Powering Small Craft with a Novel Ammonia Engine

小型船只（Sub-IMO）行业传统上使用“海洋化”发动机来推进各种各样的船只，包括休闲、商业和渔船。其中很大一部分是基于汽车发动机的柴油发动机，随着制造商转向电力或氢推进，汽车发动机已不再处于开发阶段。这在短期内造成了柴油发动机的供应问题，在中期只会变得更糟。这也促使制造商在他们的船只上安装更大、更重、比例上更污染的发动机。这将推动小型船只工业从柴油转向更清洁的燃料，但这并没有得到它以前所享有的研发水平的支持。虽然纯电力可能为汽车市场提供一个可行的解决方案，但小型船只市场的电池质量和整体动力需求意味着纯电力推进对于小型，快速的海船来说不太可行。其他替代燃料没有足够的能量密度来储存在小型船上，在小型船上，重量和内部储存体积是至关重要的。这给小型船只制造商带来了一个重大问题，他们目前在燃料或推进技术方面几乎没有其他选择，尤其是如果他们想转向清洁技术的话。从长远来看（如果有合适的供应基础设施），氨将为内燃机提供更可行的能源，作为与推进器相连的专用电源，或为混合动力系统中的发电机提供动力，为电池充电并延长行驶里程。这个项目将创造一种新颖、紧凑、轻便、但功能强大的内燃机，它可以优化为氨驱动。该发动机将采用新技术来解决氨燃料的已知问题。尺寸，重量和功率输出将适合小型船只。此外，还将为最终用户评估发动机对潜在性能的影响，包括范围和速度，以量化任何操作影响。这些结果将用于完整的生命周期评估，以确定在一艘有代表性的小型船上安装和使用这两种燃料的总体影响。然后，收集到的所有信息和数据将用于评估小型船上氨发动机的技术和经济可行性，为商业化路线提供信息。

The small-craft (Sub-IMO) industry has traditionally used "marinized" engines for propulsion for a wide variety of craft, including leisure, commercial and fishing vessels. A large proportion of these are diesel engines which are based on automotive engines that are no longer in development as manufacturers move to electric or hydrogen propulsion.This is creating supply issues for diesel engines in the short term, which will only get worse in the medium term. It is also driving manufacturers to install larger, heaver and proportionally more polluting engines into their vessels. This is creating a driver for the small-craft industry to move away from diesel to cleaner fuels, bit this is not supported by the level of R&D that it previously enjoyed.Whilst pure electrical power may provide a viable solution to the automotive market, the mass of batteries and overall power requirements for the small craft market mean that pure electrical propulsion is less feasible for small, faster sea-going craft. Other alternative fuels do not have a sufficient energy-density to be stored on small craft, where weight and internal storage volume are critical. This is creating a significant problem for small-craft manufacturers, who currently have little other choice in fuel or propulsion technology -- especially if they want to move to clean technology.In the longer term (with a suitable supply infrastructure) ammonia will provide a more feasible energy source for internal combustion engines as a dedicated power source linked to the propulsor or to power a generator in a hybrid system to charge batteries and extend range.This project will create a novel, compact, lightweight but powerful internal combustion engine which is optimised to run on ammonia. The engine will feature novel technology to address come of the known issues with ammonia fuel. The size, weight and power output will be suitable for small craft.In addition, work will be undertaken to assess the impact of the engine on potential performance for an example end-user, including range and speed to quantify any operational impact.These results will be used to inform a complete Life-Cycle Assessment to determine the overall impact of the installation and use of both fuels in a representative small-craft. All the information and data gathered will then be used to create an assessment of the technical and economic feasibility of ammonia engines in small craft, informing the route to commercialisation.