August 2024
"Sakigake" which is the world’s first commercial use ammonia fueled Vessel equipped with Volcano Gas Combustion Unit MECS-N25 was completed.
On August 23, the world’s first commercial use ammonia fueled Vessel equipped "Sakigake"*1, which Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha ordered and Keihin Dock Co., Ltd. converted from the LNG fueled vessel to the ammonia fueled vessel, was completed.
Volcano Gas Combustion Unit for ammonia fueled vessel "MECS-N25"*2 has been installed in "Sakigake" in order to process ammmonia gas which is generated on ammmonia fueled vessels.
*1 "Sakigake"
This vessel was a Green Innovation Fund Project* initiated in October 2021 under Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) to develop vessels equipped with domestically produced ammonia-fueled engines.
The predecessor, the LNG-fueled tugboat of the same name, was completed in August 2015 as the first LNG-fueled vessel in Japan. After eight years of tug service in Tokyo Bay, the vessel was docked at the NYK Group's Keihin Dock Co. Ltd. for conversion to an ammonia-fueled vessel.
The main engine, etc., were replaced with ammonia-fueled ones, and sea trials were conducted using ammonia as fuel. The completed vessel has taken the name Sakigake, hoping it will be a pioneer of ammonia-fueled vessels, just as it was of LNG-fueled vessels.
(Quoted from “NYK Completes World’s First Commercial-Use Ammonia-Fueled Vessel,” a press release by Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha dated August 23rd, 2024)
*2
“MECS-N” for Ammonia (NH3) fueled vessel is a variation of the gas combustion unit “MECS-GCU”, which is installed in LNG tag boats, LNG bunkering vessels and the other kind of vessels.
The utilization of ammonia is expected as next generation fuel for climate change mitigation. Gas Combustion Unit for Ammonia (NH3) Fueled Vessel “MECS-N” processes ammonia gas safely and compliantly.
As a new product development subsidized project of the Japan Ship Machinery and Equipment Association (JSMEA), this product was developed with a subsidy from the Nippon Foundation.