The Italian Navy and Wartsila Italy have presented an innovative tank for dual fuel ships (diesel and liquid natural gas), protected by patent. The news was announced during the AugustaGNL workshop, organized by ConferenzaGNL in collaboration with the Italian Navy’s Sicily Command.

The dual tank, called COMBOPAC, has been designed in order to minimize the size of an Oceanographic research vessel. The vessel includes an electric propulsion system with diesel engines that can use either diesel fuel and liquid methane.

The ship can operate in protected marine areas including Arctic and Antarctic seas. The tank can be applied to any ship, not only vassels for marine research activities, and it can be used also for navigation in inland seas such as Baltic, Adriatic and the Black Sea.