The Wartsila Dual-Fuel Engine

The latest gas engines introduced to the Wartsila family are the Wartsila 32DF and Wartsila 50DF engines. Wartsila successfully completed the factory acceptance test of the first Wartsila 50DF engine in a series of four dual-fuel engines for a 74,000 cu. m.

LNG carrier. The vessel is currently under construction at the French shipyard Chantiers de l'Atlantique for the French gas holding company Gaz de France.

Due for delivery in 2004, it will be powered by four Wartsila 6L50DF dual-fuel engine generating sets which will meet all the ship's propulsion and shipboard electrical requirements. The Wartsila 6L50DF engines each develop 5,700 kW at 514 rpm.

The new engines have a four-stroke working cycle and can be run alternatively in gas mode or liquidfueled diesel mode. In gas mode they run as a leanburn engine according to the Otto cycle. Ignition is initiated by injecting a small amount of diesel oil (pilot fuel), giving a high-energy ignition source for the main fuel gas charge in the cylinder. The 'micropilot' injection system uses less than one percent of nominal fuel energy input. In liquid fuel mode the DF engine works just like any diesel engine, using a traditional fuel injection system. The Wartsila DF engine comes in two ranges, the 32DF and 50DF.

Both are based on well proven diesel engines, the Wartsila 32 and the Wartsila 46. The power range for the DF engines starts at 2010 kW for the 6L32DF and reaches 17,100 kW for the 18V50DF.

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Maritime Reporter Magazine, page 41, May 2003

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Maritime Reporter

First published in 1881 Maritime Reporter is the world's largest audited circulation publication serving the global maritime industry.