Electricity Generation from Large Marine Vessel Engine Jacket Water Heat

As world trade grows, fuel prices increase, and International Maritime Organization (IMO) emissions requirements tighten, there is more demand for the marine industry to employ innovative means of reducing the fuel consumption and emissions of shipping vessels.

The main engines of large shipping vessels produce a large quantity of low temperature heat, but this valuable heat energy is transferred to cooling systems and rejected to the oceans as waste. At the same time, the electrical needs of shipping vessels are sustained by burning diesel fuel to run generators.

Calnetix Technologies, in partnership with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, has developed the Hydrocurrent™ 125EJW Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC), a modularized system capable of absorbing the waste heat of main engine jacket water and converting it into grid-quality electric power. By combining this renewable source with the existing non-renewable source (engine gensets) a unique renewable-non-renewable hybrid power system is realized with minimal changes to overall ship power train. This novel hybrid system can be applied to all new and existing ships and allow for further integration into ship systems with available waste heat.