MAN’s ME-GA engine sees order surge

MAN Energy Solutions has announced that its MAN B&W ME-GA engine – the latest addition to its dual-fuel portfolio – has landed 40 orders since its market unveiling in March 2021. The company attributes the order surge to the market’s demand for the latest generation of Otto-cycle, two-stroke engines and the low levels of methane slip it can unlock.

Bjarne Foldager, Senior Vice President and Head of Two-Stroke Business, MAN Energy Solutions, said, “We had high expectations for the ME-GA upon its launch as we recognised a strong desire – primarily from the LNG carrier market – for an alternative to our successful ME-GI engine. Judging alone by the fact that ME-GA has won references from all three major shipyards in Korea, these expectations have been met and even exceeded.”

Thomas S. Hansen, Head of Promotion and Customer Support, MAN Energy Solutions, said, “As industry leaders committed to lowering emissions, the ME-GA comes with our high-pressure EGR as standard, a technology we have refined over the past decade. The increased focus on methane-slip reduction – as well as other operational/technical benefits – has established EGR technologies as the new standard for contemporary LNG-carrier design featuring Otto-cycle engines.”

As its pre-mixed combustion results in low NOx emissions, the ME-GA engine is inherently Tier II and Tier III compliant in gas-operation mode. EGR enables the significant reduction of methane slip, while simultaneously improving fuel efficiency in both gas and fuel-oil operation. Ultimately, EGR actively reduces emissions and improves efficiency in both Tier II and Tier III.

Foldager added, “The ME-GA engine is just MAN Energy Solutions’ latest initiative to decarbonise shipping and further the maritime energy transition to sustainable fuels. Our dual-fuel engines continue to act as standard bearers for environmentally-friendly, reliable propulsion-technology with their seamless switching between fuels. Ultimately, we expect the ME-GA to become standard among LNG carriers.”

MAN Energy Solutions aims to start testing the first, commercial ME-GA design by the end of this year, with the first engine delivery scheduled for early 2022.

In November 2020, MAN Energy Solutions announced that it would offer its proprietary EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) system as an emissions solution for the ME-GA. EGR is a NOx-emissions-reduction technique that ensures IMO Tier III-compliance in diesel mode for the ME-GA.

The company reports that EGR will enable the ME-GA to reduce specific gas consumption by ~3%, and specific fuel-oil consumption by 5%. It will also significantly reduce methane slip by 30 to 50% and improve the stability of the Otto-cycle combustion process. EGR will enable the ME-GA to meet Tier III requirements in both fuel oil and gas modes without additional aftertreatment.

The ME-GA EGR solution is an engine-integrated design that interacts with the exhaust gas before the turbocharger and can be integrated into existing engine-room designs since the EGR unit itself does not change the engine footprint. Its design-similarity to that of ME-C engines’ EGR systems will lower its price point, since the supply chain and components are already matured. The volume requirements of the ME-GA EGR system are also significantly lower with, for example, less pipework required than for low-pressure EGR solutions.