Hanwha Ocean to build gas carrier with ammonia gas turbine

South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean plans to debut an ammonia gas turbine-powered LNG carrier by 2028.

PHOTO: Hanwha Ocean’s LNG carrier concept Ocean 1. Hanwha Ocean

The South Korean shipbuilder first introduced the concept in January last year, highlighting that replacing ammonia dual-fuel internal combustion engines (ICEs) with a gas turbine on ships would eliminate reliance on pilot fuels such as diesel.

Ammonia as a fuel needs pilot fuel, like diesel, for ignition since ammonia's high auto-ignition temperature makes it difficult to burn readily or sustain combustion. Since the diesel pilot emits carbon dioxide, it undermines the ammonia's zero-emission potential.

“As existing internal combustion engines [ICEs] require 5% to 15% of pilot fuel, diesel, for the purpose of ignition, building a vessel free of carbon emissions requires a fundamentally different approach,” Dong Kwan Kim, vice chairman of Hanwha Group said last year.

Hanwha Ocean is developing the vessel in collaboration with Hanwha Power Systems (HPS), both subsidiaries of South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group. Energy technology company Baker Hughes will also contribute to this project.

HPS has designed an ammonia pre-combustion combustor, which will be integrated into the gas turbine. This technology is designed to partially oxidise ammonia before it enters the main combustion process. A research paper published by Harvard researchers suggests that such a system could enhance the effectiveness of ammonia combustion in gas turbines.

Both the vessel concept and the pre-combustion combustor have received approvals from classification society American Bureau of Shipping (ABS). Hanwha Power Systems also completed an ammonia pre-combustion test last year, marking a step forward in the project’s development.

“Hanwha Group plans to complete the development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and container ships using ammonia gas turbine propulsion systems by 2028,” the company confirmed.

By Konica Bhatt

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