Malta: dual-fuel system for low-emission power generation in very short project duration

SAACKE equips Floating Storage Unit (FSU) Unit for low NOx operation

Up until the late summer of 2016, electricity for the over 400,000 inhabitants of Malta was still being produced by oilfired power plants. ElectroGas Malta Ltd commissioned Bumi Armada Berhad, a Malaysia-based international offshore energy facilities and services provider to convert an LNG tanker into a Floating Storage Unit (FSU) for lower emission and more efficient power generation. Today, the “Armada LNG Mediterrana” with a volume of 125,000 m3 serves as a storage facility for liquefied natural gas and permanently supplies LNG to the Delimara onshore regasification plant. As part of this major project, Bumi Armada ordered two SAACKE D-type FMB-VD boilers, each with a capacity of 20 tons of superheated steam per hour.

The low NOx boiler design guarantees the lowest emission values of 100 mg/m3 in gas operation and 450 mg/m3 in oil operation, which means that the strict statutory requirements for operation at the supply pier can be safely met. The project‘s time and space requirements were a further challenge: Only nine months were available for the entire implementation between the signing of the contract and initial operation. Just two weeks were available for implementation in the dry dock. In addition, the narrow installation slot required a compact boiler, which is why SAACKE adapted the components individually to the dimensions of the ship‘s engine room.

International cooperation of SAACKE locations
In addition to the two low NOx boilers with superheaters and flue gas recirculation, the scope of services included four desuperheaters, a feedwater pump assembly and two DDZ‐G burners. SAACKE also supplied all other components of a complete dual-fuel combustion system from a single source – ranging from fans, Gas Valve Units (GVU) and oil fittings to boiler control cabinets. Good networking and well coordinated cooperation among the international SAACKE locations played a decisive role here: While the representation office in Singapore ensured close contact with the customer in Malaysia, the two boilers were designed in Kiel and produced at SAACKE‘s Chinese production facility in Qingdao. The desuperheaters were fabricated in Croatia and the burners were manufactured by the team at the Bremen headquarters in northern Germany, where the project coordination was also located.

ElectroGas Malta proudly regards the implementation as a milestone in the local energy supply. Emissions were cut by 50% and fine particulate formation by 93%, while efficiency increased by half. The company also received the award for Best European Energy Project 2015. “SAACKE works efficiently, competently and in a service-oriented manner. I would not hesitate to work with these experts again at the next opportunity“, said Gianluca Orlandi, Project Manager at Bumi Armada.

Read more about our know-how in the field of offshore technology