NYK and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will develop an air-lubrication system to reduce CO2 emissions during marine transport. The system effectively reduces the frictional resistance between a vessel’s bottom and the seawater by means of bubbles generated by supplying air to the vessel’s bottom.
The world’s first permanent installation of the system using an air-blower is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 10 per cent. The experiments will be conducted using module carriers (picture) operated by an NYK Group company, NYK-Hinode Line, Ltd. Construction of the vessels will be completed on March 31 and in late November 2010.
Module-Type Vessels Best Suited for Air-Lubrication
Since the planning stage of the construction of the new module carriers, NYK-Hinode Line has been of the opinion that the air-lubrication system is physically optimal for installation on module-type vessels, and has decided to proceed with an actual installation.
Compared to other large vessels, a module carrier has a wide, shallow-draft hull that generates relatively little water pressure and accordingly minimizes the electric energy required by an air blower to supply air to the vessel’s bottom. Moreover, due to the flat, wide bottom, the supplied air is considered to be readily retained under the vessel’s bottom. For these reasons, it has been determined that experiments into the effectiveness of CO2 reduction can be verified using module carriers.
Subsidized Project
The project is subsidized through Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s “Support for Technology Development from Marine Vessels for Curtailing CO2” project for fiscal 2009 and is also supported by ClassNK and the Nippon Foundation.
Picture: Image from the bottom of a module carrier equipped with an air lubrication system
Source: https://www.mhi.co.jp/en/news/story/100224en.html[Mitsubishi Heavy Industries]
