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Using an environmentally-friendly LNG hybrid barge to supply power to cruise ships lying at port is currently one of the latest projects in the shipping industry. Together with Aida Cruises, Hamburg-based Becker Marine Systems initiated the world’s first LNG hybrid barge.
Up until today, no shore-side power supply for cruise ships has been implemented in Europe. Now, however, the LNG hybrid barge named the HUMMEL, can be deployed as a mobile system at different terminals in European ports. Due to its clean combustion, the use of LNG as a fuel reduces the emission of soot particles and sulphur oxides by 100%, CO2 by approximately 20% and nitrogen oxides by about 88%.
Becker Marine Systems’ LNG Hybrid department is currently working on a small and more mobile solution – LNG Hybrid PowerPac. The objective is for freighters and container ships requiring less energy than cruise ships to also be supplied with electricity from environmentally-friendly LNG during layovers at port. In addition, LNG ferry projects and ship propulsion systems are in the planning stage.
Engine room
There is a large engine room on board the LNG hybrid barge, which at its current stage of development holds five generators that run on LNG. The generators are the first gas engines with marine approval from Caterpillar. Built in the U.S. and then prepared for use and tested by Zeppelin in Bremen/Achim, Germany, each individual generator produces approx. 1.5 MW.
LNG container & gas processing unit
All LNG equipment is housed in the rear section of the barge. It primarily consists of two 40 foot containers and a gas treatment plant. The containers are currently filled with approximately 15 tonnes of LNG at the Fluxys Terminal in Zeebrugge and delivered to Hamburg just in time for each cruise ship to be supplied. In the adjacent gas treatment plant, the cryogenic (-163 °C) and liquefied gas is heated, turning it into the actual gaseous phase, passed on to the gas generators, and there in the gas train it is specifically adjusted for the engine.
Source: Becker Marine Systems via Gazprom Blue Fuel Newsletter.
