Germany’s MAN Energy Solutions plans to start testing the commercial ME-GA dual-fuel engine design by the end of this year, followed by the first delivery in early 2022.
MAN has demonstrated the low-speed engine designed for LNG/fuel-oil running at a ceremony live-streamed from its Copenhagen Research Centre on Thursday.
Moreover, the new engine is an Otto-cycle variant of the company’s ME-GI engine.
“As its pre-mixed combustion results in low NOx emissions, the ME-GA engine is inherently Tier II and Tier III compliant in gas-operation mode,” Volkswagen’s MAN said.
To fully utilise its dual-fuel potential in Tier III areas, MAN will offer the engine with Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR).
Wayne Jones, MAN’s chief sales officer, said the firm “initiated this ME-GA project in late 2017 when we recognised a strong market desire for a lower-cost alternative to the ME-GI engine, driven primarily by the LNG carrier market.”
“Crucially, this new supplement to our dual-fuel portfolio continues our mission to decarbonise shipping and further the maritime energy transition to sustainable fuels,” he said.
MAN said that its portfolio of two-stroke, dual-fuel engines has accumulated over 1.6 million operating hours from the 155 engines (6.3 GW) currently in service.
Furthermore, all of these engines run on fuels such as LNG, LPG, ethane and methanol.
With fuel prices and availability currently in flux, MAN expects the option of retrofitting to dual-fuel engines to “increasingly become a necessity,” the firm said.