MAN B&W Copenhagen – the brains behind the brawn

At the heart of development and production of MAN B&W low-speed engines is the Copenhagen works.

While few engines are produced in Denmark, the home of MAN B&W remains firmly in Copenhagen works. This facility covers 34,700m² and provides employment for 1,000 staff: 300 on component production, 100 on R&D, and the remainder in administration (including licensee liaison).

Recently the R&D section has been concentrating on a joint venture with Statoil to develop an engine to run on the Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) for a shuttle tanker. Currently the VOC is vented to atmosphere as the tanker is loaded. With this system the VOC is captured, cleaned, condensed and compressed to 400 bar into a liquid for storage. It is then heated before injecting into the cylinder. During development of the system it was found that pilot injection of 8 per cent MDO provided the most reliable and predictable initiation of combustion. There are separate injectors in the cylinder head for VOC, MDO and HFO (for back-up operation).

When the engine goes into use in 1999 in a Statoil shuttle tanker, it should be able to capture enough VOC to provide fuel for the complete round trip. Not only does it prevent this VOC entering the atmosphere but the engine`s SOx and particulate emissions are cut by 50 – 90 per cent and NOx reduced by 20 – 30 per cent.