Development of Dual Fuel Mitsubishi UE Diesel Engine UEC-LSGi

Abstract

With the recent growing interest in natural gas fueled ships around the world, demands for marine diesel engines that serve this need are rapidly increasing. This paper explains the approach to dual fuel engines that Mitsubishi has taken with its UE low speed 2-stroke diesel engine named the UEC-LSGi. The UEC-LSGi has a high pressure natural gas injection system and runs on pilot fuel oil and natural gas. With natural gas combustion, UEC-LSGi delivers the same heat efficiency as that of a diesel engine while also reducing both NOx and CO2 emissions, which is a great advantage with regard to NOx regulations and EEDI. The UEC-LSGi operates in the same way as traditional diesel engines, that is, by means of diffusion combustion. Therefore, the UEC-LSGi can run in the gas mode without load limitations. Since natural gas does not contain sulfur and since the pilot fuel is used only minimally, UEC-LSGi emits very little SOx.