MAN Developing Ammonia-powered Engine for Medium-speed Marine Applications

MAN Energy Solutions has set out to create a four-stroke, medium-speed, dual-fuel test engine that operates on ammonia.

The company on Tuesday announced the initiation of the ‘AmmoniaMot 2’ research project, building on its recent success with the world’s first two-stroke ammonia engine. 

Launched in partnership with various industry and research institutions and is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), the project kicked off in August 2024 and will span approximately 3.5 years. It follows the earlier ‘AmmoniaMot’ project, which focused on foundational studies of ammonia combustion in internal combustion engines and concluded in May 2024. The results from this preliminary project have laid the groundwork for the more ambitious objectives of AmmoniaMot 2.

MAN Energy Solutions continues to lead the initiative alongside its original project partners. The team has expanded to include new collaborators such as WTZ Roßlau gGmbH, Woodward L’Orange GmbH, the University of Munich (SFM), Neptun Ship Design GmbH, the University of Rostock (LKV), GenSys GmbH, and MNR GmbH. This collaborative effort aims to advance ammonia as a sustainable fuel source in the maritime and industrial sectors.

Alexander Knafl, Head of Engineering R&D Four-Stroke, MAN Energy Solutions: said, “For MAN Energy Solutions, this project is the next logical step after the previous AmmoniaMot project. It perfectly supports our own strategy to develop sustainable technologies and we very much appreciate the opportunity to work with our distinguished partners. For us, the path to decarbonizing the maritime industry starts with decarbonizing fuels and, in this context, ammonia is an excellent candidate as it is carbon-free and thus avoids CO2-emissions when used as a fuel in our engines.”

MAN Energy Solutions said it sees the future application of ammonia-powered, four-stroke engines primarily in newbuild projects without passengers, such as cargo or special vessels, or as an auxiliary GenSet for large ammonia-powered two-stroke vessels. For passenger ships such as ferries and cruise liners, MAN Energy Solutions is currently focusing on methanol as that segment’s fuel of the future and is already developing corresponding engines in parallel, the company said.

Christian Kunkel, Head of Combustion Development, Four-Stroke R&D, MAN Energy Solutions, added: “In the original AmmoniaMot project, we laid a strong foundation with our excellent partners and proved that ammonia is a suitable fuel for medium-speed applications with the potential to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 90-95% while complying with existing emission regulations. I am more than excited to take the next step with our partners in AmmoniaMot 2. There is no doubt but that ammonia will become an important carbon-free fuel and thus not just contribute to the decarbonization of the maritime sector.”