Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Marine Machinery & Engine has finalized retrofit work to enable 80 liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers to sail on low sulfur fuel.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) decided in October 2016 to impose a global 0.50% marine fuel sulfur limit from 2020.
In order to comply with the new regulation, oil companies are developing their own brand fuels such as ultra low sulfur heavy fuel oil (ULSHFO) which contain 0.5% of sulfur or below, MHI-MME said in a statement.
However, the oil property of ULSHFO is very variable, depending on its brand or supplier, with no international standard, and this can lead to unstable combustion of the burner, according to the statement.
MHI-MME’s burner and control system developed for low sulfur marine gas oil (LSMGO) for main boilers enables to burn the fuel in a wide range of viscosity, it said.
The Japanese company added it had already applied such technologies to auxiliary boilers for all new building vessels.