Wartsila's RT-flex common rail engine technology provides environmental benefits including low fuel consumption and reductions in exhaust emissions. The engine waste heat is utilized to produce onboard electricity. These features help maintaining and operating seaborne transportation in more economical and sustainable ways. Wartsila, the marine industry's leading system integrator, will supply the main engines for a series of vessels   being built for Kuwait Oil Tanker Co. (KOTC), a Subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. Four VLCCs (Very Large Crude Oil Carriers), one Aframax tanker and four medium-range tankers are being built at the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) shipyard in South Korea.
The VLCCs will be fitted with 7-cylinder Wartsila RT-flex 82T engines and a Waste Heat Recovery System, whereby the exhaust gas energy is utilized to generate steam. This steam is used to operate a turbo generator that produces electricity for the ship. The Aframax vessel will be powered by a Wartsila 6-cylinder RT-flex 58T main engine, and the medium-range tankers by a Wartsila 7RT-flex50D main engine. All engines will be built by the Engine & Machinery Division of Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (HHI-EMD), which is a Wartsila licensee since 1975 and based in South-Korea. The orders were received during the first half of the year.
Wartsila's RT-flex common rail engine technology is designed with electronically controlled fuel injection and valve operation. Its benefits include extremely low Specific Fuel Oil Consumption (SFOC) across the entire operation range, and smokeless operation at all running speeds. The resulting reductions in exhaust emissions are of considerable significance as the marine industry is under pressure to reduce its environmental footprint.
"The choice of Wartsila RT-flex engines ensures that these new vessels will be both fuel and energy efficient, and that their emissions will be minimized. It is obvious that the Wartsila RT-flex82 engine is increasingly becoming the preferred choice for VLCCs worldwide," says Lars Anderson, Vice President Merchant, Wartsila Ship Power.
KOTC has considerable experience with Wartsila's engine technology. The company already has two of its vessels fitted with Wartsila main engines and four vessels fitted with Wartsila auxiliary engines.
More information:
Wartsila solutions for Merchant ships
Wartsila RT-flex 58T
Wartsila RT-flex82T
Wartsila RT-flex50D
Links to images:
RT-flex82T
RT-flex58T
Source: Wartsila Oyj Abp