Swiss engine designer WinGD says its engines will be able to run on methanol from 2024 and ammonia from 2025.
WinGD said the ability to use the zero-carbon or carbon-neutral fuels will be possible in both its core diesel-fueled X engines and dual-fuel X-DF engines.
It will give ship operators flexibility in how they reduce emissions and means they can invest in vessels ready to use ammonia and methanol, the company added.
"The timeframe for ammonia and methanol capability is part of a wider ambition to grow sales of multi-fueled engines capable of operating on carbon-neutral fuels to 50% of the company’s orderbook by 2030," WinGD said. It would be in line with predictions of when the fuels will be available at scale.
WinGD's X and X-DF engine series are already compatible with liquid biofuel or biogas respectively, it said, citing tanker operator Terntank operating its X-DF engines on liquefied biogas as long ago as 2018.
Hybridisation of power arrangement is being offered by WinGD. It will integrate systems that maximise fuel efficiency by selecting hybrid components and an electrical system in parallel with the main engine.
Emissions from WinGD engines can be optimised in line with IMO's Carbon Intensity Index (CII) and Energy Efficient Design Index for Existing Ships (EEXI), it added.
WinGD director of global sales Volkmar Galke said: "By 2030, many of the ships that will be sailing in 2050 – the date of IMO’s greenhouse gas emission reduction target — will already have been ordered.
"Our clean fuel engine technologies will be available well before then and will be based largely on our current technologies."
