MERS-equipped Ship Records 8% Fuel Savings
The push to outfit commercial vessels with energy saving equipment continues, and news out of Japan says that a Mitsubishi Energy Recovery System (MERS) supplied by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Marine Machinery & Engine Co., Ltd. (MHI-MME) was installed on a VLOC (Very Large Ore Carrier) for the first time. The system is designed to enhance power generation efficiency by maximizing recovery and utilization of exhaust gas waste energy from marine diesel engines, and demonstrated significant fuel consumption improvement compared with existing ships during at-sea trial. MERS ability to reduce fuel consumption and environmental impact has already been confirmed through installation and testing in containerships that consume large amounts of electricity, and the latest installation broadens the vessel range.
In the current instance, MERS was installed on an ore carrier of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL), which was built by Namura Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. MERS is the system that optimally controls exhaust gas turbines and steam turbines, designed to enhance fuel efficiency by recovering waste heat at a wide range of engine load. The latest MERS enables even greater waste energy recovery by incorporating shaft motors that delivers surplus power back to the main engine. As results, the new MERS was able to reduce fuel consumption by approximately 8%. Going forward, MHI-MME will continue to propose various innovative energy-saving and environmental solutions to enhance seagoing energy efficiency and environmental preservation efforts.
(As published in the June 2014 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News - http://magazines.marinelink.com/Magazines/MaritimeRertepor)