Million Hour Milestone For MAN

MAN Energy Solutions said its portfolio of two-stroke, dual-fuel engines has accumulated 1 million operating hours.

The milestone comes on the back of the 300 engines/6.3 GW sales the company recently announced for the segment – all running on clean fuels such as LNG, LPG, ethane and methanol.

“This significant milestone owes everything to the dual-fuel strategy we have laid over the past decade and confirms our leadership in this critical marine segment,” said Bjarne Foldager, senior vice president, head of Two-Stroke Business at MAN Energy Solutions. “Our engines’ efficiency is the best in the market, which gives shipowners enormous flexibility, and we note that all fuel modes are employed.”

MAN Energy Solutions’ ME-GI (-Gas Injection) and ME-LGI (-Liquid Gas Injection) engines form the core of its two-stroke, dual-fuel portfolio and have notched many notable industry-firsts since their market introduction, including the very first oceangoing ships operating respectively on LNG, methanol, ethane and LPG.

“Our plan is very much to continue this dual-fuel focus,” Foldager said. “To this end, we recently released a Mk II ME-GI model and are currently, owing to market demand, developing an Otto-cycle variant – the ME-GA. With references in every major, marine segment, our dual-fuel portfolio can rightly be considered as mature technology. Our dual-fuel engines continue to act as standard bearers for environmentally friendly, reliable propulsion technology with their seamless switching between fuels and elimination of methane slip. Furthermore, their use of the diesel combustion principle ensures that they can easily adapt to run on whatever fuels the industry may prefer in the future.”

The Mk II ME-GI engine incorporates a PVU (Pump Vaporizer Unit), a standardized, compact, high-quality pump unit for the supply of LNG. Additionally, a PBIV (Pilot Booster Injection Valve) employs smaller or larger atomizing holes, depending on fuel mode, to inject fuel into ME-GI engines. In gas mode, the use of smaller holes significantly reduces pilot-oil consumption to just 1.5%, approximately half of what was previously required.

With fuel prices and availability currently in flux, MAN Energy Solutions expects the choice of retrofitting to dual-fuel engines to ultimately become a necessity.