Wärtsilä Dual-Fuel Technology in 100 LNG Carriers

The milestone was recently reached with the supply of an LNG carrier in a South Korean shipyard.

Finland's Wärtsilä Corporation (Wärtsilä) has announced their dual-fuel technology is now the choice of 100  LNG carriers, representing approximately one quarter of the current global fleet.

The Wärtsilä 50DF dual-fuel propulsion engine can be operated on either natural gas, light fuel oil (LFO) or heavy fuel oil (HFO) with the ability to switch between fuels seamlessly during operation  without any loss of power or speed, and is designed to have the same output regardless of the fuel used.

Launched in the early 1990s, the dual-fuel technology was originally used in land-based power plant applications with the first marine installation of the 50DF engine ocurring a decade later.

The global manufacturer claims that since the first LNG carrier was fitted with Wärtsilä 50DF engines in 2006, 65 percent of all new LNG Carriers have been fitted with their dual-fuel engines.

According to Lars Anderson, Vice President, Wärtsilä Ship Power, Merchant, the milestone confirms the viability of the engines as "they have demonstrated that they are a solid and reliable choice for owners and operators, enabling easy adaptation to different sailing patterns, in both arctic and tropical conditions, and to various operational profiles."

The company boasts the sales of roughly 720 DF engines resulting in the accumulation of more than 5 million running hours of experience with the technology being considered by owners and operators throughout the shipping industry.

In the cruise and ferry sector, the new Viking Line between Finland and Sweden will result in the largest ferry in the world operating on gas further expanding the growing awareness of the advantages in a sector often having to often operate in Emission Control Areas (ECAs).

Similarly, driven by a need for strict environmental regulation compliance as well as fuel efficienty and flexibility, vessels serving the offshore oil and gas industry are reportedly being fitted with Wärtsilä dual-fuel engines.

Wärtsilä has indicated that they expect environmental issues and fuel economy to drive the market in the future and for this reason they have expanded their merchant fleet equipment range to include solutions that address process efficiency and environmental compliance in an effort to be positioned as a leader across the ship power solutions industry.