MAN Energy Solutions hopes to deliver the first ammonia-fuelled commercial ship engines in 2024.
Bjarne Foldager, head of the two-stroke business unit, said the Danish engine maker aims to begin building the first units in 2023.
“We have started the project and we expect the first commercial engines will be delivered by the beginning of 2024,” he added.
There is no firm order for a unit yet, as the engine remains in its development phase. But the company has several partnership agreements that he expects will materialise into more than one ship.
Foldager said the first orders are likely to be for merchant vessels, rather than a ferry or cruiseship.
There are still many unknowns — such as the safety systems for the engine — that need to be finalised in the development phase before moving to competitive commercial orders.
Ammonia fuelling is a chicken-and-egg situation, he added, in that all parties will need to be involved to demonstrate that it can be produced and used as a ship fuel, and the use of green ammonia is likely to need carbon taxing.
But testing of the ammonia unit has received a boost. In the middle of Denmark’s Covid-19 lockdown, MAN Energy Solutions took delivery of a new test engine.
The super-size unit arrived by sea from South Korea and made for an unusual sight in Copenhagen, where traffic lights were taken down to allow for its passage. Foldager said the quieter-than-usual streets helped in moving the engine.
The unit gives MAN a second test engine at its research centre. Foldager said the first has been rebuilt many times as all the new fuels have been introduced. But it was also becoming a bottleneck for how fast the company could develop its new technology.
“Now we have two, the idea is definitely that we will double our efforts in identifying the future zero-carbon or carbon-neutral fuel systems from a technical point of view.”
