J-Eng tests MGO-fuelled UEC50LSJ

The two-stroke engine is designed for mono-fuel operation using either marine gas oil (MGO) or marine diesel oil (MDO).

J-Eng notes the engine benefits from lower fuel consumption compared with conventional engines, and will have lower operating costs, despite prevailing price differentials between MGO and HFO. The lower fuel consumption will also improve the engine’s EEDI performance.

The company is hoping to achieve fuel consumption savings of 7-8%, a company representative told the Motorship. J-Eng is currently carrying out performance optimization and reliability verification tests on the test engine.

The use of MGO will eliminate the need to pre-heat fuel while MGO offers improved cleanliness, which will further reduce costs, both during operation and while at anchor.

The UEC50LSJ engine complies fully with NOx, SOx, and EEDI environmental requirements. The engine uses J-Eng’s Low Pressure EGR System (LP-EGR) developed to comply with International Maritime Organisation NOx Tier III regulations.

J-Eng notes that there are several advantages to using MGO or MDO fuels to meet the 2020 sulphur cap, compared with other less established solutions. MGO or MDO fuels are stable and already used in the market. The UEC-LSJ engine offers a safe and reliable solution to ship owners interested in using MGO and/or MDO.

J-Eng is exploring the possibility of collaborating with Onomichi Shipyard to install the engine in a vessel, although the engine is still undergoing development. The mono-fuelled UEC50LSJ engine variant has already attracted interest from European and Asian based shipowners, a company representative told the Motorship.