Everllence Confirms Successful Running of World-First, Ethanol-Fuelled, Two-Stroke Engine

Everllence has confirmed the successful running on ethanol – at all load points – of a 90-bore ME-LGIM (-Liquid Gas Injection Methanol) engine in Japan.

Everllence pioneered the ME-LGIM platform over a decade ago with the first commercial engine entering service in 2016 within the methanol-carrier segment. Building on experiences from these engines, Everllence scaled up its methanol burning portfolio in 2021 with the first ME-LGIM for a vessel outside the methanol carrier segment and now enjoys prominence as the best-selling, methanol-burning engine across all vessel segments with more than 225 units ordered for newbuildings alone and more than 50 engines in operation already.

Building further on the ME-LGIM platform, the successful operation on ethanol means Everllence now has a fully operational engine with which to document ethanol capabilities.

Ole Pyndt Hansen – Senior Vice President, Head of Two-Stroke R&D, Everllence – said: “The past few years have brought steadily growing interest in ethanol from the market. We always do our utmost to listen to these signals and have accordingly been carrying out the necessary design considerations for quite some time; this has provided us with a solid technical foundation. With this latest development, we now have the technical know-how from an actual running engine to take us to the next level. Our data confirms our earlier assumption that we could run our ME-LGIM engine on ethanol without issues.”

Bjarne Foldager – Head of Two-Stroke Business, Everllence – said: “It’s a proud moment to see yet another ‘first-ever’ for Everllence and that we, once again, have been able to draw on our company’s long engineering heritage. We already have five dual-fuel technologies in service along with an ammonia-powered engine that is on the verge of release. Our position as the world’s leading engine developer within the two-stroke marine segment means that we have a special obligation to push technologies and serve all markets in our efforts to decarbonise the global maritime industry. Now we need legislation in place that considers the case of ethanol as a viable fuel source, and we need a requisite market demand. At Everllence, the market speaks and we listen.”

Michael Petersen – Senior Vice President, Head of PrimeServ Denmark – Everllence, said: “The successful conclusion of running in Japan means that we are now significantly closer to offering ethanol as retrofit product, especially on the S90 engines already equipped with ME-LGIM engine technology, just as our successful ME-GI, ME-LGIP and ME-LGIM retrofit offerings. As such we are eagerly awaiting further market input with regard to the viability of ethanol from commercial, application and bunkering perspectives. In general, introducing ethanol capability to retrofitted engines will bring those customers of ours wishing to pursue alcohol-burning engines – as their pathway to IMO-defined net-zero – to a similar technology-readiness and capability as those directly adopting from our existing engine portfolio.”