DSME Orders Wärtsilä’s Inert Gas Solutions for New LNG Carriers

South Korean Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) has contracted Finnish engineering company Wärtsilä to supply combined inert gas generators and gas combustion units for 17 new LNG carriers currently under construction.

Wärtsilä and DSME signed the supply contracts in June and September. The newbuilding vessels will we employed with operators in Singapore, Greece, South Korea, Cyprus and Canada.

The combined inert gas generators and gas combustion units, developed by Wärtsilä in cooperation with DSME, have a maximum volume of up to 3800 kg/h, which is sufficient for the industry’s largest LNG carriers.

The system uses an existing Wärtsilä Moss inert gas generator to burn the boil-off gas, thereby eliminating the need for a conventional gas combustion unit. This results in considerable capital expenditure savings. At the same time, by using the boil-off gas as fuel for creating inert gas, the combined system also provides notable operating cost savings.

“The combined IGG-GCU system has a minimal environmental footprint. This is achieved through the replacement of a separate onboard system, and by using the boil-off gas for inert gas generation, which together minimise the extra use of marine diesel oil (MDO) fuel,” Wärtsilä said.

Wärtsilä has earlier supplied smaller versions of the combined IGG-GCU system since its introduction in 2013. These new Wärtsilä contracts are scheduled to be delivered to the yard commencing in the third quarter of 2016.