Retrofit Solutions

Slow Steaming
 Retrofit Solutions
Slow steaming

Out of the total operational costs of a ship, fuel costs account for by far the
highest proportion. In view of the global economic situation and the rising oil
prices, ship owners and charterers are looking for solutions to cut costs by
reducing fuel consumption. Low-load operation, also well known as “slow
steaming”, represents the currently most effective and popular measure to cut
fuel costs and in consequence the total operational costs.

Ship speed calculations based on fuel price and Reduction of needed engine power and resulting
charter rate parameters in the operation departments fuel cost savings by "slow steaming"
of the shipping companies, and the need to prevent
lay-ups of ships as far as possible, have resulted
Relative vessel speed (%)

100
in requests to operate ships down to 50% of their
90
maximum speed.
80
70
These requests represent a challenge to the engine
60
builders, because main engines of large vessels will
50
have to be operated at very low rates of their nominal
40
power – in certain cases only at approx. 10% MCR.
30
20
MAN Diesel & Turbo can offer a number of different
10
solutions to operate main engines at low-load. Making
0
the engine more flexible in terms of variation of load
profiles calls for optimisation of the fuel oil consump- 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
tion and ajustment of the ship speed. This refers to Engine load (%)
low-load operation of four-stroke and two-stroke main % vessel speed (knots)

engines as well as long term or temporary measures. % fuel / CO2 / (mass / nautic mile)

Principle scetch, depending on propulsion design

MAN B&W Diesel

Retrofit Solutions – Slow steaming 3
 Measures on Two-Stroke Main Engines

Continuous operation at low engine load will require system is an obvious choice for new-buildings and as
more attention from the operator. A number of options a retrofit on large and small bore engines, because the
are available from MAN Diesel & Turbo to support reduced CLO feed rate leads to very short payback
operators of ME and MC two-stroke engines in times. The CLO dosage is adjusted by the touch of a
optimising low-load running for slow steaming button enabling a fast adaptation to a new operating
and extra slow steaming modes. Among them are condition. Further the alpha lubricator system is dosing
turbocharging system modifications that aim to the CLO according to the actual power output of
raise the scavenge air pressure at part-load, such the engine, meaning that the CLO consumption is
as rematching of turbochargers, derating of engine optimised over the total range of operation.
power output, variable turbine area technology,
sequential turbocharging and turbocharger cut-out ACC Upgrade
technology. When operating engines in the range Earlier generations of the Alpha lube installations
between 10% and 40% of MCR, the following described above can be upgraded to the latest speci-
recommendations and prerequisites apply: fications. The new version features small plungers and
a smaller minimum stroke, providing a higher injection
Slide fuel valves frequency.
The slide type fuel valve is the standard on all new
engines, but it can also be retrofitted on MC engines. At low load, the electronically controlled Alpha lube
The slide fuel valve reduces the so-called “sac switches from load dependency to RPM or MEP
volume”, a measure which eliminates dripping of the dependency, meaning that it deliberately over-lubri-
fuel valve nozzle. This feature leads to a cleaner com- cates at low load. However, service experience has
bustion chamber, cleaner exhaust gas passages and found this to be unnecessary. As a result, you can
reduced emissions. In addition, the slide fuel valve save additional cylinder lube oil when operating at
has a NOx reduction potential of 20% because of the reduced load.
changed injection pattern. The fuel valve is a NOx
component and, therefore, requires an amendment The ACC upgrade consists of replacing the inner parts
to the technical file. It has to be proven by measure- of the Alpha lubricators and updating the software to
ments that the NOx level is not increased. The level of achieve a higher injection frequency.
NOx reduction is found by comparing the conventional
and the slide type injection valve. Installing the latest version of the control unit, or ALCU,
delivers additional benefits, thanks to a more precise
Alpha lubricators calibration at low load. The latest ALCU software is
Alpha lubricators with the alpha adaptive cylinder-oil calibrated at 5 load points from 10-100% load.
control (ACC) are the state-of-the-art in cylinder oil
dosage, and are a modern tool to control the cylinder In short, retrofitting all the above features results in a
lubricating oil (CLO) feed rate. The alpha lubricator significantly improved cylinder oil consumption at low
load.

4 Retrofit Solutions – Slow steaming

Obtainable load range after one turbocharger cut-out

No. of turbochargers 1 of 2 2 of 3 3 of 4

Load range for ME & ME-B 10-40% MCR 10-66% MCR 10-74% MCR
Load range for MC & MC-C 10-35% MCR 10-61% MCR 10-69% MCR

Turbocharger cut-out Retrofit of a VTA-turbocharger

The turbocharger cut-out system is designed to lower Starting with “slow steaming” low-load optimisation
the fuel oil consumption and improve the main engine measures, the best flexible adjustment to the load
performance during part-load operation. Turbocharger profile with highest savings is achieved by the
cut-out can be achieved in two different ways, either variable turbine area technology VTA. With a certain
by installing swing gate valves on the turbocharger air high-load share, the return on invest (ROI) is in the
outlet and turbocharger exhaust gas inlet or by install- range of 1-2 years. Due to the investment cost,
ing blinding plates on the turbocharger air outlet and plants with more than one turbocharger per engine
the turbocharger exhaust gas inlet and outlet. are unbeatable with waste-gate or cut-out installation
in terms of ROI. Nevertheless, after few years the
However, we recommend installation of swing gates benefit will be higher with VTA. In case of turbocharger
on engines with multiple turbochargers. cut-out with different frame sizes – if the number
According to Marpol Annex VI, the turbocharger cut- of turbochargers is increased referring to this – the
out retrofit requires an amendment to the technical file investment in the additional turbocharger including
by verifying the NOx emissions. piping and flaps will cause an inferior position
compared with all other measures.
Turbocharger rematching
When justified by the expected duration of the low-
load operation, turbocharger system modifications
and derating of the engine power output can give
significant benefits.

Sequential turbocharging
Sequential turbocharging is a special case of turbo-
charger cut-out for smaller bore engines, which are
normally equipped with one or two turbochargers.
Instead of just one or two equally-sized turbochargers,
one small and one large turbocharger are installed.
Both turbochargers are active at high load, whereas
only one turbocharger is active at low-load. Specific
fuel oil consumption (SFOC) benefits are similar to the Variable turbine area (VTA)
benefits obtained with normal turbocharger cut-out.

Retrofit Solutions – Slow steaming 5

 Measures on Four-Stroke Engines

Temporary load reduction

Low-load operation with heavy fuel from 100% MCR With VTA, the volume of charge air can be precisely
down to 25% MCR requires no adaptation or special matched to the quantity of fuel injected at the entire
measures. Special attention is only necessary at less load range of the main engine. This leads to the
than 25% MCR. After a phase of low-load operation following benefits:
on heavy fuel, the engine must be switched over
to operation on MDO/MGO fuel, or it must be  Long term part-load operation of the main engine
operated on heavy fuel at a higher load (> 70% MCR).  100% MCR stays available
Operation at higher load is necessary to burn off depos-  Reduction of soot and smoke generation

its in the cylinder and on the turbine of the exhaust  Reduction of CO emissions
2
gas turbocharger. The engine manual describes the  Improving SFOC at part-load

recommended procedure.  Improving of engine performance

Long term load reduction

For long term operation of main engines on heavy fuel The systems and options described can be combined
at less than 25% MCR, we recommend to contact in numerous ways, and variations of the systems
MAN Diesel & Turbo to work out a tailored and can be chosen. MAN Diesel & Turbo can tailor the
optimised solution. Out of the portfolio of possible solution preferred to individual circumstances and
solutions the modification of the turbocharger offers operating profiles. We take care for adaption of the
the highest potential. Some of these solutions will IAPP Certificate (IMO). You are welcome to contact
result in an ammendment of the technical file accord- MAN Diesel & Turbo for special requirements, a spe-
ing Marpol Annex VI. cific case study, or if further information is needed.

Turbocharger retrofit MAN Diesel & Turbo is a leading manufacturer and

The turbocharger can be adapted to low-load oper- designer of low speed and medium speed engines,
ation by modifying the air-flow rate, adapting the and our constant research and development enable
charge-air pressure, and increasing the turbocharger us to enhance your engines’ reliability and efficiency.
efficiency. This enables the main engine to fulfil a long
term part-load operation.

Depending on the request the following turbocharger

components are to be modified:

 Nozzle ring
 Nozzle ring and turbine rotor
 Nozzle ring and complete turbocharger rotor

 Installation of a new VTA-turbocharger with variable

turbine area

6 Retrofit Solutions – Slow steaming

MAN B&W Diesel
Retrofit Solutions – Slow steaming 7
All data provided in this document is non-binding. This data serves informational
purposes only and is especially not guaranteed in any way. Depending on the
subsequent specific individual projects, the relevant data may be subject to
changes and will be assessed and determined individually for each project. This
will depend on the particular characteristics of each individual project, especially
specific site and operational conditions · Copyright © MAN Diesel & Turbo ·
D2366468EN-N2 Printed in Germany GMC-AUG-10112

MAN Diesel & Turbo

86224 Augsburg, Germany

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