Abstract
A novel ship propulsion concept employs natural gas to reduce ship emissions and improve overall ship propulsion efficiency. This concept proposes a serial integration of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) and a natural gas engine, while anode-off gas (gas at the fuel cell exhaust) is used in the natural gas engine. This study focusses on SOFC-gas engine integration by experimentally analyzing the effects of adding hydrogen, which is the main combustible component of the fuel cell anode-off gas, in marine natural gas engines. The overall challenge is to employ the anode-off gas to improve the performance of marine natural gas engines. To study the effects of anode-off gas combustion in natural gas engines, experiments with hydrogen addition in a marine natural gas engine of 500 kW rated power were performed. Natural gas was replaced with 10 % and 20 % of hydrogen, by volume, without any penalties in terms of output power. We found that the high combustion rate of hydrogen improved combustion stability, which allowed for better air-excess ratio control. Thus allowing leaning to higher air-excess ratios and extending the, otherwise, limited operating window. Hydrogen addition also improved brake thermal efficiency by 1.2 %, while keeping NOx emissions below the maritime emission regulations. The improvement in engine efficiency with a larger operating window may help improve the load-taking capabilities of marine natural gas engines.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Proceedings ASME 2018 Internal Combustion Engine Division Fall Technical Conference |
Subtitle of host publication | Volume 1: Large Bore Engines; Fuels; Advanced Combustion |
Place of Publication | New York, NY, USA |
Publisher | ASME |
Number of pages | 10 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 978-0-7918-5198-2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2018 |
Event | ICEF 2018: ASME 2018 Internal Combustion Engine Division Fall Technical Conference - San Diego, United States Duration: 4 Nov 2018 → 7 Nov 2018 |
Conference
Conference | ICEF 2018: ASME 2018 Internal Combustion Engine Division Fall Technical Conference |
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Country/Territory | United States |
City | San Diego |
Period | 4/11/18 → 7/11/18 |