Wärtsilä will supply three more Compact Reliq reliquefaction plants to Norway-based Knutsen OAS Shipping. This brings the total number of orders for the same customer to eight, with two having been ordered in 2020, and a further three in 2021. The systems are being installed on eight new LNG carrier vessels being built for Knutsen OAS at the Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) yard in South Korea. The latest order with Wärtsilä was placed in June 2022.
The Compact Reliq solution is based on the well-proven reversed nitrogen Brayton cycle refrigeration technology. The solution is designed to reliquefy the boil-off gas (BOG) from gas carriers and LNG bunker vessels, and for keeping the cargo cool under all operating conditions. It allows a portion of the BOG to be used as fuel for the ship’s engines, with the excess able to be sold as part of the LNG cargo.
“We are expanding our fleet of LNG carriers and having them fitted with Wärtsilä Compact Reliq, nitrogen as cooling medium is safe and simplifies the operation,” explained Jarle Østenstad, new-building director, Knutsen OAS Group. “In addition we expect less maintenance due to the oil free magnetic bearing compressors.”
“These orders strengthen even more our relationship with both Knutsen OAS and HHI,” said Lasse Bergerud-Wichstrøm, sales manager, Wärtsilä Gas Solutions. “The Compact Reliq is a system that perfectly meets the needs of the market, and these orders are a clear endorsement of that fact.”
The Compact Reliq solution uses safe and easily obtainable commercial grade nitrogen. It is instrumented for remote monitoring and online operational support as part of Wärtsilä’s Operational Performance Improvement and Monitoring (OPERIM) program.