Nanyang Technological University, DNV GL, and Shell have launched a competition to attract ideas in order to cut the cost of equipping an LNG fuel gas system to an existing ocean-going vessel. The ‘Low-Cost LNG Retrofit (LCLR) Challenge’ aims to to help shipping companies adopt cleaner fuels and reduce harmful emissions.
Namely, participants were called to create cost-efficient and innovative LNG fuel gas systems, able to be added on existing ships with a conventional fuel oil system.
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More than 60 participant took place in the competition, from NTU, the National University of Singapore, Singapore Institute of Technology, and Newcastle University Singapore, among others.
The proposals that the teams presented, included measures to decrease costs and streamline retrofitting operations, like utilizing alternative materials to store LNG fuel, better methods to install LNG fuel systems, and other ways to make the retrofitting process faster.
Specifically, the proposals suggest the use of manganese-steel, which is a cheaper and viable alternative to today’s nickel-based steels. They took the material’s tensile strength and feasibility to store LNG fuel at cryogenic temperatures into consideration.
Low Teck Seng, CEO of the National Research Foundation presented the prizes at the Singapore Maritime Technology Conference (SMTC) 2019, while a panel from NTU, Shell, DNV GL, Keppel O&M, WinGD, Wartsila, Sembmarine, SMI, and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore judged the proposals.
