The L/V 32/44CR methanol-ready engine from MAN has been granted an approval in principle (AiP) certificate by classification society RINA. To enable greater flexibility for vessel owners, the AiP also covers an upgrade concept for the engine, allowing conversion to dual-fuel running on methanol.
When used as a fuel, methanol offers several advantages including ease of handling when compared to gaseous fuels, and reduced NOx emissions when combusted. Methanol also gives off no SOx and no soot emissions and is much less harmful to marine life than conventional fuels.
MAN Energy Solutions is continuing to develop other solutions for methanol, which can become carbon neutral if synthesized with green hydrogen. The AiP certificate from RINA permits the use of outer ship hulls as bunker tanks to increase the fuel storage capacity on board.
“This AiP is based on our recently published Methyl Alcohol Fuelled Ready notation,” said Patrizio Di Francesco, EMEA special projects manager, RINA. “Methanol is a fuel with a lot of potential as a clean, carbon-neutral fuel and the industry is already showing concrete appreciation of it. The successful cooperation with MAN is a further step towards the availability of futureproof solutions for shipowners.”
“This approval by RINA is significant as we move towards net zero,” explained Elvis Ettenhofer, head of new marine solutions, MAN Energy Solutions. “A major advantage of our four-stroke portfolio is its inherent retrofit potential, which enables us to provide shipowners with cost-effective solutions and flexibility regarding future fuels. In this latter respect, there is no doubt but that interest in methanol is growing and that it will have a prominent role to play within shipping.”
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