A Study of the Performance of Ship Diesel-Electric Propulsion Systems From an Environmental, Energy Efficiency, and Economic Perspective

Abstract

Climate change and air pollution that are enormously impacted by ship emissions have become an intriguing issue, drawing consideration from the shipping industry. The ship's propulsion system is the main contributor to energy efficiency and ship emissions. This research paper presents a solution to this issue through propelling the ship by using a diesel-electric propulsion system instead of the conventional one. As a case study, a passenger ship is investigated. The results showed that the proposed electric propulsion system has lower emission rates than the conventional one by 10%, 21%, and 88% for Carbon dioxide, Nitrogen oxides and Sulfur dioxide emissions, respectively. From an energy efficiency point of view, the diesel-electric propulsion system enhances the energy efficiency and complies with the required International Maritime Organization (IMO) values, as actual energy efficiency is about 66%, 70%, 83%, and 95% of the required IMO values at baseline, Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3, respectively. From the economic point of view, the annual costs are $2.5 and $3.05 million for both diesel-electric and conventional propulsion systems, respectively. This shows that the annual cost of the diesel-electric option is less than that of the conventional by 22%.

Propeller Optimization in Marine Power Systems: Exploring Its Contribution and Correlation with Renewable Energy Solutions

“…Energy efficiency improvements can be achieved through propulsion system optimization and alternative fuel usage [5][6][7][8][9][10][11], improved hull designs [12,13], and operational measures such as lower speed [14], voyage optimization [15], etc., that can achieve significant reductions in fuel consumption and resulting CO 2 emissions. The connection between ship propeller design, vibrations, and fuel consumption is an essential aspect of ship performance.…”

“…Elkafas, Shouman, 2022 [6] A Study of the Performance of Ship Diesel-Electric Propulsion Systems From an Environmental, Energy Efficiency, and Economic Perspective…”

Environmental economic analysis of speed reduction measure onboard container ships

“…On the other hand, the technical and commercial development in the marine sector contributed significantly to the deterioration of the maritime environment (Mallouppas and Yfantis 2021 ). The decline appeared because of ships’ emissions (Bullock et al 2020 ); therefore, as a step to eliminate this effect, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) prompted to issue the corresponding regulations through the International Convention of Marine Pollution prevention MARPOL 73/78 (Serra and Fancello 2020 ; Elkafas and Shouman 2022 ). UNCTAD (UNCTAD 2022 ) announced that millions of tons of fuel are consumed by ships annually, which is converted into harmful emissions after burning, these emissions include nitrogen oxide (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SOx), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), particle matter (PM), and hydrocarbon (HC).…”

Propulsión eléctrica a partir de celdas de hidrógeno: impacto en mitigación de huella de carbono

“…En los datos más recientes publicados, se indica que el 2.6 % de las emisiones globales de dióxido de carbono (CO2) son generadas por la industria marítima [4], [5], por lo cual se han establecido limitaciones y penalidades que buscan reducir a como dé lugar el impacto medioambiental que se genera debido a estas emisiones [6], [7]. Por estos motivos, el gobierno de Colombia decidió promulgar medidas que se encuentran publicadas en la Contribución Determinada a nivel Nacional, en la cual establece su compromiso de mitigación de gases de efecto invernadero al 50 % para el año 2030 buscando de esta forma abrir un camino hacia la carbono-neutralidad [8].…”