New fuels for large engines
In future, cars will be built predominantly with electric drives – will this soon also apply to ship propulsion systems? Andreas Willim addresses these and other questions. Continue reading
As a supplier of components for large combustion engines, we are often asked whether this business model has a future at all.
The decisive factor is that different framework conditions apply to the application areas of the large engine than to so-called mobility in road and rail transport. For example, battery solutions for seagoing ships are not realistic in the next few years because of the high battery weights required here.
In summary, it can be said at present that the large engine will not be replaced on a large scale for at least 10 to 20 years.
However, certain areas of application will adapt even in the short term. For example, large power generation plants that have so far been operated exclusively with several large engines will in future be built in combination with wind and solar power plants. The engines will supply electricity whenever the sun does not shine sufficiently or the wind does not blow. Also, the renewable electricity that cannot be used on the market can be converted into synthetic fuels or green hydrogen in integrated chemical plants, which can then in turn be burned in the engines in a climate-neutral way.
In the medium and long term, these new fuels will be the dominant basis for future applications of large combustion engines. With the use of e.g. green methanol, ammonia and later hydrogen, engines can be operated in a climate-neutral way. This is the way to use a highly reliable technology that has matured for over a hundred years in a climate-neutral way in the future.
All our major customers are developing pilot projects for alternative fuels worldwide and are gradually bringing them onto the market. M. JÜRGENSEN, as a supplier and technology partner for core components such as the liner and the valve seat insert, must be in close exchange with development institutes, universities and above all with our customers. We need to understand what demands will be placed on our components in the future due to such new fuels. Once again, we must be one step ahead of our competitors in order to defend our leading market position in the future.