Wartsila has secured orders for the installation of its new Compact Reliq reliquefaction plant on three new liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier vessels.
Under the order, the company will deliver three reliquefaction plants for the vessels, which are currently under construction at the Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (HSHI) shipyard in South Korea.
These vessels are being built for Norway-based Knutsen OAS Shipping. The orders were booked in July and August, with deliveries expected to be completed next autumn.
In December 2020, Wartsila secured a previous order for the installation of its Compact Reliq reliquefaction plant on two new Knutsen OAS Shipping LNG carriers.
Introduced in 2020, the Compact Reliq has a compressed design for easy deployment and maintenance on all sizes of carrier ships, stated Wartsila. The solution is based on the reversed nitrogen Brayton cycle refrigeration technology.
By reliquefying the boil-off gas (BOG), it helps to keep cargo cool under all operating settings. Furthermore, it enables a portion of the BOG to be utilised as fuel for the vessel’s engines, leaving the surplus to be sold as part of the LNG cargo.
Knutsen OAS Shipping newbuilding director Jarle Østenstad said: “We have had good experience with Wartsila’s reversed nitrogen Brayton cycle reliquefaction plants in the past, and the Compact Reliq is an exciting addition to their portfolio. It makes on-board reliquefaction viable for all sizes of carriers, and is clearly the right choice for our new ships.”
Wartsila Gas Solutions sales manager Pål Steinnes said: “We received an order for two systems last year to be delivered to the HSHI yard for installation on Knutsen’s newbuild carriers.
“There was an option for additional vessels and this option has been taken up with contracts for three new Compact Reliq plants. These are important projects that further strengthen our relationship with both HSHI and Knutsen OAS.”
Wartsila claims that its solution uses ‘safe and easily obtainable commercial-grade nitrogen’, which has been instrumented under its Operational Performance Improvement and Monitoring (OPERIM) programme.
Recently, Wartsila joined forces with Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding and ABS to develop a future-ready concept for a multi-fuel electric LNG carrier vessel.
