Innovation Fund Denmark, the Danish investment entity, has announced the establishment of a consortium to develop a two-stroke, ammonia-fuelled engine for maritime shipping. It aims to specify and demonstrate an entire, marine-propulsion system that will pave the way for the first commercial order for an ammonia-fuelled vessel.
MAN Energy Solutions will lead the consortium that also numbers: Eltronic FuelTech, the Danish fuel-system supplier; the Technical University of Denmark (DTU); and DNV GL, the leading classification society. Development of the engine is scheduled for 2024.
Brian Østergaard Sørensen. Vice President, Head of Research & Development, Two-Stroke at MAN Energy Solutions, said: “MAN Energy Solutions has spoken in favour of a maritime energy transition in shipping for many years now and we understand the need to work with a wide group of industry partners to develop sustainable solutions. Ammonia is a fuel with a lot of potential and yet another, important step towards decarbonising the marine market. We already have a convincing track-record in developing engines running on alternative fuels – having developed the world’s first 2-stroke engines driven respectively by methanol, ethane and LPG – and have great expectations for this project.”
Project aims
As a marine fuel, ammonia has the potential to decarbonise the marine industry. The project aims to demonstrate – at full-scale – a large marine engine running on ammonia at MAN Energy Solutions’ test facility, Research Centre Copenhagen. The project comprises three main stages:
1. Concept development and initial design of an ammonia engine.
2. Design of an ammonia fuel-supply system.
3. Full-scale testing.