Bergen Engines’ LNG engines can now handle 25% hydrogen blend

The entire range of LNG-fuelled engines developed by Norwegian engine manufacturer Bergen Engines can now accommodate up to 25% hydrogen blend.

PHOTO: Hydrogen storage tanks. Getty Images

The engines can operate with a 25% hydrogen blend without requiring any modification, the company said.

When blended with LNG in medium-speed engines, hydrogen can “significantly lower” carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, Bergen Engines argued. The increased hydrogen content also improves the combustion efficiency of the engine that leads to higher fuel savings, it claimed.

Bergen Engines successfully commercialised LNG-fuelled engines with a 15% hydrogen blend in 2022. The company is currently working toward the development of a 100% hydrogen-fuelled engine by the end of this year.

However, it is important to note that internal combustion engines using hydrogen will need to use pilot fuel for combustion. 

Challenges with hydrogen as a bunker fuel

Hydrogen-based technologies are making their way into short-sea shipping due to green hydrogen's zero-emission properties. However, some concerns around hydrogen as a mainstream fuel exist as hydrogen is both explosive and flammable.

Hydrogen has a volumetric energy density that is 4.6 times lower than VLSFO, according to the classification society American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), hence it requires 4.6 times more volume of fuel compared to VLSFO, to achieve the same energy output.

Due to its very low energy density, hydrogen-powered vessels would need much larger tanks to store the same amount of energy as VLSFO- or LNG-powered vessels.

Since hydrogen needs to be compressed or stored cryogenically at low temperatures, it adds to the complexity of onboard storage, increasing the cost of bunkering and operational logistics.

By Aparupa Mazumder 

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