The new four-stroke MAN 6L 49/60DF is methanol and LNG ready (source: MAN ES)
Addressing CO2 emissions from the existing global fleet will be critical for shipping to meet IMO’s ambitious decarbonisation targets by 2030 and 2050
One of the important legs of the stool underpinning decarbonisation is engine technology. During a live and virtual event, MAN Energy Solutions provided an up close and detailed look including a testbed demonstration of one of its newest dual-fuel engines it believes will play an important role in helping the existing fleet to reduce CO2 emissions.
The event highlighted the fuel flexibility, efficiency and adaptability of the methanol- and LNG-ready dual-fuel MAN 49/60DF, launched at SMM 2022 in Hamburg in September.
Available in in-line configuration with six to 10 cylinders or V configurations of 12 or 14 cylinders, the MAN 49/60DF engine features a power range of 8 to 18 MW at 600 rpm. Dual fuel is perhaps a bit of a misnomer as the engine will be capable of operating on methanol, LNG, marine diesel oil, HFO and B40 biodiesel. Scheduled for type-approval in March 2023, the engine is available for commercial orders now, with cruise, ropax and LNG shipping among the primary vessel markets. MAN Energy Solutions anticipates 15-month delivery times, meaning the first newbuild or retrofit would be in 2025.
By its own account, MAN Energy Solutions said its engine products are used in more than 50% of global shipping. “Now is the time to act,” notes MAN Energy Solutions chief executive Uwe Lauber. “The shipping industry is responsible for around about 3 to 4% of the global CO2 emissions and with the new technology [we are highlighting] today you are going to address that. Why? Because more than 50% of the shipping industry is being made with our technology.” MAN Energy Solutions estimates 25,000 existing vessels have its engines, which produce about 2% of shipping’s CO2 emissions.
Methane slip, always a bugbear for gas engines, is reduced by 50% as compared with the MAN 51/60 engine. MAN Energy Solutions expects to introduce a methane catalyst that will be retrofittable.
The MAN 49/60DF can start in gas mode where it complies with IMO Tier III without secondary measures. In diesel mode, it complies with Tier III combined with MAN’s SCR system.
The engine’s benchmark efficiency and fuel-flexible design offers multiple paths to emissions compliancy leading up to 2050, as per the current Fuel EU draft.
In 2023, MAN Energy Solutions plans to introduce a pure diesel engine based on the 49/60 platform that will allow a shipowner to retrofit for running on methanol and LNG at a future date.
“Efficiency is critical because of the cost of fuel,” noted MAN Energy Solution global sales and after sales executive board member Wayne Jones OBE.
The new engine’s efficiency was highlighted by MAN Energy Solutions head of four-stroke marine and license Marita Krems, who said the MAN 49/60DF had a 51.5% efficiency in gas mode at 85% load, while yielding a specific fuel consumption that was 4% less than its predecessor.
Among the new technologies in the engine making this possible are two-stage turbocharging, second-generation common-rail fuel injection, SaCoS5000 automation system and MAN’s next generation Adaptive Combustion Control ACC 2.0 that automatically sets combustion to optimum levels.
