Gazprom Orders New MAN Diesel ‘No-Spark’ Gas Engines

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December 27, 2006--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). MAN Diesel (Augsburg, Germany) has built a market profile as a leading designer and manufacturer of large bore diesel engines for ship propulsion systems, stationary power supply and rail traction. The company is now developing the market for a new gas engine, designated 32/40 PGI (Performance Gas Injection).

The engine’s novel start-up and ignition system does not require spark plugs. The PGI design combines the advantages of a diesel engine such as high power density and high efficiency with the benefits of a gas engine. This enables the engine to convert to perform highly efficient conversion of natural gas into thermal and electrical energy with the lowest possible emissions. The innovative start-up and ignition system is capable of high efficiencies in excess of 46%, in combination with NOx emissions of less than 250 mg/Nm3 at 5% O2.

The first order for the new engine was received in the third week of December from the Russian energy provider Mosobenergogas (MEG). The order covers two engines, including all plant-specific accessories, heat recovery boiler and exhaust gas flues. The engines will be used in a power plant in Moscow and delivery is scheduled for the end of 2007. MEG provides energy and heat to the Moscow region and is part of the giant Gazprom group.

In versions with twelve and eighteen cylinders, the 32/40PGI offers a performance range of around 5 megawatts to 8 megawatts and is aimed at applications in electrical power generation. The first of the new engines has been operating in the combined heat and power plant at MAN Diesel’s Augsburg base since 2005. It provides electricity for the high-frequency melting furnaces and thermal energy for space heating and production processes.

In the PGI ignition process a small quantity of ignition gas is injected into a pre-chamber separate from the main combustion chamber where it is ignited on a hot surface and initiates the ignition of a lean air gas mixture in the chamber. The lean mixture contains a high excess of air so that with effective ignition efficiencies are achieved approaching those possible with a state-of-the-art diesel engine.

Simon Lott, MAN Diesel’s Houston-based Director of Business Development Biofuel and Gas Engines for North America, told Industrial Info that he believes there is a significant market for large gas engines in the U.S. where the market is currently dominated by gas turbines. He said that the higher operating efficiencies could lead to six digit savings on large power plants. Hot combustion air and high altitude can halve a gas turbine’s output, whereas a gas engine would only experience a small power loss in those conditions, he said. Lott is confident that there is a growth market for large gas and dual fuel engines.

MAN Diesel is a subsidiary of MAN AG (Frankfurt:MAN) (Munich, Germany).

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