Kobe Steel in new screw compressor application
The compressors will be installed on a 180,000m3, 297.9m loa gas carrier to be built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) for Mitsui OSK Lines and Itochu Corp. The compressors will be delivered in August 2017 and the vessel, which employs WinGD’s X-DF dual-fuel two-stroke engines, will be in service by 2018.
Previous configurations for supplying boil-off gas to two-stroke engines have employed either pumps or reciprocating compressors. But Kobe Steel noted that screw compressors are well suited to the application as they can keep pace with load fluctuations – two-stroke engines require fuel gas pressure to vary depending on engine load – and operate most efficiently at medium and high pressures.
The compressors will be used to compress gas that has boiled off from the ship’s cargo and supply it to the X-DF engines. A reciprocating compressor (also to be supplied by Kobe Steel) will be used for reliquefaction of boil-off gas, allowing the boil-off to be returned to the cargo.
The market size for non-standard compressors for marine dual-fuel engines is forecast to total over Y20 billion (US$191.5 million) in the next five years, according to Kobe Steel. The company – which claims to be the only manufacturer to produce centrifugal, reciprocating and screw compressors – said it aims to gain more than 50% of the market by 2020.
