Page 60: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2017)

Marine Propulsion

Power Play

Engine suppliers prepare for IMO 2020 fuels sulfur content cap

BY TOM MULLIGAN jeld Åbo, Chairman of CIMAC (the Inter- how it will settle. How many scrubbers will need to be national Council on Combustion Engines) installed on ships in order to be able to utilize remain-

Fuels Working Group and Director Cus- ing heavy fuel oil (HFO) stocks? In fact, will it even

Ktomer Support, Two Stroke Marine at MAN be possible to sell HFO? Desulfurization plant is sel-

Diesel & Turbo, has said that the IMO’s proposed 0.5% dom readily available in the re? neries and there will be marine fuel sulfur content limit was not unexpected but the need to use up the leftover from production of the that there were a number of practical and strategic is- lighter product, for example HFO residues, somehow,” sues that needed to be addressed if the new regulations Åbo said.

were to be implemented successfully by 2020. This ar- ticle looks at how manufacturers of marine engines are Working Group Recommendations rising to the challenge of meeting the IMO’s new sulfur CIMAC’s working group WG7 ‘Fuels’ will not only oxides (Sox) emissions standards. recommend what CIMAC should be doing to ensure “The IMO’s October 2016 announcement that the industry compliance with the cap but will also publish organization intended to impose a global marine fuels its recommendations on how low-sulfur fuels should be sulfur content cap of 0.5% by 2020 was not unexpect- handled, stored and used: “We each have our own crys- ed,” Kjeld Åbo, said. “It sounds positive, but there will tal ball that we look into to try to foresee the future for be hurdles to overcome in implementing it. At CIMAC, fuels, but different companies see different visions and we expected such a cap to be imposed either by 2020 take different views on important issues,” said Åbo. or, at the latest, by 2025, and about this time a year ago “What the market needs to know is that the available we were all convinced that 2020 would be the date – in fuels, no matter what they are, will be able to be used fact we predicted this six months before the IMO actu- in marine engines. As engine developers, we need to ally decided on it. be able to design the fuel injection parts of the engine correctly to match the fuel it will use. Ship design has

Positive Attitude become much more complex than it was 10 years ago, “CIMAC has adopted a positive attitude towards the with engines optimized for fuel ef? ciency, emission imposition of the fuel sulfur cap, even though the fuel compliance and for the use of new fuels. Engine manu- re? ners say it could cause a lot of dif? culties,” said facturers need to strive to be in front of the competi-

Åbo. One of the problems is how can sulfur cap rec- tion by responding to new technology and regulatory ommendations be made when the future availability of issues.” ultra-low-sulfur fuel oil (ULSFO) is such an unknown quantity? In addition, different types of fuel that com- New Tech for Regulatory Compliance ply with the regulations may become available but it’s One of the ? rst marine engineering and systems man- all a bit of a grey area and a mystery. “We need to pre- ufacturers to react when the IMO announced it had de- pare carefully for this so we can recommend the right cided to implement its marine fuels sulfur content cap kinds of fuel and its treatment on board for the com- proposals from January 2020 was Wärtsilä, which re- mercial maritime sector to use.” leased a statement that the company’s proactive devel- “There’s also the issue of ship capacity – will ships opment of exhaust gas cleaning systems and its broad have to carry both 0.1% and 0.5% sulfur fuels at the offering in gas and dual-fuel engine technologies meant same time? Will the fuels be comprised of a blend and a that it was well positioned to assist ? eet owners imple- distillate on the same ship and how will they be stored? ment plans for complying with the new regulations. “And, of course, there’s the issue of the market and Wärtsilä also stated that it had actively developed the

Photo: MAN Diesel & Turbo 60 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • AUGUST 2017

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