In a few years, our engines will be running on fuels like methanol and hydrogen, so we are already preparing our testbeds for the change.

Tough safety requirements

It is mainly MAN Energy Solutions employees working on the testbed projects and the construction site, as Kilian Stegmair regards it as important that the qualifications for handling the new fuels are built up in the company already before the first engine test runs. The safety requirements imposed by the licensing authority are tough and already making themselves felt on the construction site. The stand for the container is being enclosed within concrete walls, supply lines are double-walled, an extinguishing system has been installed. “These measures are absolutely necessary,” says Kilian Stegmair, as: “Both methanol and hydrogen burn invisibly among other things, which means that, if the fuel were to escape undetected owing to a leak and ignite, the flame could not be seen. This is just one of the challenges that we have to learn how to deal with on the testbeds and later on in the field.”

Development alliance for faster results

But the learning curve is steep, and not just because methanol operation in particular can readily be approached via retrofit projects. A development alliance between Marine, PrimeServ, Power and Engine Development coordinated by Test Systems has been in existence for some time now. The aim is to pool all testbed activities and make use of synergies with a view to achieving practical implementation faster. This is important, as the first complete retrofit engine will go on the testbed with 85 percent methanol as early as April 2024. And there are many more project orders – our four-stroke engines are undergoing a transformation directly heading towards CO₂-neutral operation.