New solution set to ‘turbocharge’ gas market

MFC will fund and co-ordinate all feasibility and beta testing necessary to determine how APG’s Turbocharged Natural Gas dual-fuel system can be commercialised in Europe for marine applications, including onboard prime and ancillary power as well as port based stationary power applications.

“We think the timing is right for forming this relationship as it has been recently reported that as of 1 January 2015, ships sailing on US, Canadian and European routes will be compelled to burn much cleaner and more expensive diesel fuel under new environmental regulations adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO),” explained Lyle Jensen, CEO, APG.

“North America and Northern-Europe fall within the so-called Emission Controlled Areas (ECAs) which encompass the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, the English Channel and areas within 200 nautical miles of the US and Canadian shore,” he added.

APG’s system meters natural gas into the induction system of a diesel engine. An Electronic Control Unit (ECU) monitors many base engine functions within the OEM engine system such as coolant temp, exhaust gas temp, load/manifold absolute pressure, either through serial communication and/or through APG installed sensors.

The Dual Fuel controller will not allow natural gas to flow unless the base engine parameters are within normal operating range, therefore “cold” engine start‐up is on 100% diesel fuel. The conventional diesel engine governor controller acts to reduce diesel fuel flow as natural gas is introduced to maintain requested engine speed/load.

APG says the system is also non-invasive to the OEM diesel engine and takes a read only position to the OEM CanBus network. If for any reason, the engine parameters are not within standard operating range, as programmed in the APG ECM, the APG Mixed‐Fuel system turns off the NG flow and returns the engine back to 100% diesel fuel operation.

The result is said to be annual fuel savings of 20% ‐ 45%, peak diesel displacement up to 75%, average diesel displacement between 40%‐ 55% and no limit on horsepower.

The feasibility and beta testing period is set to run between nine to 15 months. Once MFC has completed the feasibility study and beta tests, it will sell and install APG’s Turbocharged Natural Gas dual-fuel solution in select marine applications and in select European countries under a multi-year sublicense.