Knutsen orders Wärtsilä reliquefaction tech for three more LNG carriers

The Compact Reliq reliquefaction plant from Finnish technology group Wärtsilä will be installed on three more LNG carriers for Norway-based Knutsen OAS Shipping.

This brings the total number of orders for the tech for the same customer to eight. Out of these, two have been ordered in 2020, and a further three in 2021. Therefore, the systems are being installed on eight new LNG carriers that Korean shipyard Hyundai Heavy Industries is building for Knutsen.

The latest order with Wärtsilä was placed in June 2022. All the LNG carriers have a capacity of 174,000-cbm.

The Compact Reliq solution is based on the reversed nitrogen Brayton cycle refrigeration technology. The solution is designed to reliquefy the boil-off gas (BOG) from gas carriers and LNG bunker vessels, and for keeping the cargo cool under all operating conditions. It allows a portion of the BOG to be used as fuel for the ship’s engines, with the excess able to be sold as part of the LNG cargo.

“We are expanding our fleet of LNG carriers and having them fitted with Wärtsilä Compact Reliq, nitrogen as cooling medium is safe and simplifies the operation. In addition, we expect less maintenance due to the oil-free magnetic bearing compressors,” said Jarle Østenstad, newbuilding director, at Knutsen.

The Compact Reliq solution uses commercial-grade nitrogen. It is instrumented for remote monitoring and online operational support as part of Wärtsilä’s Operational Performance Improvement and Monitoring (OPERIM) program.