Technology and industry resources for marine LNG fuelling

There are two main types of engines for marine vessels fuelling with liquefied natural gas (LNG): dedicated and dual fuel.

Dedicated engines 

• use LNG as their only fuel source
• are optimized to operate on natural gas, thus ensuring maximum efficiency and optimum emissions results
• are sometimes referred to as spark-ignited

Dual-fuel engines 

• allow ships to be operated on either conventional liquid marine fuels (MGO, HFO, light fuel oil (LFO) or liquid bio fuel) or LNG
• allow fuel switching to be made seamlessly during operation without loss of power or speed
• enable compliance with emissions regulations, while allowing operators to choose fuel according to cost and availability
• can often be feasible to convert vessels to use dual-fuel engines

Resources 

Liquefied natural gas: a marine fuel for Canada’s West Coast – pages 6-11.