Cruise ship concepts applying LNG fuel

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu | Master's thesis
Date
2015-11-23
Department
Major/Subject
Marine Technology
Mcode
K3005
Degree programme
Master’s Programme in Mechanical Engineering
Language
en
Pages
72+9
Series
Abstract
LNG has become a feasible fuel alternative. In many aspects it is favorable to the standard marine fuels but the economics deserve case-by-case analysis. Comprehensive reports have been published for various operating areas and ship types, but very little material exists on its application on cruise ships. The aim of the thesis is to provide an overview of available technologies and identify those better suited for the cruise industry. Increasingly stringent pollution regulation can be considered the primary driver of LNG adoption. During the past few years LNG has also been considerably cheaper than HFO but this has changed in the recent months. It was found that dual fuel four stroke engines and aeroderivative gas turbines with waste heat recovery were most promising. Pure gas engines remain unpractical at this point for cruise ships. Although commonly IMO C-type tanks have been used, prismatic designs also deserve attention due to their significantly smaller footprint. The composed concepts were compared to operation on low Sulphur fuel and exhaust gas cleaning. The value of deck area is determined and used to assign a value to space lost or gained. The exhaust gas cleaning system consumables, as well as maintenance and overall plant efficiency are considered. It is concluded that LNG has merit in the cruise industry but currently the economics are not favorable. It was determined that compared to the base case of operating on low Sulphur fuel, choosing an LNG machinery system has a NPV value of $7M compared to $26M for scrubber installation. If the price of HFO in Miami were to rise from the current $279 to $330, LNG would again become the cheaper fuel (assuming its price remains constant). It is concluded that LNG has merit for the cruise industry and many feasible machinery concepts exist. Yet using the presented figures, the economics are rather in favor of exhaust gas cleaning.
Description
Supervisor
Kujala, Pentti
Thesis advisor
Somerkallio, Olli
Keywords
LNG, cruise, feasibility, machinery, dual-fuel, NPV
Other note
Citation