Kobe Steel to launch sales of binary cycle power generation system for ships in 2019

Kobe Steel, Asahi Shipping and Miura Co began joint development of a binary cycle power generation for ships back in Aparil 2014, with landbased testing of the system completed in September 2015.

In December last year, the system passed sea trials on a ship and it recently received approval from ClassNK.

In the past, the exhaust heat from the turbocharger attached to the ship engine was not used, but simply disposed. Kobe Steel’s new system is the first in the world to generate electricity from the exhaust heat emitted by the ship’s turbocharger. The electricity produced by the new system serves as auxiliary power for the ship and contributes to the efficient utilization of energy.

In the sea trials, Kobe Steel confirmed that an engine output of 7,500 kW per hour generated 125 kW of electricity. This is equivalent to about 20-25% of the fuel used in marine generators, depending on the conditions, and is the largest scale of power generation from exhaust heat on a ship.