Response of a direct-drive large marine two-stroke engine coupled to a selective catalytic reduction exhaust aftertreatment system when operating in waves

Abstract

Large two-stroke marine diesel engines are used as the prime mover in the majority of ocean going commercial vessels and are currently facing new stringent NOx emission reductions. Selective catalytic reduction is an aftertreatment technology which is able to reduce emitted NOx at allowable levels. In most marine applications, the selective catalytic reduction system is placed on the high pressure side of the turbine, due to limitations at the exhaust gas temperature at the inlet of selective catalytic reduction system. In this article, the operation of a large two-stroke marine diesel with a selective catalytic reduction aftertreatment system, is investigated in heavy weather conditions. Operation of a vessel in heavy weather results in increased ship resistance, wave-induced ship motions, and a highly varying flow field in the propeller due to ship motions. This results in a fluctuation of propeller demanded torque and hence a fluctuation in engine load and exhaust gas temperature which may affect engine and selective catalytic reduction performance significantly. To investigate this phenomenon and taking into account the engine–propeller interaction, the entire propulsion system was modeled, namely the propulsion engine, the high pressure selective catalytic reduction system, the directly driven propeller, and the ship’s hull. A propeller model was employed to simulate the transient propeller torque demand and torque fluctuations due to ship motions. A three-dimensional six degrees of freedom panel code was used to calculate ship motions and wave added resistance in regular waves. The coupled model of the marine propulsion plant was validated against available measured data from a ship-board propulsion system on good weather conditions. The model was then used to simulate the behavior of the system during transient loading conditions in the presence of regular waves.