On January 24, Hudong Heavy Machinery Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of CSSC Power (Group) Corporation Ltd. (CPGC) under CSSC, successfully delivered the first domestically produced ethane dual-fuel low-speed engine CPGC-MAN B&W 6G60ME-C9.5-GIE-HPSCR. The main engine will be installed on a 99,000 m³ ultra-large ethane carrier built by Jiangnan Shipyard for Tianjin Southwest Maritime.
As the first domestic ethane dual-fuel low-speed engine with a gas supply pressure of 380 bar, its successful development and delivery marks another new breakthrough for CPGC in the field of green power for ships.
During the development process, CPGC organized its subordinate Hudong Heavy Machinery, Environmental Protection Division and supporting enterprises in the industrial chain to carry out joint research and development, and solved many key technical problems such as the high-pressure airtightness design and manufacturing of core components of ethane engines, multi-system coordination and safety assurance.
The company passed the whole machine air tightness test in one go, successfully converted from oil to gas in one go, and smoothly switched to Tier III in gas mode in one go. It also met the conditions for remote submission through digital means for the first time, successfully completed the development task, and won unanimous recognition from shipowners, shipyards and classification societies.
In order to meet the development demand, CPGC designed and built the fifth new fuel supply system independently after low-pressure natural gas (NG), high-pressure liquefied natural gas (LNG), high-pressure liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and methanol, and it is also the first ethane supply system used for the test run of the low-speed engine in China.
Ethane is an important chemical raw material. With the increasing global demand for ethane and other fuels, the market demand for large-scale liquefied ethane carriers is also growing continuously. CPGC’s ethane dual-fuel engine development technology provides advanced and green power solutions for these ships and injects new vitality into the development of the global shipping industry.