LNG/Dual fuel powered fishing boats

Abstract

Fisheries are enormously important to the economy and well-being of Malaysian fishermen. Most of the fishermen have a specific route and petrol or diesel is widely used as fuel to power their boats. Gasoline fuels have fluctuating fuel prices and also produces higher emissions. One of the solutions to this problem can be to use a dual fuel engine which uses natural gas as one of the fuel. LNG/CNG is cheaper and greener fuel than diesel or petrol. It has low sulphur content and it also minimizes the NOx emissions when burned compared to gasoline fuels. CNG is not widely used in fishing industry because of lack of awareness about this technology among the fishermen. In this research, a feasibility study of CNG as an alternate fuel for fishing boats in Malaysia was carried out to analyse its cost, fuel storage, stability, power and safety. A small fishing boat (LOA = 6.5m) was selected. The boat was modified using Maxsurf as ship design software by placing two CNG cylinders near the stern of the boat. An analysis was made to check the stability, resistance and power of the boat. The boat passed all stability criteria in the three loading conditions analysed. A detailed economic study was carried out using Net Present Value and Payback period as the performance criteria. A sensitivity analysis was carried out to confirm the effect of changes in Fuel price, Fish price and Fish catch. It was found that fuel cost might drop significantly by 60% if this alternate fuel is used without subsidy and a drop of 57% if the fuel is used with government subsidy which substantially increases the fishermen’s income. The results obtained in this research are significant for the growth of fishing industry in Malaysia if used on a large scale.