HD Hyundai Heavy Industries announced on October 10 that it has developed the world’s first high-pressure direct injection ammonia dual-fuel engine.
Ammonia is a representative eco-friendly fuel that can replace existing fossil fuels.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries recently completed the type approval test for the ‘HiMSEN Ammonia Dual Fuel Engine’ (HiMSEN Ammonia Engine) in the presence of seven classification societies, namely ABS (USA), DNV (Norway), LR (UK), BV (France), RINA (Italy), NK (Japan) and KR (Korea).
By getting the type approvals for detailed examination and suitability review of the engine, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries plans to commercialize the engine in earnest.
The ammonia engine developed this time can be used for power and propulsion of ammonia carriers and merchant ships. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries plans to supply this engine to the onshore power generation market.
The ammonia engine developed so far is a ‘low-pressure premixing’ method in which ammonia fuel and air are mixed and supplied to the combustion chamber of the engine, which is then compressed and burned.
This newly developed “high-pressure direct injection method” compresses air in the engine combustion chamber and sprays ammonia fuel under high pressure to burn it.
Although the engine output and fuel efficiency are high and the greenhouse gas emissions such as nitrous oxide (N2O) can be greatly reduced, global engine companies have been struggling to develop it due to high technical difficulty.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries explained that it maximized the combustion rate of ammonia by setting the optimal time and period of fuel injection, and minimized the amount of nitrogen oxides and non-nitrogen ammonia in the exhaust gas by utilizing the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) device.
In addition, an independently developed integrated ammonia scrubber was applied to significantly reduce ammonia emissions. Scrubbers are responsible for removing harmful substances from exhaust gases.
An official of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries said, “The development of this ammonia engine is meaningful in that it has become an opportunity to expand the lineup of eco-friendly dual-fuel engines and We will lead the future eco-friendly ship market with ultra-differential technology.”