessel, reached 19. Wrtsil has supplied dual-fuel machin-
the Stril Pioner, has also enjoyed a trouble-free dec- ery for 17 of these.
ade. Launched a few months after the Viking Energy, This means that so far we have delivered our dual-
the Stril Pioner is owned by Simon Mkster Rederi. fuel solutions to 89% of LNG-powered PSVs. Wrtsil
When the scavenging air channels were inspected really is the market leader, Nordtun says.
onboard the Viking Energy, it was noted how clean the
air channel was. When engines run on gas, combus- MINIMISING METHANE SLIP
tion is very clean with little soot formation. Looking back at the first LNG decade for supply ves-
Clean combustion has a positive impact on mainte- sels, one thing that has greatly improved is managing
nance of the engine cylinder liners/covers. The main- methane slip. In 2003, when the Viking Energy was
tenance interval can be longer than for liquid fuel launched, methane slip was not yet on the agenda.
operation. Created by gas engines that allow a small fraction
of the fuel to go through unburned, methane slip is a
LNG CATCHING ON grave concern. Unfortunately, the problem of meth-
With such a successful technology, it is no wonder that ane slip is present in all Otto-cycle engines, both dual-
orders for LNG-powered supply vessels have started fuel and spark-ignited. To combat this, Wrtsil has
piling up. However, there was a wait-and-see period executed a research and development programme that
after the Viking Energy and the Stril Pioneer. It took has shown good results. All the latest dual-fuel engines
1.13 Twentyfour7. 67
MARINE
TO BE USED IN
Other challenges have also been faced and over- pulsion, with each screw powered by a 6-cylinder in-
come in the past ten years. Initially LNG vessels suf- line Wrtsil 46 engine running on heavy fuel oil
fered from close to non-existent LNG bunkering infra- (HFO). After the make-over, the ship runs on 6-cylin-
THOUSANDS OF structure. Nordtun says that the winds of change are
blowing now.
der in-line Wrtsil 50DF dual-fuel engines that oper-
ate on LNG.
68 Twentyfour7. 1.13