Dual-fuel engine demand is growing, says Cat.
Under a European co-financed Joint Industry Project (JIP) ‘LNG-CONV’, Caterpillar Marine is carrying out a dual-fuel engine retrofit conversion onboard the vessel Fure West, part of Furetank Rederi AB’s fleet. The onboard MaK™ M 43 C diesel engine will be retrofitted in hull to a 7 cylinder M 46 dual-fuel platform, with each cylinder offering 900 kW of rated power.
Additionally, Caterpillar is also supplying the complete gas system for the tanker, including bunker stations, 2x LNG tanks measuring 4.15 meters by 24 meters and the vaporizer.
The LNG-CONV project group will closely follow the different stages from technology implementation at the yard via bunkering to the operating start to add to the body of knowledge for this growing sector strategy. Project completion is planned for end 2015.
In 2014, Caterpillar successfully completed the dual-fuel engine retrofit conversion on the Anthony Veder Coral Anthelia LNG carrier. “We’re pleased to continue to build upon our successful track record of dual-fual conversions in the commercial marine industry and offer an increased scope of supply to our customers,” Finn Vogler, Caterpillar Marine senior engineer noted. “We have a market-ready technology available that our commercial marine customers can be completely confident in and after our success onboard the Coral Anthelia, we have seen the demand for MaK dual fuel solutions increase substantially.”
Although designed for unlimited operation on LNG, marine diesel oil and heavy fuel oil, the M 46 DF will reach industry-leading efficiency in gas mode. The M 46 DF was strategically engineered to allow for the retrofitting of current M 43 C engines. Additionally, existing M 32 E engines can be retrofitted to the MaK M 34 DF dual fuel platform. As a result of the synergies between the two platforms, Caterpillar can perform in hull retrofit conversions without having to move the engine block or perform extensive machining.
(Source: Caterpillar Marine)
