August 6th 2002

GASTECH 2002
Qatar, 13th - 16th October

The DF-Electric LNG Carrier Concept

Janne Kosomaa, M.Sc.
Wärtsilä Corporation
Marine Division
 August 6th 2002

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION
LNG carrier propulsion has traditionally been The increasing demand to supply gaseous fuel
based on a steam turbine power plant. The main for the needs of the more environmentally
reason for this has been the ability to utilise focussed energy production is also affecting the
cargo boil-off gas as fuel. This propulsion volume of marine transport of gas. A clear need
system is also considered to be very reliable. for more Liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers is
However, the economical and environmental evident: 10 – 12 ships are predicted to be built
disadvantages of steam turbine propulsion are annually over the next few years compared to
driving operators to seek alternative means for the 6 – 8 ships built every year over the past
LNG carrier propulsion. decade. Furthermore, the need to replace
existing capacity will also amplify this need – in
Handling of the boil-off gas sets the fact nearly all of the gas carriers built since the
technological limits for alternative LNG carrier beginning of the trade in the 1960`s are still
propulsion system. Recent technological operational.
advances have finally brought some solutions
that enable to displace the steam turbine The traditional steam turbine propulsion has
propulsion. One technology is based on served LNG carriers well for over three decades
reliquefaction of boil-off gas, the other on using now. However, recent developments in
it as a fuel. technology finally enable also alternative
propulsion systems to be considered also for this
In addition to operating economy and ship type. Ever-increasing consciousness about
environmental issues, also the very special cost and environment are putting a lot of
requirements of LNG carrier operation have to pressure to move away from steam turbine into a
be considered carefully when selecting the new era in LNG carrier propulsion.
propulsion power plant. Safety and redundancy
are the most important features required from For the start this paper will handle shortly the
the alternative power plant. Electric propulsion main characteristics of LNG carriers and LNG
based on Wärtsilä dual fuel engines is shown to shipping business to give some idea about the
be a strong alternative for LNG carrier reasons behind the propulsion concepts that
propulsion system (figure 1). have been used and are being proposed for this

FIGURE 1. Artistic impression of membrane-type DF-electric LNG carrier

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 August 6th 2002

ship type. In this paper some alternative As well as the quantity, also the gas composition
propulsion concepts will be overviewed. The varies during the voyage. The natural boil-off
focus of this paper is to introduce the Dual Fuel gas is mainly a composition of methane and
(DF) engine technology together with the DF- nitrogen. The Nitrogen content can be high at
electric LNG carrier concept in more detail. the beginning of the laden journey and
degreases during the trip. This results in varying
CHARACTERISTICS OF LNG heating value of the boil-off gas. On ballast
voyage major part of the boil-off gas is
CARRIERS
generated from the tank cooling spray. In this
The LNG trade has traditionally been based on process also the heavier hydrocarbons of the
long term shipping contracts and dedicated LNG evaporate. This results in higher energy
fleets of ships sailing on the fixed routes and content of the gas, but lower the methane
schedules between the rather limited number of number at the same time. The same
LNG terminals of the world. The LNG supply phenomenon applies to forced boil-off gas.
chain does not have much buffer capacity and it
is very important that the cargo is delivered on As stated above, both the quantity and heating
time. Heavy penalties are imposed on delays. value of the boil-off gas will vary considerably
during a return voyage. Alternative LNG carrier
Steam turbine propulsion dominates in the propulsion system has to include machinery that
vessels currently operating in the global LNG either utilises boil-off gas as fuel or reliquefies
carrier fleets. Original reasons for this has been it. Therefore the above properties of boil-off gas
availability of high power output combined with has to be kept in mind when configuring the
the possibility to use low-grade fuels. machinery systems.
Maintenance of the turbines is relatively low
cost and infrequent and the systems are Safety is of utmost importance for LNG
considered proven and reliable. shipping business, and LNG carriers have an
excellent safety record. Reliability of steam
The key issue, however, is the possibility to turbine propulsion has helped to achieve this
utilise the boil-off gas from the cargo tanks. together with strict terminal rules and robust
This boil-off gas must be disposed of somehow ship design. For example, the number of tugs
and the simplest way is to burn it in a boiler. required to enter and leave a terminal is defined
Actually, this has previously been the only in the terminal rules. Also propulsion power has
feasible method of disposing the boil-off gas to be available all the time during harbour
and getting some use of it at the same time. This operations. The design life of LNG carrier is
feature has prevented any other propulsion very long, up to 40 years. All these features
system entering LNG carrier market and made have to be taken into account also on the
steam turbine a natural choice for LNG carriers. propulsion plant design.

The available amount of natural boil-off-gas WINDS OF CHANGE

depends on the ship design specification and
operating conditions. A natural boil-off rate of Due to the increasing demand and supply of
0,15% per day is typically considered as a liquefied natural gas the number of short-term
design point. However, values as low as 0,10% contracts and even spot cargoes has increased
have been reported in operation onboard modern and will continue to do so in the future.
vessels. On the other hand the boil-off rate can Currently some LNG carriers have even been
also be higher in unfavourable conditions. ordered without any contract or route secured
During ballast voyage the amount of available for the ship, which is previously unheard in the
boil-off gas varies between 10-50% compared to LNG business. From the shipping point of view
the laden voyage depending on how many tanks this means that the operators are bound to look
will contain heel LNG. for ships with more operational flexibility and

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 August 6th 2002

efficiency in response to varying contractual High fuel consumption of a steam turbine

situations. Primarily this calls for a flexible and propulsion plant, in addition to being costly,
efficient propulsion plant able to accommodate leads directly to high CO2 emissions (figure 3).
different ship speeds and alternative operating Carbon dioxide emissions of ships are believed
profiles. to get evermore focus in the future. On the other
hand, NOx emissions of traditional LNG carrier
The main drawback of the traditional boiler and are very low due to the characteristics of
steam turbine system is the inefficiency, and combustion process in the boiler. SOx emissions
hence high fuel consumption, of the propulsion of steam turbine propulsion are also
plant (figure 2). The lack of alternative usage considerable because of the usage of heavy fuel
for the boil-off gas has lead into thinking that to top up the energy requirement. Typically on a
the boil-off gas would be free. Alternative laden voyage around 50% of the energy
methods to utilise boil-off gas have forced to requirement comes from heavy fuel, and up to
change this thinking. Furthermore, in modern 80% respectively during ballast voyage.
LNG carriers the amount of natural boil-off gas Environmental aspects are getting more
is decreasing due to advances in tank insulation important all the time, and it is easy to predict
technology and design. Hence the energy in the that legislation on emissions will not get any
natural boil-off gas is far from sufficient to easier during the 40 year lifetime of LNG
produce the propulsion power needed for the carrier.
relatively high operating speeds. Therefore,
forced boil-off gas or heavy fuel oil is needed to Among other arguments that are often heard
top up the fuel demand of the boilers, which is criticising steam turbine propulsion are
yet another argument encouraging shipping increasing lack of competent steam operators,
companies to look for a propulsion plant with poor manoeuvring characteristics, and limited
higher efficiency. propulsion redundancy.

50
45
Power plant total efficiency [%]

40
35 Steam
Turbine
30 Propulsion
25
20 DF-Electric
Propulsion
15
10
5
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Propeller shaft power [MW]

FIGURE 2. Efficiency comparison between DF-electric and steam turbine propulsion

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CO2 [ton/year] NOx [ton/year] SOx [ton/year]

250000 350 4000

3686
213276 298
300 3500
200000
3000
250

2500
150000
200
2000
108550
145
150
100000
1500
100
1000
50000
50 500
9
0 0 0
Steam DF-Electric Steam DF-Electric Steam DF-Electric
Turbine Propulsion Turbine Propulsion Turbine Propulsion
Propulsion Propulsion Propulsion

FIGURE 3. Emission comparison between steam turbine and DF-electric propulsion.

ALTERNATIVE PROPULSION capabilities (using MGO as backup fuel).

However, gas turbines have been available for a
CONCEPTS long time also for LNG carrier applications, as
General well as for other marine applications, but they
have not been considered feasible. The main
The diesel engine has for decades dominated all reasons being relatively high-pressure gas
other sectors of the merchant shipping except required and inefficiency of the power plant.
LNG carriers. The accumulated experience of The inefficiency can be to some extent
thousands of propulsion plant installations based compensated with combined cycle system,
on diesel machinery has helped to ensure the where waste heat is recovered. However, this
successful development of this technology. will, together with the required auxiliary
Meanwhile steam plant development has generators, make the installation much more
virtually stood still as there has been practically complex, heavier, space demanding and
no market for marine applications since the expensive.
1973 oil crisis. Also, the recent development of
dual fuel (diesel and gas) operated engines, When specifying propulsion machinery options
derivative from heavy fuel diesel engines, have for LNG carriers it is essential to consider the
made it possible to use the boil-off gas differences in operating profiles, fleet
efficiently, and therefore propulsion based on configurations and shipping routes. The basic
diesel or dual fuel engines is a strong option for case today is a 138000 m3 vessel with an
modern LNG carriers today. operating speed of around 19,5 knots and the
corresponding power required at propeller of
Gas turbines have also been proposed for LNG
approximately 26 MW. However, future
carrier propulsion using mechanical or electric
operating profiles of LNG carriers will require
propulsion. Gas turbines are light and virtually
more flexibility from the power plant. Already
vibration free and have some dual fuel

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 August 6th 2002

there are ships being build that would normally LNG carrier. Therefore the benefit of a shorter
operate about 15 knots speed, but have to be machinery space usually cannot be fully utilised
capable of doing 19 knots on spot cargo trade. for increased cargo capacity with the same ship
Then it is very important that the power plant length. Also, the structural limitations of cargo
will be efficient also at part load operation. The containment systems may prevent fully utilising
maximum required electrical power for cargo the benefit of a shorter machinery space for
pumping and other consumers is roughly 6 MW. additional cargo capacity. In this sense the
At the lowest the electrical load can be less than membrane-type cargo containment system has
1 MW. an advantage over the spherical-type system.

As stated above, the energy in the boil-off gas The following paragraphs describe some
will vary considerably during a return voyage of optional propulsion configurations for LNG
LNG carrier. When converting the energy carrier, which have been considered in order to
content available in the in the boil-off gas of a see what are the merits and drawbacks of the
"full size" LNG carrier into mechanical power at various concepts.
the flywheel using a modern dual fuel gas
engine figures ranging from the 12 MW of the Propulsion Based on Low-Speed Diesel
worst case up to 25 MW at the best situation can Engines
be calculated for the laden voyage. In ballast
conditions the figures are typically half of the A single screw single two-stroke main engine
above, but can be even less. This means that would be the simplest solution for ship
even at the best case the natural boil-off would propulsion. However, this arrangement would
not be enough to cope with the energy not provide any redundancy in case of failures.
consumption and either forced boil-off gas or The extremely high demands for safety and
supplementary liquid fuel is needed to make up availability mean that market is not likely to
the shortfall. The selection of supplementary accept this solution for LNG carriers.
fuel depends on the result of a feasibility study Redundancy can be achieved with twin engine
taking into account not only the operating arrangement or by fitting an auxiliary
profile of the ship but also the trends and effects propulsion drive (APD).
of the unstable oil price and further more
Electric auxiliary propulsion drive on a single-
availability of liquid fuel of correct grade at the
screw single-two-stroke installation would
vicinity of the LNG terminals.
require a complex and expensive gear and clutch
One option to be considered is not to use the arrangement. In order to utilise the APD also as
boil-off gas as fuel for production of propulsive a shaft generator, the system should include a
power at all. Instead, this gas is reliquefied and two-speed gearbox and a controllable pitch
returned back to the cargo tanks to be carried to propeller. Also adequate auxiliary generator
the final destination. In such an option the capacity has to be installed to cover the power
propulsion would be based on heavy fuel requirement of APD in addition to the usual
burning diesel engines just as in almost any electric consumers.
other modern large cargo vessel in operation
Twin-screw twin-two-stroke mechanical
today.
propulsion could well compete with other
Steam turbine propulsion has been accused of alternative propulsion solutions in fuel
relatively large machinery room space demand. consumption and machinery investment cost,
The machinery space could in theory be made offering also redundancy and manoeuvrability.
considerably shorter by using almost any of the Two directly coupled slow-speed engines could
proposed alternative propulsion concepts. do the job, but they would have to utilise CP-
However, many existing LNG terminals set a propellers and possibly also gearboxes.
limit for maximum draught and displacement of

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As stated previously, in order to utilise a Mechanical Propulsion Based on

standard diesel engine running with heavy fuel, Medium-Speed Engines
a boil-off gas reliquefaction plant would have to
be installed onboard. The reliquefaction plants Propulsion with medium-speed diesel engines
have been tested in marine conditions but the would be naturally multi-engine installation
technology is not yet considered mature. The offering inherently some redundancy. The
reliquefaction plant is quite expensive, more installation can be based on single- or twin-
than five million USD, and consumes screw arrangement.
considerable amount of energy (about 3,5 MW).
Therefore, in addition to the technical risk the A single-screw twin-four-stroke diesel engine
utilisation of reliquefaction plant is very option requires a moderate gear, couplings, and
sensitive to LNG price compared to heavy fuel a CP-propeller. Continuous low load operation
price. on heavy fuel is not desirable, and therefore
PTO and shaft generator would probably not be
Furthermore, many of the operators are feasible due to low load in port for the running
nowadays very conscious about the of large main engine (electrical cargo pumps).
environmental aspects. These vessels are Therefore, adequate auxiliary generator capacity
transporting "the cleanest fuel" for the power has to be installed to cover the power
generation market, and it would seem to be requirement of electric consumers.
natural to use the same fuel onboard the vessel
as well. Without additional equipment, NOx A twin-screw diesel-mechanic medium-speed
solution could have two (single-in-single-out
emissions of two-stroke engine are relatively
gearboxes) or four engines (twin-in-single-out
high. High SOx emissions are also inevitable
gearboxes). In case of four-engine arrangement,
when heavy fuel is burned.
where engine size becomes naturally smaller,
There are also gas diesel low speed engine one main engine could drive a primary generator
designs readily available for the market. This suitable for cargo operation, which could lead to
kind of engine requires a large reciprocating reduced installed auxiliary generator capacity.
compressor plant to provide high-pressure gas
Again, the utilisation of standard heavy fuel
injection. Such two-stroke diesel engines have
diesel engines requires installing a
been tested, but further development and design
reliquefaction plant associated with the
would be necessary to make it commercially
previously mentioned drawbacks.
available. However, the biggest obstacles are the
parasitic energy consumption of the high-
There are also medium-speed gas diesel engines
pressure fuel gas compressor (approximately 6%
available for propulsion purposes. The
of the power output of the engines), the complex
technology is available and widely used for
control system required, and the industry
many years in marine (offshore) installations.
reluctance to accommodate high-pressure gas
High-pressure gas would have to be used as fuel
systems onboard.
in such a mechanical drive application and
similarly to the two-stroke gas diesel engine,
Among other concerns that have been raised
this has not been considered feasible for LNG
about utilising two-stroke engines in LNG-
carrier.
carriers is the vibrations induced by the rigidly
mounted power plant. This may increase the risk
of fatigue damage for the cargo tanks during the
long lifespan of the ship.

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Electric Propulsion Based on Medium- in varying boil-off gas energy flows requires a
Speed Engines complex control system. Furthermore, the total
installed power would be high. In order to
Electric propulsion offers by far the most dispose the all the boil-off gas on laden voyage,
flexible alternatives for the machinery about 29MW worth of gas burning electric
arrangement. It is also easy to build redundancy propulsion equipment must be installed. On the
in the system with divided engine rooms and other hand to cover the top up energy
auxiliary systems. Medium-speed generator sets requirement on ballast voyage, up to 27 MW
can be either heavy fuel burning diesel engines heavy fuel burning diesel power has to be
or low-pressure dual fuel engines. Propulsion installed. Total installed power would be
system based on heavy fuel engines will considerable, perhaps even 65%, higher than
naturally require reliquefaction plant to take propulsion plant including only heavy fuel or
care of the boil-off gas. Dual fuel engines can only dual fuel engines.
use either gas or MDO as fuel. With electric
propulsion, there is no need for separate Combined Mechanical and Electric
auxiliary generator sets, so actually the total
Propulsion
installed power can be reduced. With electrical
cargo pumps one generator set should be able to Combined mechanical and electric propulsion
handle the power demand for cargo operations. has been proposed based on the desire not to
install any reliquefaction plant and utilise
Single-screw electric propulsion with FP- natural boil-off gas only as fuel (and no forced
propeller may be selected if appropriate boil-off gas) and top up the remaining energy
redundancy is built into the electric drive requirement with heavy fuel. Then one or more
system. More than one electric motor can be heavy fuel operated engines would be driving a
used for one shaftline either in tandem mechanical propulsion line, and additional
arrangement (slow-speed electric motors) or generator sets burning boil-off gas would
through a gearbox (high-speed electric motors). provide electric power for a booster drive. The
The electric motors can also be double wound booster drive could be a POD or an electric
for additional redundancy. motor connected to a gearbox. There are
technically several possibilities to realise this
Twin-screw propulsion can be configured either configuration. However, similarly to the APD
with podded drives or FP-propellers driven by system, this configuration is very expensive and
electric motors. Another possibility would be to complicated. Even more important obstacle for
utilise a single-screw FP-propeller this arrangement is the high cost of excessive
complemented by a podded drive replacing the installed power similarly to the case that was
rudder. Using the “contra rotating propeller presented in the previous paragraph.
principle” considerable propulsive efficiency
gain is possible. The main propeller would cater THE DF-ELECTRIC LNG
for approximately half of the required
propulsive power. The other half would be
CARRIER CONCEPT
provided by the podded drive. General
Also electric propulsion system based on The approach Wärtsilä considers most feasible
combination of heavy fuel generator sets and for LNG carrier is based on the electric
gas burning generator sets has been proposed. propulsion where the prime movers in the power
This is based on the desire not to install any plant are four-stroke low-pressure dual fuel
reliquefaction plant and utilise natural boil-off engines. The main arguments in the comparison
gas only as fuel (and no forced boil-off gas) and are high thermal efficiency and safety, as well as
top up the remaining energy requirement with flexible and efficient use of the installed
heavy fuel. In order to optimise the power plant machinery. The selection of either single screw

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 August 6th 2002

ship or twin screw has to be based on the propulsion technology is available today and has
operating profile and redundancy requirements been proven in various marine applications for
specific for each project. several decades. Wärtsilä dual fuel engines have
accumulated considerable number of operating
The number of engines and the power output of hours in land- based installations and are mature
each unit are determined by the shaft power for marine installations. This has been already
needed and also by the degree of redundancy recognised by recent orders booked for the
requested. Generally speaking on a typical 32DF-type generating sets for offshore and
138000 m3 ship with the need for approx. 34 marine installations. Perhaps even more
MW total engine output the power plant would important recognition is the Wärtsilä 50DF
consist of four dual fuel engine generating sets order for the first LNG carrier to be utilising
of the Wärtsilä 50DF type engines. The MCR DF-electric propulsion. In other words
output of these engines is 950 kW/cylinder and everything is ready for taking the next step
the thermal efficiency as high as 48%! towards the modern, efficient LNG carrier
propulsion.
The recommended plant consisting of four 9-
cylinder units (4 x W9L50DF) would produce The Wärtsilä Dual Fuel (DF) Engine
34,2 MW, and some redundancy for the
situation where one of the engines would be out The Wärtsilä DF-engine is a medium-speed,
of service. On the other hand it would also four-stroke, turbo-charged, trunk piston, non-
provide welcome flexibility for the different reversible engine, which can be run alternatively
operating modes such as manoeuvring, waiting in gas mode or diesel mode. In gas mode it runs
for port access, loading and unloading. as a lean burn engine utilising the Otto-
principle. The ignition is initiated by injecting a
Recent studies suggest that the most beneficial small amount of diesel oil (pilot fuel), giving a
solution to top-up the need for additional energy high-energy ignition source for the main fuel gas
is to use forced boil-off instead of diesel fuel charge in the cylinder (figure 5). In diesel mode
oil. Therefore, main fuel for engines is gas, and the DF-engine works just like any diesel engine,
marine diesel oil will be used as pilot and back- utilising traditional jerk pump fuel injection
up fuel only. This solution in combination with system (figure 4). Transfers between the two
the dual fuel engine electric propulsion is operating modes happen without interruption in
economically very attractive both in installation power supply.
cost and operation.
With a lean fuel mixture it is possible to achieve
As the DF engine is operated on low-pressure good engine characteristics regarding efficiency
gas, between four and five bar at the engine and emissions. However, at higher loads the
inlet, the fuel gas compressor package is useful operating window between detonation
essentially similar (only multi-stage instead of and knocking is very narrow. To stay within the
single-stage) to the one already in use in the operating window and have optimal
current fleet equipped with steam boiler and performance for all cylinders regarding safety,
turbine propulsion. The main difference is that efficiency and emissions in all conditions,
the total efficiency of the dual fuel-electric Wärtsilä DF-engine features a system to control
propulsion is well above 40% compared to the the combustion process individually for each
reported less than 30% of the steam plant. The cylinder. This makes it possible to obtain
difference is even higher on part load. optimal operating performance at conditions
where gas quality, ambient temperature etc.
Moreover, flexible preventive maintenance at varies. In order to achieve the required accurate
sea and during port calls is possible, which has combustion control, the gas admission and pilot
not been the case with the steam plant or with fuel injection is electronically controlled
large single 2-stroke alternatives. Electric individually for each cylinder. The control is

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 August 6th 2002

automatically handled by Wärtsilä Engine However, as it is an inert gas and will not
Control System (WECS). contribute to the combustion the energy content
(heating value) of the BOG is lower than that of
LNG boil-off gas is very good fuel for the pure methane. The nitrogen content in the
Wärtsilä DF-engine. As stated previously, the vapour phase of the LNG can be as high as 30%
only considerable variation in the natural boil- in volume especially at the beginning of the
off gas composition is the Nitrogen content. loaded trip. This is not a problem for the
Nitrogen as such is not harmful for the engine – Wärtsilä DF-engine as the engines can be
the air that we and also the engines normally operated at their nominal output without de-
breathe contains more than 78% Nitrogen. rating with such a gas mixture.

I I I
E E EX

AIR INTAKE COMPRESSION OF AIR INJECTION OF DIESEL

FUEL

FIGURE 4. Dual fuel engine operating principle in diesel mode.

I I I
EX E E
**
**
** * * *** ****
*
***** *
*

AIR & GAS INTAKE COMPRESSION OF IGNITION BY PILOT

AIR & GAS DIESEL FUEL

FIGURE 5. Dual fuel engine operating principle in gas mode.

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The DF-engine is designed to operate in gas TABLE 1. Main Dimensions.

mode at the same safety level as in diesel mode. Main particulars: Spherical Membrane
The safety is based on early detection of
problems that can lead to a hazard, followed by Length over all 290 m 290 m
immediate actions to bring the situation to a safe
state. Depending on type of problem detected, it Length btw.
275 m 275 m
can initiate alarm, transfer to diesel mode, perpendiculars
shutdown of the engine, or emergency shutdown
of the engine. Breadth 48 m 43 m

The DF-Electric LNG Carrier Data Depth to upper 27 m 27 m

deck
Wärtsilä's concept ship is constructed as a dual
fuel electric driven single screw LNG carrier Draught, design 11 m 11 m
with four cargo tanks. The hull has transom
stern, single skeg aft body and a bulbous bow. Draught, scantling 12 m 12 m
The propulsion machinery and accommodation
spaces are arranged in the stern part. The Cargo Air draught 59 m 56 m
Machinery Room shall be arranged apart from
the accommodation space on the upper deck.
Two cargo tank system variants can be applied;
To enhance the redundancy of the propulsion
membrane-type and spherical-type (figure6).
plant the main engine rooms and casings are
Main dimensions of the variants can be seen in
divided with fire resistant bulkhead. Main
table 1.
engine rooms are under diminished air pressure
and these rooms have own compressed air duct.
The main machinery consists of four dual fuel
Combustion air to the each main engine is
engines, each driving an AC-generator. The
provided using dedicated duct.
propellers are driven by two AC-propulsion
motors through couplings and one common
The four main dual fuel engines are of Wärtsilä
reduction gear.
9L50DF type The engines are equipped with
direct diesel pilot fuel injection, low pressure
gas system and dry sump.

FIGURE 6. Artistic impressions of spherical and membrane type DF-electric LNG carriers.

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LO
LO LO LO LO 9900 From BL

3000 From BL

-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

FIGURE 7. Machinery arrangement of DF-

electric LNG carrier
CONVERTER

PROP TRF
EXIT TRF
PROP TRF

NPRC

Wärtsilä 9L50DF marine medium-speed dual

DIST RIB TRF

MSB
fuel engines:

AUX.SWIT CHBOARD

MSB
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Number 4

DIST RIB TRF

Engine designation 9L50DF NPRC

EXIT TRF
PROP TRF

PROP TRF
Number of cylinders 9 CONVERTER

Engine speed nominal 500 rpm

Maximum continuous rating 8550 kW
Total installed power 34,2 MW

The service speed of the ship shall be about 19,5

knots at the design draught of 11.0 m and with
15% sea margin which corresponds to 27 MW
shaft power and about 90% DF-engine power
(figure 8). The power for accommodation and
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
machinery auxiliary consumers is about 1 MW.
SERVICE TANK

SETLING TANK

SERVICE TANK

Propulsion machinery:
FO

FO

FO

Propeller 1 x FPP
Propulsion power 27 MW
Bow Thrusters 2 x 1000 kW

Emergency engine:
Power Output 1 x 500 kW

Reduction gear:
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

One common type gear with twin input and

single output.

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Shaft line: 55 90

Shaft line consist of shaft seals, shaft bearings, 50

Service (15 % sea margin ) 80
intermediate shaft and propeller shaft.
Trial
45
Ncentre
Propeller: 70
40
Five bladed fixed pitch propeller. The propeller
60

Propulsion Power [MW]

and propeller shaft are coupled through conical 35
keyless friction joint.
30 50

Main generators and power transmission:

25 40
Four main generators are feeding ship’s electric
network and via variable speed drive system two 20
30
AC-propulsion motors.
15

Nominal power of AC-propulsion motors: 20

10
2 x 13,5 MW
10
5

0 0
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
The main propulsion machinery arrangement Speed [kn]
can be seen in figures 7 and 9.
FIGURE 7. Propulsion power requirement.

GAS

To other
DF Gensets
consumers

El-motors &
Gearbox

FPP

Converter
&

To other
MDO
consumers

FIGURE 9. The DF-electric LNG carrier main propulsion machinery.

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