MAFCs

Recent established shipping regulations are gradually banning the burning of classic heavy oil (HFO) due to its high content of sulfur and heavy metals, which lead to large amounts of air pollution. This has led shipping companies to use low-sulfur fuels, known as MGO/MDO, and are therefore making significant changes to its combustion.

The ship’s fuel supply and injection system is not designed to use MGO/MDO fuel due to the fact that low-sulfur fuels have low viscosity and do not provide adequate lubrication properties, leading to premature engine wear.

However, the required viscosity value (> 2.0 cSt) can be achieved by supplying MGO fuel at a temperature of approximately 18 οC. Given the relatively high temperature values ​​in a conventional ship’s MGO oil storage tanks, the reduction in temperature can only be achieved by applying a cooling cycle to the MGO oil supply line. When switching from HFO fuel to MGO, ie from a fuel preheated to 150 οC to a fuel that wants to be cooled to 18 οC, there are several parameters that must be checked on the ship. The most important parameters are the HFO & MGO supply control, but also the cooling rate of the machine.

During the MACS project, Psyctotherm successfully developed an innovative engine designed to heat and adjust the sulfur content of oil in response to evolving shipping regulations. With recent legislation increasingly prohibiting the use of classic heavy fuel oil (HFO) due to its harmful sulfur and heavy metal emissions, shipping companies have been compelled to switch to low-sulfur fuels like marine gas oil (MGO) and marine diesel oil (MDO). However, the existing fuel supply and injection systems on ships are not optimized for these low-sulfur alternatives, which have lower viscosity and inadequate lubrication properties, leading to potential engine wear. To address this challenge, Psyctotherm engineered a specialized refrigeration unit that cools MGO to the required viscosity of over 2.0 cSt by reducing its temperature to approximately 18 °C. This cooling process is crucial as ships typically store MGO at much higher temperatures, necessitating a cooling cycle within the fuel supply line. The project included the design and construction of a sophisticated system integrating this refrigeration unit with automated control valves, allowing for a seamless transition between HFO and MGO without disrupting engine operation.