Wärtsilä Corporation has delivered its first Wärtsilä 8L32 Common Rail diesel generating set for a newbuilding at Odense Steel Shipyard A/S in Lindø, Denmark, contracted by A.P. Møller. This is the first Wärtsilä 32 engine to be equipped with Common Rail fuel injection.
The newbuilding Axel Mærsk is a large post-panamax container vessel due to enter service in March 2003. The ship actually has four Wärtsilä generating sets, three with Wärtsilä 8L32 engines and one with a Wärtsilä 6L32 engine. One of the eight-cylinder auxiliary engines is equipped with Common Rail. The Wärtsilä 8L32 sets each give an electrical output of 3460 kW at 720 rpm, and the Wärtsilä 6L32 set 2590 kW at the same speed.
The ship is also equipped with a single 12-cylinder Sulzer RTA96C low-speed main engine supplied by Wärtsilä’s licensee, HSD Engine Co Ltd in Korea. The engine provides a maximum continuous output of 68,640 kW at 102 rpm.
The Wärtsilä 32CR engine with Common Rail injection was chosen for environmental reasons. With Common Rail, it meets the IMO NOx emission limit and has no visible smoke emissions under any operating conditions.
In the Common Rail system, camshaft-driven fuel pumps keep a steady high pressure in a fuel manifold, and injection into the engine cylinders is then controlled electronically. The fuel injection pressure is thus maintained high at all engine loads and speeds thereby giving efficient, clean combustion right across the engine’s operating range.
Common Rail is one of the key technologies being introduced by Wärtsilä which reduce the environmental impact of its engines. Direct Water Injection and Compact SCR are already available for reducing NOx emissions in marine applications, while gas engines will reduce CO2, NOx and SOx emissions. Other emissions-control technologies are also being developed.
Marit Holmlund-Sund
Public Relations Manager, Marine Division
Wärtsilä Corporation
Direct tel: +358 10 709 1941
Direct fax: +358 10 709 1942
e-mail: marit.holmlund-sund@wartsila.com
Internet: www.wartsila.com
