(San Francisco, USA) – Newlight Marine Technologies Inc. has completed the first long-distance voyage using its hydrogen-hybrid propulsion system. The test vessel was a 199-meter-long bulk carrier operated by Lomar Shipping with a deadweight tonnage of 57.038 tons (DWT). Measurements taken during the ship's 8.500 nautical mile (15.700 km) voyage from Singapore to Ghana showed that the system reduced fuel consumption by 24 percent, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 28 percent, and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions by 22 percent.
The AI-monitored Newlight system injects a small amount of hydrogen into the existing diesel combustion process, reducing fuel consumption and emissions. © Illustration: Newlight Marine Technologies Inc. / Screenshot
The technology utilizes existing diesel engines and combines them with an intelligent, AI-controlled hydrogen system. Unlike ammonia- or methanol-based propulsion systems, which require ships to rely entirely on a new fuel, Newlight's system injects a small amount of hydrogen into the existing diesel combustion process. A real-time controller anticipates each combustion cycle milliseconds in advance and continuously optimizes hydrogen injection pressure and volume as engine load, speed, and operating conditions change. If no hydrogen is available, the ship can operate solely on diesel.
Installation during operation
Newlight's retrofit system can be installed on conventional, dredged diesel-powered vessels within one to two weeks; a dry dock is not required. The vessels can therefore remain operational during installation, resulting in no downtime. Based on measurements taken during test runs, the system is expected to save $500.000 annually on similarly designed ships. Newlight has already signed contracts with several shipping companies to retrofit twelve vessels.
“We’re making diesel engines more efficient and cleaner without having to replace them,” says Haran Cohen Hillel, co-founder and CEO of Newlight. “The voyage has shown that hydrogen can be safely managed and used on board to improve the combustion of heavy fuel oil and reduce emissions,” says Stylianos Papageorgiou, managing director of Lomarlabs, a Newlight partner and investor. The technology offers “a new path for existing and aging vessels” to meet the IMO’s ambitions to make international shipping carbon neutral by 2050. Other partners include the investment and holding companies Underred Capital, CiRi Ventures, Fusion VC, and Aurelia, the US-Israeli research program Bird Energy, and the certification company RINA.
Photo above
During the ship's 8.500 nautical mile test voyage from Singapore to Ghana, the Newlight system, which injects hydrogen into a diesel engine, reduced fuel consumption and emissions by approximately 20 percent. © Newlight Marine Technologies Inc.
