Using heat recovery, fuel consumption for the same amount of heat is zero
Norwegian company Ulmatec Pyro is launching the Pyro central heating system which uses waste heat from engine cooling and exhaust systems to provide ship heat, promising substantial fuel and cost savings.
However, while presenting the technology, the company revealed that it is looking at extending this to other ship systems, most notably ballast water treatment. Jan Petter Urke, managing director of Ulmatec Pyro, said that in his opinion heating ballast water would be as effective as other, more complex and expensive, methods, comparing this with techniques used for killing bacteria in milk and food products.
He believes that up to now, the considerable energy required to heat large amounts of ballast water to 65-100C has made such an idea impracticable. But the company’s technology could easily be adapted to this, and recovering more energy from cooling the heated ballast water would mean that the system could be operated at very low cost. Filtration would still be needed, but no UV or chemical dosing stages.
Talking about the heating system technology, Urke said: “We’re so confident in the technology and in demand for it that we’re prepared to say a market take-off is imminent. As soon as our first customers start to give feedback which confirms our saving estimates, we expect demand to be strong. Since launching the solution earlier this year, we’ve entered into contracts to supply heat recovery system for three large ocean-going purse seiners. Our customers in the offshore segment are keeping a close eye on these projects, and regard our solution as very interesting. We expect to announce several agreements over the coming year.”
He explains that a propulsion engine consumes 200,000 litres of fuel annually to generate 100kW for such heating applications, for example. Similarly, fuel-fired heating burns 100,000 litres of fuel to generate 100 kW. “By using heat recovery, fuel consumption for the same amount of heat is zero. The annual savings, both environmental and financial, can be substantial.”
Source: The Motorhip