Wärtsilä Develops Inert Gas Solution for 17 New LNG Carriers

Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) in South Korea has contracted Wärtsilä to supply combined inert gas generators and gas combustion units for 17 new LNG Carrier vessels under construction at the company’s yards.

These will be the first ever units delivered by Wärtsilä that combine inert gas generators (IGG) and gas combustion units (GCU) with high capacity. 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, and 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 that is achieved through the replacement of a separate onboard system, and by using the boil-off gas for inert gas generation, which together minimize the extra use of marine diesel oil (MDO) fuel.

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 commencing in the third quarter of 2016.