Mitsui E&S and licensor MAN Energy Solutions (MAN ES) have announced the hydrogen combustion operation of a large marine 2-stroke test engine with a bore size of 50cm – a world first, according to the partners.
One of the four cylinders of the test engine 4S50ME-T (output 7MW, rated speed 117 rpm, MEP = 2.10 MPa) was converted to a hydrogen operation, based on the LNG-fired ME-GI engine design, and high-pressure hydrogen gas was supplied from the hydrogen gas supply facility (liquid hydrogen tank, hydrogen gas compressor, etc.) completed in October last year. The coupling operation was successfully conducted with this test engine at 100% load without any problems such as hydrogen leakage, at Mitsui E&S’s Tamano Factory in Japan.
In this 100% engine load operation using hydrogen fuel, which ignites easily and requires proper combustion control, the partners succeeded in covering the equivalent of 95% of the heat value with hydrogen fuel, and the cylinder pressure curve was equivalent to that of the other three cylinders operated with conventional fuel. The companies also confirmed that the hydrogen gas supply facility is capable of the stable supply of high-pressure hydrogen required from the engine.
This initiative uses the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism subsidy project Maritime Industry Aggregation and Coordination Promotion Technology Development Support Project, which was adopted jointly with Daihatsu Diesel in fiscal 2021.
Looking ahead, the companies plan to acquire technologies and know-how related to the storage, supply and use of hydrogen through the development of hydrogen fuel propulsion system technologies and hydrogen supply infrastructure-related technologies.
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