HD Hyundai Global Service strikes a deal with shipowner of LNG carriers CoolCo to retrofit five of its LNG carriers with sub-coolers for LNG boil-off reliquefaction units.
The shipowner said it signed a contract, valued at about $10m per vessel, with HD Hyundai Global Service, a ship service subsidiary of HD Hyundai Group, on 6 June. The company will totally spend $50m for the five LNG carriers.
HD Hyundai Global Service plans to incorporate reliquefaction units supplied by Air Liquide, a French company specializing in this technology, and will be responsible for the overall design, product supply, installation and commissioning.
The company did not name the ships involved but revealed that these reliquefaction units will provide its charterers with valuable flexibility when it comes to managing the seasonal fluctuations in LNG demand, in particular by supporting efficient travel at lower speeds, idling and floating storage applications.
Mr. Richard Tyrrell, CEO of CoolCo said “these retrofits will enhance the long-term value and competitiveness and reduce the environmental footprint of what will become our LNGe vessels.”
Contractor HD Hyundai Global Service is currently receiving inquiries from its customers for additional reliquefaction unit retrofit work similar to that being performed for CoolCo.
A reliquefaction unit is a device used to re-liquefy the boiled off gas (BOG) generated during the operation of LNG cargo tanks, either returning the gas to the cargo tank or preventing natural evaporation using sub-cooled LNG.
“When a vessel is in operation, boiled off gas is consumed as fuel by the propulsion engine. However, without a reliquefaction unit, during periods of reduced vessel speed, during port stays, or while utilizing the vessel for floating storage, the BOG needs to be forcibly burned, resulting in the loss of LNG cargo and the emission of greenhouse gases, leading to environmental pollution,” as CoolCo explains.
The utilization of a reliquefaction unit is known to be effective mainly in LNG carriers equipped with tri-fuel electric propulsion (TFDE) or two-stroke dual-fuel (DF) engines.
Mr. Ki-dong Lee, CEO of HD Hyundai Global Service, said, “We will contribute to the optimized response to global warming in the energy transportation sector through various ship energy-saving device retrofits, including the retrofit of the reliquefaction unit.”
