Recently, the CPGC-8ML320DM methanol dual-fuel engine, independently developed by CSSC Power (Group) Corporation Ltd. (CPGC), a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), successfully completed its type test and was delivered. This marks a key breakthrough for China in the field of green, low-carbon propulsion for large-bore medium-speed engines, providing the global shipping industry with a domestically developed and controllable “Chinese core” for its transition to low-carbon operations.
According to reports, this engine combines high efficiency, intelligence, environmental friendliness, and safety, representing a new generation of high-end, domestically developed green and low-carbon power equipment. It delivers a single-cylinder power output of 500 kW, achieves a methanol substitution rate exceeding 50%, and, when equipped with SCR technology, fully complies with IMO Tier III emission standards.
This engine features intake manifold injection and an independent modular design, and is equipped with CPGC’s proprietary electronic control system. It offers real-time, dynamic, and precise control of methanol injection, mode switching, knock, and cylinder pressure, and was the first to obtain cybersecurity certification from a classification society.
Taking into account the characteristics of methanol fuel, multiple safety barriers have been established to cover methanol supply, injection, and combustion control. This series of engines, ranging from 6- to 9-cylinder inline engines to 12- to 16-cylinder V-type engines, is widely used as main engines for inland waterway and coastal vessels, as well as in generator sets for large ocean-going vessels.