WASTE HEAT UTILIZATION OF MAIN PROPULSION ENGINE JACKET WATER IN MARINE APPLICATION

asme-orc2015 Tracking Number 42

As world trade grows, fuel prices increase, and International Maritime Organization (IMO) emissions requirements tighten, there is more demand for the marine industry to employ innovative means of reducing the fuel consumption and emissions of shipping vessels. The main propulsion engines of large shipping vessels produce great quantities of jacket water heat at temperatures below 95 C, but this valuable heat energy is transferred to cooling systems and rejected to the world’s oceans as waste. At the same time, the electrical needs of these vessels are sustained by burning diesel fuel to run generators. To utilize the jacket water waste heat Calnetix Technologies, in partnership with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), has developed the HydrocurrentTM 125EJW (Engine Jacket Water) Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) to convert low-grade heat energy into grid-quality electric power. Large vessels such as tankers, bulk carriers, and container vessels with an engine output of approximately 30 MW can output as much as 300 m3/hr of 80 to 95 C jacket water from their main propulsion engines. When integrated into the jacket water and sea water systems of such vessels, the ORC unit can produce up to 125 kW of gross grid-quality electric power. To produce 125 kW of power, a diesel generator would consume as much as 250 metric tons of diesel fuel per year in addition to its generated emissions and maintenance requirements. Calnetix Technologies has leveraged its core technologies to develop a new high efficiency ORC system that is compact and modular in design. In addition, the ORC unit has been certified by marine classification societies Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (NK) and Lloyd’s Register (LR) for installation on any vessel without modification. The following is a description and validation of the commercially available, class society certified system that has been realized.