Finnish technology group Wärtsilä has recently conducted full-scale tests for ship engines running on hydrogen and ammonia, unveiling very encouraging test results. For the marine market, the company expects to have an engine concept with pure ammonia fuel in 2023.
The company has been researching the adoption of hydrogen and ammonia as viable engine fuels through advanced testing in its fuel-flexible combustion engines in its engine laboratory in Vaasa, Finland, to assess the optimum engine parameters for running on these fuels.
As informed, one test engine performed very well when running on fuel with 70% ammonia content at a typical marine load range. Tests were also completed successfully on another engine in pure hydrogen operation.
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The company said testing will continue throughout the coming years with the aim of defining the most feasible internal combustion engine-based solutions for power plant and marine applications, thereby enabling the transition to a decarbonized future with green fuels.
At the moment, Wärtsilä is expecting the energy market to have an engine and plant concept for pure hydrogen operation ready by 2025. For the marine market, the company expects to have an engine running on an ammonia blend already this year and an engine concept with pure ammonia fuel in 2023. In the energy sector, it is anticipated that green hydrogen will deliver 7% of the global energy demand by 2050.
These are milestone moments in Wärtsilä’s transition to future fuels. Society will have to invest significant amounts into the infrastructure needed to develop green hydrogen, but those investments require market-ready engines that can run on the fuel once it is readily available. The energy and marine industries are on a decarbonisation journey, and the fuel flexibility of the engines powering these sectors is key to enable the transformation,
…said Håkan Agnevall, CEO of Wärtsilä.
Wärtsilä is united in its aim of limiting climate change to below 2 degrees, and the development of engines capable of running on future fuels is crucial to that…Our successful engine testing will help us to consider a variety of future fuels and determine the optimum use case for each sustainable fuel,
…commented Mikael Wideskog, Director of Sustainable Fuels and Decarbonisation at Wärtsilä Marine Power.
