[LNG Prime/ September 8, 2023] South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean has received an approval in principle from classification society ABS for an LNG carrier design equipped with an ammonia-fueled gas turbine.

Besides this, ABS also issued an AIP to Hanwha Power Systems for its supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power system.

ABS said in a statement the 174,000-cbm vessel would be the world’s first “carbon emission free LNG carrier”. The LNG carrier can use ammonia and natural gas separately or simultaneously as fuel. If only ammonia is used as fuel, no carbon gas is emitted, the statement said.

The design, which is smaller than a diesel engine, also incorporates Hanwha Power Systems’ exhaust gas waste heat recovery system (sCO2 power system). Hanwha Ocean also says the system meets the nitrogen oxide (NOx) requirement without selective catalytic reduction (SCR) regardless of fuel and has “significantly reduced” methane slip.

Last year, Hanwha Ocean set a record for the largest number of orders for LNG carriers in a year since its establishment, surpassing its yearly record of 37 LNG carriers in 2014. The shipbuilder won orders for a total of 38 LNG carriers in 2022.

In July, Hanwha Ocean won an order to build one LNG carrier for Japan’s MOL. This is the fifth LNG carrier order for Hanwha Ocean this year and the first since the shipbuilder changed its name in May.