Demo2000 project – success from collaboration

Demo2000 has been a collaborative project between Wärtsilä, Knutsen OAS Shipping AS, Repsol, Equinor, and the Norwegian Sustainable Energy Catapult Centre. It has been made possible by a grant from the Norwegian Research Council.

The primary goals of the Demo2000 project were the following:

Demonstrating ammonia combustion on a standard Wärtsilä engine, converted to run on ammonia.
Designing, constructing, and commissioning a full-scale environment, including storage, supply, and safety system for multiple fuels – ammonia, LNG, biofuel, and diesel.

The primary goals have been achieved, and in addition:

Authority permission was acquired for storing and testing of ammonia at Heiane
Safe and successful bunkering of about 40,000 kg of ammonia from a truck, repeated three times
The project designed, constructed and commissioned an ammonia gas fuel supply system in collaboration
The project also designed, constructed and commissioned an advanced exhaust after-treatment system based on catalyst technologies.

Four things make this project particularly interesting:

The collaboration in a diverse team gave valuable market insights and built a common ground for future development.
The project was able to achieve a significant carbon footprint reduction in energy production for shipping and offshore installations.
The participants were able to reduce the project's carbon footprint too: most of the collaboration, planning and execution tasks, were conducted over remote connections.
Related tests were ongoing at Wärtsilä's laboratories in Vaasa, which meant that both sites could benefit from each other's experiences and findings.

Special benefits from the Demo2000 project include:

Agility. Because it was a partnership project and all partners had easy access to the project, there have not been the usual delays when changes to the system components have been needed. Development has been fast, thanks to system thinking and a holistic approach by all project partners.

An experience to be shared. It offered a location where customers and other stakeholders could see the test environment and the solution in action. It has offered a possibility to study the set-up together and have open and fruitful discussions.

A variety of tests. It has been possible to test a variety of fuel blends. This helps find out which blends are most effective, which are most practical, and how changes in the environment affect the system.

Safety improvements. The test set-up has made it possible to further improve the safety aspects. Every component has already been designed for safety, and the set-up allows the project partners to discover how things work in real-life circumstances. Partners have also discovered things that need to be included in crew training.

Through the Demo2000 test project, and also by other internal R&D project Ammonia as alternative fuel, we have gained highly valuable insights running an engine on ammonia, but also on all the systems around as tank, bunkering procedures, catalyst and safety systems needed to take a pole position in the decarbonisation of shipping.
Kjell Storelid, General Manager Power & Energy Management Systems, Wärtsilä

A strong commitment to innovation has brought the project to great achievements. And the work does not stop even if the project comes to an end. Teams in Wärtsilä Finland and in Wärtsilä Norway continue to work closely together with the ecosystem to develop a reliable ammonia solution for marine applications.

Wondering if ammonia is feasible for your operations? Book a discovery call with Wärtsilä experts. Fill in the Contact us form with your request for a call about the feasibility of ammonia, and an expert will get in touch with you.

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