Carnot is leading a project to accelerate the development of decarbonised ammonia power for Marine applications.
The project aims to deliver the design for a 500kW retrofittable Ammonia Auxiliary Engine developed by Carnot Engines. When looking to improve vessel efficiencies and comply with upcoming maritime regulations, it is generally not possible to retrofit Marine Main Engines around which the vessels are built. Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) however, are often replaced several times during a vessels lifetime and contribute a significant proportion of the total GHG emissions. This provides an opportunity to increase a vessel efficiency and reduce emissions by retrofitting existing onboard Auxiliary power with a clean, efficient alternative.
Our consortium efforts have been made possible with about £920,000 in funding secured from Innovate UK’s Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition 6 (CMDC 6).
A key consortium partner is global shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), the world’s fifth largest shipping operator. MOL (Europe Africa) Ltd will be providing operational insights, fleet management expertise, and strategic guidance on implementing technology and future fuels and will be instrumental in shaping the phased adoption strategy to ensure practical deployment.
As Tatsuro Watanabe, Managing Director of MOL (Europe & Africa) and Managing Executive Officer of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines says;
“We are pleased to support this pioneering initiative under the UK Government’s Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition. While ammonia engine technology continues to evolve toward commercial readiness, we believe that supporting projects like this – with innovative partners such as Carnot – is vital to exploring future pathways for maritime decarbonisation. This aligns with MOL’s broader sustainability ambition and our long-term vision of supporting innovation for a greener maritime future. (Tatsuro Watanabe, Managing Director of MOL (Europe & Africa)”
The project is supported by Houlder Ltd, the renowned Naval Architects, who will provide their design insight and technical expertise toward system integration. Clean Air Power Ltd are developing high-pressure hydrogen and ammonia injectors, critical to the overall technology in combination with the University of Southampton who will carry out combustion simulations to optimise the fuel injection, ignition and wider combustion strategy. De Courcy Alexander Ltd will also support the project helping to accelerate market adoption by identifying market opportunities and refining the commercialisation strategy.
As Archie Watts-Farmer, CEO of Carnot Engines says;
“The Maritime sector and in particular the UK Shore Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC) has been a key source of support for Carnot over the last several years. Our win in this latest round 6 competition demonstrates the commitment of UK funding toward key emerging technologies for heavy duty global shipping, a sector that cannot transition to pure electric or fuel cells. Carnot is very grateful for this continued support of our efforts! This project will see our technology take the next step toward suitability for heavy duty marine with the design for an upscaled engine and a staged design for the integration of the engine into an MOL vessel for future demonstrations. It is our intent to engage extensively with regulators to ensure we completely de-risk a future capitally intensive demonstration.”
With a huge thanks to the consortium members and contributions from Innovate UK, the Carnot team are looking forward to delivering yet another step towards clean, low-cost power for the maritime sector.
This project is funded by UK Government through the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) programme in the Department for Transport (DfT), United Kingdom. UK SHORE has allocated over £230m since 2022 to develop the technologies necessary to decarbonise the UK maritime sector and capture the economic growth opportunity of the transition. Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is the main delivery partner for UK SHORE interventions
