August 9, 2023
 

Fairbanks Morse Defense, ORNL collaborate on developing low-lifecycle carbon fuel (LLCF) technology for marine engines

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Fairbanks Morse Defense (FMD), a portfolio company of Arcline Investment Management, have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on the development and integration of alternative fuel technologies aimed at reducing the marine engine’s reliance on fossil fuels. FMD will incorporate the research and development conducted at ORNL into its engine design technology.

Marine engines heavily rely on diesel fuel, which constitutes a significant annual expense for the Department of Defense (DOD). However, global decarbonization efforts are expected to limit the availability of diesel fuel and drive up costs. In anticipation of this shift, the DOD is exploring options to transition its marine engine technology to low-lifecycle carbon fuels (LLCF) such as methanol, ammonia, hydrogen, and biodiesel.

Oak Ridge is a leader in decarbonization research, clean energy technology development, and defense manufacturing. Collaborating with a trusted national security partner like Fairbanks Morse Defense will enable us to translate our scientific expertise into deployable technologies for the Department of Defense.

—Moe Khaleel, Associate Laboratory Director for National Security Sciences

Under the terms of the MOU, ORNL will leverage its research and development expertise, while FMD will contribute its power and propulsion design and manufacturing proficiency to promote the use of LLCFs in marine engines.

FMD will define the performance and durability requirements and design testing components, while ORNL will provide research support in combustion strategies for LLCFs, high-temperature materials, additive manufacturing, elastomer compatibility, and corrosion.

Additional partnership intentions from the MOU include:

• Collaborating on program development to identify and secure external research and development opportunities.

• Establishing a single-cylinder research engine laboratory dedicated to exploring breakthroughs in areas such as safe fuel handling, LLCF combustion strategy, and experimental engine hardware configurations.

• Supporting alternative fuel combustion development strategy through modeling studies that employ advanced analytics such as computational fluid dynamics simulations using high-performance computing resources.

DoD issues solicitation for range extender for future tactical electric vehicles

The Department of Defense (DoD) has issued a solicitation for a Tactical Range Extender Enhancer for future electric vehicles.

The US military engages in operations far from the US, making expansive—and expensive—logistics tails necessary in order to operate effectively. The US Department of Defense expects that in the future it will likely operate in distant and dispersed locations and may face increased threats and obstacles to logistical supply lines unencountered in the previous half-century.

As such, the DoD is focusing on reducing demand on the supply system in order to maintain complete operational ability to meet any mission. Currently, one of the major components and consumers of the logistic footprint is liquid fuel necessary to power equipment such as tactical vehicles.

Future fleets of tactical vehicles may largely incorporate battery electric drivetrains. However, vehicles with only a single all-electric, battery-driven powertrain create range and recharging obstacles because of the inability to package the required amount of energy storage on board an existing tactical vehicle.

With the solicitation, DoD is seeking a commercial solution that would extend the range of its future fleet of ground vehicles that use a single all-electric powertrain. This would allow for a fleet that offers reduced fuel consumption and achieves the desired range and mobility, along with increased on-board and export generation.

The all-in-one range extender unit must use internally stored or externally fed aviation turbine fuel and convert to high-voltage DC power to charge the vehicle’s propulsion energy storage system. The system should also provide the necessary components to convert liquid hydrocarbon fuel into electrical energy and deliver it to the government-supplied vehicle energy storage system; and be able to integrate with a vehicle platform mounting provisions, electrical systems, communication systems, and fuel systems.

The system must be able to operate both on-vehicle or in a dismounted configuration. This includes:

• The ability to operate in a stationary condition to act as a high-voltage DC fast-charging station for ground vehicles under a continuous duty cycle; and

• Unit compliance with Tactical Microgrid Standards (TMS) protocol (Mil-Std-3071).

The unit must also include capability to offer flash upgradeable software drops as capabilities improve/change; must communicate via SAE J1939 CAN; and must include a display with embedded software for dismounted operations.

The complete solution should be packageable into a single unit for widespread distribution and ease of installation into Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) future product lines.

The range extender unit must include all of the required equipment for operation to include, but not limited to: combustion engine, generator, controller, interface connections (fuel, power, communications), on-board fuel, cooling system and starting.

Wärtsilä to supply methanol-fueled auxiliary engines for six CMA CGM newbuild container vessels

02 August 2023

The six container vessels will be the first CMA CGM vessels ordered to operate on methanol fuel. The choice of methanol is stated to be central to the company’s current decarbonization ambitions, as operating an engine on methanol produces fewer pollutants than diesel and can be produced from sustainable, renewable-based energy sources.

For each of the vessels, the full Wärtsilä scope includes three six-cylinder and one seven-cylinder Wärtsilä 32M engines fitted with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems.

The equipment is scheduled for delivery commencing in late 2024, and the vessel is expected to be delivered in autumn 2025.