The Apollo project addresses the “Retrofit solutions to significantly reduce air or water pollution without increasing fuel consumption and hence GHG emissions, for example main engine abatement systems or engine and propulsion system modifications” goal by maturing to TRL8 and demonstrating the required technologies to enable ammonia fuelled propulsion of vessels. The aim of the Apollo project is to mature and demonstrate in an operational environment in Norway the first ammonia dual-fuel engine for the waterborne transport industry and reduce the GHG emissions by 70% or more. This will be done by replacing two existing engines by one new genset and complete gas supply and safety systems in the offshore vessel to enable ammonia operation.
To realise this aim, the project is broken down into the following main objectives:
1.Mature install and demonstrate the Apollo solution composed of:
a.Complete the technical readiness of the Apollo dual-fuel engines with >70% ammonia and comply with GHG, sulphur oxides (SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions according to IMO Tier III level.
b.Adapt the ship design to include ammonia storage tanks, bunker lines, piping, absorber/burner layout, safety systems and other ship specific adaptions according to applicable rules and regulations as well as verification of vessel intact and damage stability calculations.
c.Complete the conversion in a shipyard in Norway.
d.Achieve ammonia-fuelled vessel class for the demonstration vessel.
e.Demonstrate the operation of the ammonia fuelled EDV’s Viking Energy ship in NorSea Dusavika base outside of Stavanger.
f.Benchmark the operation using the Apollo ammonia powered engines versus dual-fuel LNG engines to further measure and confirm the return of the investment from the economic and environmental points of views.
2.Adapt the design of the Apollo solution to allow ship owners, ship designers, shipyards, classification agencies and insurance companies to adopt the Apollo solution into their decision-making processes as early as 2025.
3.Prepare the business case for the use of green ammonia in the waterborne transport sector, from the production to the distribution and bunkering at European scale. The project plans to cooperate with producers of ammonia to foster the availability of ammonia as a fuel in key ports and bases in North Europe starting by 2024. This will be a holistic approach, considering the production both inland and offshore from renewable energy sources.
