WinGD

EXMAR announced this week that a WinGD dual-fuel ammonia engine has now been installed onboard the first of its under-construction vessels in South Korea. Ammonia-fueled ammonia carriers similar to EXMAR’s are currently being built in Korea, China, and Japan, with the first of these vessels to hit the water next year.

We explore recent, full-scale, dual-fuel engine testing results from leading maritime vendors such as MAN Energy Solutions and WinGD. Testing indicates negligible emissions of the potent GHG N₂O (which can be fully eliminated with catalytic treatment), and significantly lower NO_X emissions for engines running in ammonia mode, compared to running on fuel oil or diesel. Overall, compliance with IMO Tier II and III emission limits is well within reach for the first generation of ammonia-fueled maritime engines.

Alfa Laval has signed its first contract for its new ammonia fuel supply system, FCM Ammonia. The system will be installed onboard seven LPG/ammonia carriers being built in China, each featuring WinGD’s X-DF-A engine.

With commercial deployment scheduled to start this June, both WinGD and MAN ES’s under-development ammonia fueled engines have reported promising results across performance, ammonia safety and emissions optimisation parameters. MAN ES and MITSUI have also commenced a commercial-scale prototype test of the MITSUI-MAN ES large-bore, low-speed, two-stroke ammonia engine in Tamano, Japan.

During the recent 2024 Ammonia Energy Conference, we explored all the latest developments in ammonia-powered maritime propulsion. Engine makers reported strong progress ahead of deployment in 2026, the same year that large-scale vessels will hit the water. The panel explored early operations for the ammonia-powered A-Tug in Japan, as well as ancillary technology systems required for maritime ammonia engines, catalyst after-treatment systems for emission mitigation, and the potential for fuel additives to boost ammonia engine performance.

Ahead of the 3rd Symposium on Ammonia Energy in Shanghai next month, we take the opportunity to highlight select papers and key results from the first two editions, starting with the 2022 Cardiff event:

• In an ammonia-diesel blending study, Orleans University and WinGD found that minimising the diesel fraction actually led to increased N₂O emissions.
• In a bid to produce an optimal ammonia-hydrogen fuel blend, a University of Birmingham team characterised the ammonia cracking mechanism of a new, transition metal-promoted lithium amide catalyst.
• A KAUST study of swirl intensity of an ammonia-methane blended fuel finds that increasing the swirl number leads to a more compact flame, reducing NO_X emissions.
• A team from the University of Minnesota found that combustion durations comparable to gasoline were obtained for ammonia-hydrogen fuel blends.
• And, as part of a joint academic-industry session on safety, it was recommended that a careful, proactive approach is taken towards new ammonia users, likely exposure risk points and deploying maritime ammonia fuel.

MAN Energy Solutions has announced that the first SCR catalytic converter for a marine ammonia engine has passed factory tests and been delivered to Japan. Produced in China by stainless steel specialists BUTTING, the unit is designed to significantly reduce NOx emissions from ammonia combustion engines.

EXMAR’s two new Midsize Gas Carriers will be built at the Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in South Korea and fitted with ammonia dual-fuel engines. WinGD will supply the engines for the vessels, which are on track for delivery in early 2026.

Expected to become commercially available in 2025, WinGD’s X-DF-A ammonia powered engines will be fitted on Samsung Heavy Industries’ newbuild vessels. Eastern Pacific Shipping expects its ammonia powered Newcastlemaxes and VLAC fleet to be delivered from 2026 onwards, after signing a series of agreements with MAN Energy Solutions and other key partners.

A new MoU between WinGD and Mitsubishi Shipbuilding will see the deployment of WinGD’s X-DF-A ammonia-fueled engines to a range of vessels. In Norway, Wärtsilä has unveiled a safety system designed for continuous onboard monitoring of ammonia leaks, featuring a staged combustion process to deal with accidental releases. And classification society DNV has awarded AiP to two significant ammonia-fueled vessel designs: the MS NoGAPs, and Viridis Bulk Carriers’ short sea bulk carrier.

This week we explore four announcements in the maritime ammonia space:

• Færder Tankers Norway will receive $20 million in Enova funding to develop two ammonia-powered vessel designs: a tanker and a car carrier.
• Mitsubishi Shipbuilding has completed a conceptual design for an LPG-ammonia dual-fuel VLGC, with Approval in Principle granted by ClassNK.
• Delivery dates have been set for the first eight of Höegh Autoliners’ Aurora-class, ammonia-powered car carriers, with China Merchants Heavy Industry to deliver vessels from late 2024.
• WinGD and Hyundai Heavy Industries will collaborate to deliver the first WinGD two-stroke engine capable of running on ammonia by 2025.