WinGD advances clean fuel research
(Posted on 31/01/20)
WinGD (Winterthur Gas & Diesel) has bolstered its investment in fuel research with the development of a flexible injection system. In a whitepaper released today, ‘Flexible Injector to Advance Alternative Fuels Research’, the engine designers describe how the concept will play a crucial role in its investigations into low-carbon liquid fuels and engine injection concepts to harness them.
The system was developed as part of HERCULES 2, the collaborative European engine research project which concluded in 2018. It features an adjustable needle to allow for the injection of lower density liquid fuels, including promising alcohol fuels like methanol and ethanol, as well as conventional fuels including heavy fuel oil and marine diesel oil.
At present there is great uncertainty around the fuels that shipping will use to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Several of the candidates are unconventional liquid fuels including alcohols and synthetic diesel produced from biomass or renewable electricity. These will require different injection strategies to LNG, for example, which is already used in WinGD’s X-DF engines.
WinGD Future Technologies Team Leader, Andreas Schmid, said: “The injection system is the most challenging element of designing an engine for low-carbon fuels, so this experimental design will give us an important head start. Once we know what fuels are likely to be used, we will be able to use this concept as a starting point to develop more tailored injection concepts.”
WinGD installed the fuel flexible injector on its RTX-6 engines in order to test ethanol combustion. Among other findings - detailed in the whitepaper - the company confirmed that ethanol fuel (with a small amount of diesel injected as a pilot fuel) reduces the formation of NOx and smoke emissions.
WinGD is currently involved in several projects investigating new liquid fuels, including the FALCON project to develop a carbon-neutral alternative to HFO from lignin, a component of sap found in trees and plants. The fuel-flexible injection system will now become part of the company’s toolbox for validating low-carbon alternatives to help shipping meet its greenhouse gas reduction objectives.
Latest News
A first for Liebherr in the USA
(Posted on 18/02/20)North Carolina Ports has opted for a new Liebherr portals lewing crane type LPS 420. Themulti purpose... Read more
Inmarsat’ new Saudi connectivity services
(Posted on 18/02/20)Inmarsat, the world leader in global, mobile satellite communications, has announced that it will bring... Read more
Zero dust In Townsville
(Posted on 14/02/20)The port of Townsville is booming with volumes metal concentrates. The Australian port is located near... Read more
Don’t forget fire-fighting
(Posted on 14/02/20)Shipowners looking to retrofit marine exhaust gas cleaning systems as a way of complying with new sulphur... Read more
UWC certification for hopper cars
(Posted on 14/02/20)Research and production corporation United Wagon Company (UWC), the largest producer of freight cars... Read more
AVEVA’s new design software
(Posted on 13/02/20)AVEVA, global leader in engineering and industrial software, has announced an important update to its... Read more
3D printing revolution
(Posted on 13/02/20)Online e-procurement portal for marine spares and equipment ShipParts.com is taking part in a project... Read more
Liebherr giant headed for China
(Posted on 02/02/20)The LH 150 ET Gantry Port Litronic is not only the first electrically-operated port handling machine... Read more
New market for Ecolifting
(Posted on 31/01/20)In the last quarter of 2019, Rhenus Logistics B.V. (Rhenus) ordered an eco-efficient Konecranes Gottwald... Read more
Alfa Laval commits to zero-emission vessels
(Posted on 27/01/20)Alfa Laval has joined the Getting to Zero Coalition, a coordinated effort to fight climate change by... Read more
