Next generation short-sea ship dual-fuel engine and propulsion retrofit technologies

Project Information

SeaTech

Grant agreement ID: 857840

DOI

10.3030/857840

Project closed

EC signature date 4 May 2020

Start date 1 June 2020

End date 30 November 2023

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 6 478 472,25

EU contribution

€ 4 999 243,00

Coordinated by

WARTSILA NETHERLANDS BV
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SeaTech (Next generation short-sea ship dual-fuel engine and propulsion retrofit technologies)

Reporting period: 2021-12-01 to 2023-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The SeaTech consortium is proposing to develop two symbiotic ship engine and propulsion innovations, that when combined, lead to an increase of 30% in fuel efficiency and radical emission reductions of 99% for NOx, 99% for SOx, 46% for CO2 and 94% for particulate matter.

The innovations will be characterized by high retrofitability, maintainability and offer ship owners a return-on-investment of 400% due to fuel and operational cost savings. The proposed renewable-energy-based propulsion innovation is the bio-mimetic dynamic wing mounted at the ship bow to augment ship propulsion in moderate and higher sea states, capturing wave energy, producing extra thrust and damping ship motions. The proposed power generation innovation is based on the idea of achieving ultra-high energy conversion efficiency by precisely controlling the auto-ignition of the fuel mixture at every operating point of the engine for achieving radically reduced emissions.

The ultimate objective of the project is to upscale both technologies, demonstrate them in relevant environment and finally model the expected complementarities and synergy effects of deploying both innovations on a short-sea vessel scenario by extrapolating demonstration data with the help of a bespoke Advanced Data Analytics Framework.

Main objectives are:
1) Develop the full-scale engine innovation and validate relevant environmental performance in reducing NOx, SOx, PM and CO2
2) Develop the dynamic wing innovation and validate fuel savings potential, including feasibility of the retractable design
3) Conduct life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) and operational and reliability requirements of the engine innovation
4) Conduct the LCCA, assess reliability and maintainability of the dynamic wing in variety of operational conditions
5) Build a bespoke Advanced Data Analytics Framework (ADAF) to integrate and process various data types from the wing/engine innovations and industrial processes, ultimately allowing for mathematical modelling of the combined performance of both innovations in the next step
6) Demonstrate the technical, economic and environmental synergies of the engine and dynamic wing innovation in a short-sea scenario from a lifecycle perspective
7) Disseminate the project outcomes and facilitate take-up by key stakeholders.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Activities related to the engine innovation involves applying a novel combustion concept for Dual Fuel medium speed gas engine mode on prototype engines and for its further validation for future market introduction.
The basic principle is to achieve very fast and ultra-lean cold combustion by controlling the air-gas mixture self-ignition point, adjusting the compression end temperature and the air-gas mixture reactivity in every specific engine operating point. We have successfully developed and validated this innovation and released it for sales under the name of W31DF Enviropac engine.

Facilitating engine innovation in SEATECH, Liewenthal Electronics has re-worked the FPGA firmware development workflow for the control modules in charge of cylinder operation and monitoring. The improved workflow enables developers to spend remarkably less time on manually translating the system requirements and MATLAB Simulink models into FPGA source code. Instead, much of the process has now been automated as a result of architectural changes in firmware, combined with the integration of a commercially available tool capable of automatic model-to-code translation.
Apart from planning, implementing and verifying the needed firmware changes, Liewenthal Electronics has also written a user guide for Wärtsilä FPGA engineers working on cylinder control functionality to effectively apply the new workflow in daily development.
Overall, contribution from Liewenthal Electronics has helped significantly reduce FPGA development time, thus increasing schedule and cost efficiency of engine innovation.

The bio-mimetic dynamic wing innovation has undergone testing with small ship models in both wave tank laboratories, to better evaluate the performance depending on wave height, type, and direction. A 10 meter large-scale model was constructed and tested in real sea conditions in the Aegean Sea.

Utkilen AS has supplied the project with empirical data from a selected vessel within their fleet, detailing its performance in real-world operational conditions. Additionally, Utkilen AS contributed with domain expertise in the operation and maintenance of chemical tankers in Northern Europe.

A full Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) has been made comparing current state of the art ship technology compared with a vessel equipped with the SeaTech innovations. The calculations include both newbuild, retrofit and whole lifecycle costs. Operational data of each innovation has been collected into an Advanced Data Analytics Framework (ADAF), which is made publicly available for future research use.

All outcomes and progress, including all conference papers and journal articles, have been collected on our website at seatech2020.eu.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Progress beyond the state of the art was shown mostly in the work packages developing the two key technologies; the engine innovation aimed at ultra-low emissions and also the bio-mimetic wing development. Details of the latter are included in publications stemming from the project.

Expected results at the end of the project include the engine innovation demonstrated to work well at radically reducing part-load engine emissions and lower part-load energy consumption. For the bio-mimetic wing, the aim is to have the technology demonstrated at sea and to have a clear view of the conceptual design for a possible full-scale system. Using the ADAF, we will show the viability of both innovations combined, including their financial impact on shipowners' operations.

If succesfull, the SeaTech project envisages to commercialize both symbiotic innovations in the European and Asian short-sea market, followed by the adjacent deep-sea market. Assuming only 10% of EU short-sea vessels would be retrofitted with SeaTech, this would result in CO2 savings of 32.5 million tons annually, which equals the emissions of 200.000 passenger cars/year. Further impact includes savings of EUR 85.2 billion in health and climate change damages due to lower emissions, the creation of +100 jobs at the project partners with a cumulative net profit of EUR 820 million in the first 5 years post-commercialisation, and the indirect creation of 250 new jobs in the EU shipyard industry.

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