Engine designer MAN Energy Solutions has initiated a project with consortium partners to develop a dual-fuel, medium-speed engine capable of running on diesel fuel and ammonia
Called ’AmmoniaMot’ (Ammonia Engine in German), the MAN Energy Solutions-led project aims to define the steps necessary to produce a dual-fuel, medium-speed engine capable of running on diesel-fuel and ammonia.
Supported by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, and due to run for three years from December 2020, project partners include the University of Munich, Neptun Ship Design, WTZ and Woodward L’Orange.
MAN Energy Solutions head of R&D, four-stroke engineering Dr Alexander Knafl said “For us, the path to decarbonising the maritime economy starts with fuel-decarbonisation and, in this context, ammonia is an excellent candidate in that it is carbon-free and eminently green when produced from renewable electricity sources.”
MAN Energy Solutions, four-stroke R&D, head of combustion development Christian Kunkel pointed out that with DNV forecasting ammonia to represent a 30% market share of the maritime fuel market by 2050, “there is a general need for successful engine projects to display ammonia’s viability. There is little doubt that ammonia will become an important carbon-free energy carrier and thus will contribute to decarbonising the maritime sector.” Added Mr Kunkel, “The AmmoniaMot project will deliver the base for future, commercial, four-stroke engines, which will be key in legitimising ammonia as a fuel and furthering the maritime energy transition.”
The University of Munich (TUM) will employ a rapid-compression expansion machine to establish the fundamentals concerning the combustion of ammonia and will develop, together with MAN, the combustion models necessary for fast adaption of the technology to different engine sizes.
German ship designer Neptun Ship Design (NSD) will analyse international regulations to ensure technical and safety requirements in an encapsulated, modularised fuel system. Such scalable components are a prerequisite for the introduction of ammonia engines in shipping. A prototype of the fuel system itself will be used on the test engine at privately held energy conversion research firm WTZ. NSD will work in close co-operation with MAN to develop a roadmap regarding which steps are necessary to use ammonia engines with ancillary systems in new ships and conversions.
WTZ will utilise a high-speed test engine to develop a combustion concept for the new engine. This will be done in close collaboration with MAN and will also form the basis for defining any requirements for exhaust-gas aftertreatment.
Injection systems manufacturer Woodward L’Orange will produce the injection system for the ammonia tests at TUM and WTZ. Together with MAN, the technology will be scaled up to large, four-stroke engines in the project.
MAN Energy Solutions will transfer the technology to large-bore, four-stroke engines and prepare for commercial development and production.
This project announcement builds on other work underway at MAN Energy Solutions in Copenhagen. MAN Energy Solutions two-stroke business has already announced that it will deliver ammonia-fuelled, slow-speed engines to shipyards by 2024.
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