THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF LICENTIATE OF ENGINEERING

Improving ship energy efficiency through a systems

perspective

FRANCESCO BALDI

Department of Shipping and Marine Technology

CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Gothenburg, Sweden 2013
Improving ship energy efficiency through a systems perspective

FRANCESCO BALDI
[email protected]
+46 (0)31 77 22 615

© FRANCESCO BALDI, 2013

ISSN: 1652-9189
Technical report no 13:147

Department of Shipping and Marine Technology

Chalmers University of Technology
SE-412 96 Gothenburg
Sweden
Telephone + 46 (0)31-772 1000

Cover:
Artist impression of ship energy systems

Printed by Chalmers Reproservice

Gothenburg, Sweden 2013
 Abstract

The last years have been particularly challenging for the shipping industry.
Fuel prices have increased to levels only seen during the oil crisis in the
70’s, and environmental regulations have grown much stricter than in the
past. Climate change, at a global level, is going to become a major threat
to society.
Increasing energy efficiency is one of the only possibilities of reducing fuel
costs and environmental impact of the shipping sector without influencing
the output. However, despite the recent developments in several aspects of
ship technology, little effort has been made in looking at the whole ship as
an energy system.
This licentiate thesis aims at filling a gap in the existing scientific knowledge
on the way energy in its different forms is generated, converted, and used
on board of a vessel. This is done by applying energy and exergy analysis
to ship energy system analysis. The results of this analysis allow improv-
ing the understanding of energy flows on board and identifying the main
inefficiencies and waste flows.
As a further development of this work, these results are used as a basis
for generation and evaluation of alternatives for improving ship energy ef-
ficiency. This is applied to the three main categories of: ship operations,
retrofitting, and design. Engine-propeller interaction, waste heat recovery
systems and the early stages of ship design are identified as relevant as-
pects and their evaluation indicates that there is a relevant potential of
improvement.
ii
 Acknowledgements

The first version of my licentiate thesis was more than 100 pages long. After
discussion with my supervisors, it went down to roughly 60 pages. I will
therefore take what is my only chance to be lengthy for thanking those who
have had, in different ways, a role in the achievement of this key stone of
my education, and of my life.
First of all, thanks to my supervisors, Karin and Cecilia. It must not have
been easy, I acknowledge that, as my way of moving forward is not always
structured and methodical. This is why I need to thank you twice: once for
helping me, and once for standing me.
Big thanks also go to Bengt-Olof, Pär Brandholm, Mikael Karlsson, and in
general all the people at Laurin Maritime who contributed to the develop-
ment of my work providing me with data and support. I enjoyed very much
your expertise, your professionalism, and your cordiality in my regards.
Thanks also to Jon Agust, Kristinn and Stefn at Marorka. Working with
you has been motivating and I learnt a lot during my visits to Iceland. All
people I collaborated to, both in Laurin and Marorka, have been examples
of what a company should have for being successful in its business.
Thank you Gesa, thank you very much. You deserve your own little para-
graph, for all your support, ranging from work to personal life. If there is
one person I can say ”I would not be here without you”, that is definitely
you.
A lot of thanks to all my colleagues in the environmental group. Thanks to
Selma, for making a patient smile every time I came to your door just for
having a short chat. Thanks to Mathias, for your lessons on the Swedes, and
for coming to the cinema with me for watching trash movies. Thanks to,
Hannes for introducing me to Laurin and for the numerous confrontations
on energy efficiency, and research in general. Thanks to Philip for making
me feel you counted on me also outside of the working hours. Thanks to
Erik, for the all the afterworks we had together that reminded me there is
life out there. Thanks to Steven, Luis, Florian, Hedy, Nicole, Henrik, and
all those who make me feel, every time I wake up in the morning, that I am
happy to go to work because I am surrounded by wonderful people.
Thanks to my friends, for their support in the happy and the sad moments.
Thanks to (in random order, I hate alphabetic rankings!) Erry, Marco, Ste-
fano, Silvia, Ann, Alberto, Oana, Raquel, Jack, Pablo, Gabo, Bernadette,
Roberta, Ignacio, Saimir, Stella, Chiara, Dado, Karl, Josefin, Angela, Lu-
ana, Suny, Romolo, Bartolo, Loris, Marzi, Ale, Giaele, Filo, Fierro, ... I
am not thanking you individually for the only reason that would require a
whole thesis alone. But I cannot help giving a special thank to Maurizio,
who introduced me to sailing, the new little world where I just can feel good
when I need to escape from everything else.
Last, but definitely not least, thanks to Antonella and Sandro, papá e
mamma. I thanked all the people who had a role in making me the re-
searcher I am, but if I have to thank somebody for being the person I am,
that is you.
 Appended papers

This thesis represents the combination of the research presented in the three
following appended papers:

Paper I : Baldi, F. , Gabrielii, C. & Anderssson, K. (2013) Energy and

exergy analysis of a ship: the case study of a chemical tanker, ready
for submission to Energy.
The study focuses on the analysis of ship energy system using en-
ergy and exergy analysis. These methods are applied to a specific
case-study. The results identify the main energy flows and the most
important inefficiencies on board of the selected vessel.
Paper II : Baldi, F. , Larsen, U. , Gabrielii, C. & Andersson, K. (2013)
A validated zero-dimensional four-stroke medium speed Diesel engine
model for waste heat recovery marine applications, submitted to Ap-
plied Energy on the 2013-06-10.
The study focuses on the description of a model for predicting medium-
speed marine Diesel engine performance and on its application to the
case of engine-propeller interaction modelling for a case-study ship.
Results underscore how the use of presented models can help identify-
ing more efficient operations.
Paper III : Baldi, F. , Bengtsson, S. & Andersson, K. (2013) The influ-
ence of propulsion system design on the carbon footprint of different
marine fuels, Low Carbon Shipping Conference, London, 9-10 Septem-
ber 2013.
The study focuses on proposing a method for comparing the carbon
footprint of different fuels and propulsion systems. A number of possi-
ble arrangements for the case-study ship were analysed and compared
in their energy performance and carbon footprint. The results show
how fuel and propulsion system choice in the design phase must be
tackled contemporarily and how a carbon footprint analysis can give a
much more detailed understanding of the environmental performance
of different propulsion systems and fuels.

For all the appended papers, the author of this thesis contributed to the
ideas presented and had a major role in planning the paper, data collection,
performing the analysis, and writing the manuscript.
iv
Contents

List of Illustrations vii

Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii

Symbols and abbreviations ix

1 Introduction 1
1.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Aim and research questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3 Delimitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4 Thesis outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2 The ship as complex energy system 9

2.1 An introduction to complexity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2 The ship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

3 The study of ship energy systems with a systems approach 17

3.1 The case study of a chemical tanker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.2 The analysis of ship energy systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.3 The improvement of ship energy performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

4 Ship energy system analysis 37

4.1 Energy analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.2 Exergy analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

5 Ship energy performance improvement 43

5.1 Ship operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.2 Retrofitting and waste heat recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.3 Ship design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

6 Discussion 49
6.1 Energy and exergy analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
6.2 Energy performance improvement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
6.3 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

v
CONTENTS

7 Future work and recommendations 57

7.1 Proposals to the scientific community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
7.2 Recommendations to the industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

8 Conclusions 59

References 61

vi
List of Illustrations

Figures

1.1 World trade evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.2 Residual fuel price evolution and forecast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Forecasted shipping contribution to global CO2 emissions . . . . . . . . 4

2.1 Schematic representation of ship energy system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

2.2 Schmeatic representation of ship energy flows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3.1 Graphical representation of thesis methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

3.2 Conceptual representation of ship energy systems and flows . . . . . . . 20
3.3 Conceptual representation of the coherency of mechanical and thermal
energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.4 Conceptual representation of the property of exergy . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.5 Conceptual representation of white and black box modeling . . . . . . . 29
3.6 Ship speed distribution over one year of operations for the case study ship 32
3.7 Propulsion system and individual engines load distribution over one year
of operations for the case study ship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.8 Schematic representation of the two operational modes compared in the
study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.9 Schematic representation of the propulsion arrangement with WHR sys-
tem installed: Case 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

4.1 Sankey diagram for the case study ship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

4.2 Grassmann diagram for the case study ship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

5.1 Comparison of case study ship specific fuel consumption, fixed-speed

versus variable-speed setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.2 Propeller power versus propeller speed, for different values of ship speed
and propeller pitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.3 Fractional coverage of the auxiliary need for different recovery arrange-
ments versus cycle exergy efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.4 Comparison of case study ship specific consumption, standard setup ver-
sus WHR retrofitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

vii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

5.5 Cumulative fossil energy consumption over one year of operation for the
alternative design cases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Tables

2.1 Performance parameters of Diesel engines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

3.1 Available measurements from on board energy management system . . . 21

3.2 Comparison of mechanistic and empirical models . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.3 Alternative arrangements evaluated in ship design . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

4.1 Energy flows and efficiencies for system components . . . . . . . . . . . 41

4.2 Exergy flows and efficiencies for system components . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4.3 Energy and exergy analysis of waste heat flows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

viii
 ex Exergy

Abbreviations
AE Auxiliary engine
CAC Charge air cooler
Symbols and CO2 Carbon dioxide

abbreviations CPP
ECA
Controllable pitch propeller
Emission controlled area
EEDI Energy Efficiency Design Index
EGE Exhaust gas economiser

Roman Symbols FPP Fixed pitch propeller

EX Exergy [kW ] GHG Greenhouse gas

H Enthalpy [kJ] HFO Heavy fuel oil

I Irreversibility [kJ] HHV Higher heating value

m Mass [kg] HT High Temperature

M CR Maximum continuous rate [kW ] HVAC Heat, ventilation, and air condition-
ing
P Power [kW ]
IMO International Maritime Organisation
Q Heat [kJ]
JW Jacket wataer
S Entropy [ kJ
K
]
g LHV Lower heating value
SF OC Specific fuel oil consumption [ kW h
]
kg LNG Liquified Natural Gas
SSF C Specific ship fuel consumption [ nm ]
LO Lubricating oil
T Temperature [K]
LT Low Temperature
W Work [kJ]
MDO Marine diesel oil
Greek Symbols ME Main engine
δ Contribution to total exergy destruc- NOX Nitrogen oxides
tion
PM Particulate matter
η Efficiency
S/G Shaft generator
λ Irreversibility ratio
SEEMP Ship Energy Efficiency Management
Plan
Subscripts
SOX Sulphur oxides
0 Reference ambient conditions
WHR Waste heat recovery
en Energy

ix
SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS

x
1

Introduction

The shipping industry is today facing very strong challenges. In a period of low freight
rates, fuel prices have increased to levels only seen during the oil crisis in the 70’s.
Stricter environmental regulations are putting additional stress on the sector. Mean-
while, the latest IPCC report highlighted the increased confidence in the existence of
an anthropic contribution to global warming. Shipping, though only contributing by an
estimated 3% to global CO2 emissions, is expected to increase its share in the future.
In such a context, it is not surprising that the interest in energy efficiency has
exponentially grown during last years. The critical role of shipping in global economy
implies that increasing the efficiency of the sector is one of the only ways to reduce
its consumption without decreasing its output. There is the need of addressing energy
efficiency in shipping from a number of different angles. This thesis approaches this
challenge from a technical perspective1 .
This chapter provides an introduction to the subject of the thesis. In Section 1.1 a
short description of the shipping sector and its current challenges is presented, leading
to the identification of the problem. The aim of the thesis and the research questions
are then explicitly defined in Section 1.2, while Section 1.3 draws the delimitations.
Finally, the thesis outline presented in Section 1.4 helps the reader in the orientation
through the different chapters and sections of this work.

1.1 Background
Shipping has always been intrinsically related to the history of mankind, from the
Pheonicians to the Romans, the Venetians, the Hanseatic League and the journeys of
Colombo, Diaz, Caboto, Zheng He. Today, shipping is one of the largest drives of
world’s globalised economy, as it contributes to more than 80% of global world trade
by volume, and 70% by value (UNCTAD, 2012). Figure 1.1 shows the evolution of
global trade in the last decades; even after the step back caused by the economic crisis
in 2008, global trade has already taken back on its previous pace, and most analysts
1
For a more interdisciplinary perspective, Towards understanding energy efficiency in shipping, by
Johnson et al. (2013), is a very informative reading.

1
1. INTRODUCTION

Figure 1.1: World trade evolution, 1950-2012; detail of the 2007-2012 period1

agree that this growing trend is very likely to continue in the future, fostered by the
growth in non-OECD countries (UN, 2013).
As a result of this trend, merchant shipping has been growing steadily over the
past years, hand in hand with world trade. In the period between 1999 and 2004
merchant shipping increased its economic turnover by a striking average of 22% per
year2 . This astonishing growth, together with the rising global economy, is explained by
phenomena like containerisation, increased economy of scale, and advances in marine
engineering. Under these conditions, the cost of freight is not a major concern anymore
when deciding where to purchase goods and materials (Stopford, 2009).

1.1.1 The evolution of bunker prices

The low cost of transport by sea has also been historically connected to very low prices
for marine fuels (normally referred as ”bunkers”). During latest years, however, the
increase in bunker prices has made fuel cost the largest element for virtually every
shipping company (DNV, 2012c). If as late as in the early 70s the fuel bill accounted
for around 13% of total ship costs, for the period between 2006 and 2008, fuel costs
were estimated to account for between 43% and 67% of total operating costs depending
on vessel type (Kalli et al., 2009). Figure 1.2 presents bunker prices evolution from
1984 until 2012, showing how they have seen a sharp increase since the 80’s and,
1
Author’s elaboration, from WTO (2012).
2
Source: Douglas-Westwood Ltd, available on (Stopford, 2009)

2
 1.1 Background

'History'
800 'Forecast'
Bunker price (HFO) [USD/ton]

600

400

200

1984 1994 2004 2014 2024 2034

Time

Figure 1.2: HFO price historical evolution (1984-2012) and forecast (2012-2035)1

especially, in the last ten years. As it can be observed, even if prices fell around 2009
in coincidence with the economic crisis, they have already promptly recovered. In
the moment this thesis is going to print, the price for residual fuels ranged from 586
USD/ton in Rotterdam to 718 USD/ton in Sydney3 .
This is not the first period in history when oil prices (and, consequently, bunker
prices) have experienced this kind of increase. During the oil crisis of the 70s fuel costs
had risen to over 50% of ship operating costs (Buxton, 1985), creating the deepest re-
cession for the maritime sector since the Great Depression (Böme, 1983). Nevertheless,
in spite of the large number of studies connected to the reduction of fuel consumption
that was produced (Gauthey & DeTolla, 1974; DeTolla & Fleming, 1981; Brady, 1981;
Sack, 1981), most of the technical and managerial improvements discussed in those
years just faded as bunker prices dropped (Johnson et al., 2013). However, even if
there is disagreement among experts on the forecasts, reference scenarios hypothesised
by the major international agencies assume increasing prices in medium to far time
horizons (EIA, 2013; DNV, 2012b). This is a crucial matter for the subject of this
thesis, since fuel prices have a direct, strong impact on the uptake of new technologies
for increasing energy efficiency, as well as on the implementation of existing ones (DNV,
2012c).

3
Source:bunkerworld.com. Prices refer to IFO380, a type of residual fuel. Last updated 2013-10-20
1
Author’s elaboration from Brett (2008), Mazraati (2011), EPA (2008), Vivid & Economics (2010),
Sabinsky, SCC (2005), SSPA (2011)

3
1. INTRODUCTION

1.1.2 The influence of environmental concerns on fuel costs

Yet, this is only the economic part of the picture. In 2013 there could be no discussion
connected to the transport sector without a mention to greenhouse gases (GHG) and,
in general, emissions to air. Transportation by sea requires energy for propulsion, which
with today’s technological standard is provided by the combustion of fossil fuels. The
oxidation of carbon content in the fuel, in turn, releases carbon dioxide (CO2 ), which
stays in the atmosphere for centuries and contributes to global warming.
Shipping contribution to global CO2 emissions is relatively low and hard to evaluate.
Estimates relative to 2007 give an upper and lower boundary of respectively around 600
M T CO2
year (IEA, 2012) and around 1250 MyearT CO2
(Buhaug et al., 2009), which correspond
to a share of global CO2 emissions of between 2.7% and 3.6%. Taking into account
the contribution to the overall emissions of GHG, shipping is estimated to account for
1.2% to 2.5% of the total.
According to Rogelj et al. (2011), global GHG emissions need to be reduced to
GT CO2,eq GT CO2,eq
approximately 43 year by 2020 and 17 year by 2050 in order to have a 90%
likelihood of keeping the temperature from increasing more than 2◦ C compared to pre-
industrial levels. On the other hand, shipping emissions are not expected to decrease
at all. Even when the implementation of all cost efficient measures in a high carbon-tax
scenario is accounted for, projections do not forecast any reduction in total emissions
(Buhaug et al., 2009; Eide et al., 2011; Faber et al., 2009). As shown in Figure 1.3,
shipping might become the major contributor to global GHG emissions if present trends
are not diverted.
Two main policy instruments have been issued by the International Maritime Or-

Figure 1.3: Forecasted shipping contribution to global CO2 emissions. Lines represent
different scenarios for global CO2 emissions, while the gray area represents the possibility
space for shipping-related CO2 emissions as forecasted by Buhaug et al. (2009). From
Gilbert & Bows (2012)

4
 1.2 Aim and research questions

ganisation (IMO)1 in the effort of reducing shipping impact on global warming: the
Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), which sets minimum limits on the emissions
of CO2 per unit of transport work from newly built vessels, and the Ship Energy Ef-
ficiency Management Plan (SEEMP), which aims at improving awareness for energy
efficiency on existing vessels2 . Their effectiveness, however, has been put under question
(Johnson et al., 2013; Bazari & Longva, 2011; Devanney, 2011).
A part from GHG3 , sulphur oxides (SOX ) and nitrogen oxides (SOX ) are often
discussed as they have an influence on fuel costs. New, stringent limits on the emissions
of these two pollutants are expected to be enforced in the coming years. As reported
by the European Environmental Agency (EEA), shipping contribution to the national
SOX and N OX deposition is estimated to be between 10% and 30% of the total for
most of the European countries having a significant portion of their borders facing the
sea (EEA, 2013). Meeting the requirements imposed by new regulations on the matter
(especially in Emission Control Areas (ECAs), where limits are even more stringent)
will require either the installation of costly equipment on board, or the switch to cleaner
and more expensive fuels4 . In both cases, fuel-related costs are expected to increase in
the near future because of the more stringent requirements on emissions to air (DNV,
2012c).

1.1.3 Energy efficiency and the need for a systems approach

This thesis deals with the challenge of increasing ships energy efficiency, i.e. reducing
fuel consumption without decreasing the output. But if research and development
have reached very high standards in the technology of engines and propellers, the same
cannot be said of the design of ship energy systems. Until the recent past, low fuel prices
have generated very little demand for more energy efficient ships from the industry; as
a consequence, technical knowledge in this field has stagnated. There is the need of
approaching the subject with systems perspective, which regards the ship as a complex
system rather than focus on individual components (Lassesson & Andersson, 2009;
DNV, 2012a). This thesis aims at addressing this gap in the scientific knowledge in the
field.

1.2 Aim and research questions

The aim of this licentiate thesis is to contribute to a better understanding of the ship
as an energy system and to use this acquired knowledge in order to analyse possible
1
The processes inside the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the body of the UN respon-
sible for international shipping, can be very complex. An analysis of one such example, related to
sulphur dioxides emissions from shipping, can be found in Svensson (2011).
2
EEDI and SEEMP have been adopted at MEPC 62 in July 2012 as an amendment to the Maritime
Pollution (MARPOL) convention.
3
There is still an open discussion, especially from a juridical point of view, on whether CO2 should
be considered a pollutant or not. For further details on the subject please refer to (Linné, 2012)
4
There is a large debate on what will be the marine fuels in the future. A thorough environmental
comparison of different marine fuels is presented in Bengtsson (2011).

5
1. INTRODUCTION

improvements to its energy efficiency.

To improve the understanding of ship energy systems translates in the objective
of evaluating components performances and energy flows sizes. The importance and
efficiency of producers, converters and consumers from one side and the size of inputs,
outputs and internal flows from the other should be evaluated. This can be translated
in the following research questions:
How can energy and exergy analysis be used to identify:

• identify the main energy producers and consumers on board? (Paper I)

• the main waste heat flows? (Paper I)

Once the main possibilities for improvement are identified, alternatives to the cur-
rent practice should be generated and evaluated. In general, three kinds of intervention
are considered: ship operations, retrofitting and design. In this thesis, this challenge is
addressed using a systems approach, focusing on the system as a whole rather than on
its individual components. This objective can be translated in the following research
questions:
How can the use of a systems perspective and of mathematical modelling assist in:

• the improvement of the energy efficiency of the propulsion system through a better
engine-propeller interaction? (Paper II)

• the evaluation of the feasibility of the installation of waste heat recovery systems
on ships? (Paper I, Paper II)

• the estimation and comparison of the energy consumption and the carbon foot-
print of alternative arrangements in the initial stage of ship design? (Paper III)

Results from the application of energy and exergy analysis are further developed in
Paper I in order to evaluate WHR feasibility. In Paper II, models for the main part
of ship energy systems are built in order to evaluate alternative operational modes
for propulsion, also including a WHR system. Finally, in Paper III alternative fuels
and propulsion system designs are evaluated in their annual energy consumption and
carbon footprint.

1.3 Delimitations
International shipping is the largest contributor both to the benefits (trade volume)
and to some of the drawbacks (GHG emissions) of shipping in general. This thesis will
hence focus on the types of vessels mostly used in international shipping. This kind
of ships are generally operated in stable conditions over long distances, which makes a
steady-state approach the most appropriate for tackling this subject. Dynamic effects
are, in most cases, of little interest and they are therefore not taken into account.
Furthermore, this thesis aims at providing tools and information on how to improve
the energy efficiency of ship energy systems, by means of generating and evaluating

6
 1.4 Thesis outline

alternatives to current setups. The results of the thesis should, as a consequence, be

seen as a part of a larger picture, also including economic, environmental, and human
aspects. From an energy perspective, the analysis sets its boundaries at the ship as a
system, and again the results should be seen as part of a larger figure, where energy
needs for fuel production and transportation, and for ship production are also taken
into account.

1.4 Thesis outline

This thesis presents a synthesis of the research conducted over two and a half years on
the subject of improving ship energy efficiency through a systems perspective. Although
additional details can be found in the three appended papers, the thesis is supposed to
be understandable as a stand-alone work.
This thesis is subdivided in eight chapters; after the introduction to the back-
ground, subject and scope of the thesis, Chapter 2 describes the ship as an engineering
and energy system and motivates the use of a systems approach by introducing to
its complexity. Chapter 3 presents the main methodological framework of the work,
first describing the case study that have been used in the work, and then introducing
the reader to the concepts of systems analysis, energy analysis and system modeling.
Chapters 4 and 5 represent the core of the thesis, presenting the results of energy and
exergy analysis of ship systems and providing relevant examples of how these can be
used in order to generate and evaluate alternatives for the improvement of ship energy
efficiency. Results and methodology are then discussed in Chapter 6, while Chapters
7 and 8 respectively present suggestions for further research and recommendations to
the industry, and draws conclusions from the work and.

7
1. INTRODUCTION

8
2

The ship as complex energy

system

Concepts such as ”energy system” or ”systems approach” have already been mentioned
many times in this work. In particular, the aim of the thesis lies in the utilisation of a
systems approach in order to identify possible improvements of ship energy efficiency.
This is justified by the fact that in complex systems a major contributory factor [to
erroneous predictions of systems behavior] has been the unwitting adoption of piecemeal
thinking, which sees only parts and neglects to deal with the whole ˝Flood & Carson
(1993, p. 14). Inefficient design is often connected to erroneous predictions of sys-
tem behavior, which are normally originated by counter-intuitive behavior. However,
referring again to Flood & Carson (1993, p. 14),
this [counter-intuitive behavior] is not an intrinsic property of phenomena;
rather, it is largely caused by our neglect of, or lack or respect being paid
to, the nature and complexity that we are trying to represent. That is one
reason why we need systems thinking, methodologies, and models. We argue
that without this formal thinking we see only parts, the extremes, the simple
explanations or solutions.
This thesis addresses the subject of ship energy efficiency using a systems perspec-
tive. This kind of approach is most suitable, if not required, when a complex system
is to be understood and improved without risking sub-optimisation. Section 2.1 in-
troduces the subject of complexity and identifies what features of the ship make it
identifiable as a complex system. This leads to a description of the ship as an engineer-
ing system, and in particular of the features related to its energy efficiency, presented
in Section 2.2.

2.1 An introduction to complexity

Scientific literature can propose several examples which refer to the ship as a com-
plex system from the point of view of control theory, social sciences, environmental

9
2. THE SHIP AS COMPLEX ENERGY SYSTEM

sciences, and other more (Dupuis & Neilson, 1997). The interest of this work, how-
ever, lies specifically in looking at the ship as an energy system, and components and
sub-systems are considered under the light of their influence on the energy balance of
the ship. Components which are extremely relevant from other perspectives, as for
example navigation equipment, can be considered as a mere fixed, small contribution
to the overall energy balance of the ship.
The complexity of a system can be broken down to a number of attributes (Yates,
1978; Flood & Carson, 1993; Checkland, 1999):

• Large number of parts and significant interactions

• Non-linearity

• Emergence

Ship energy systems have a number of significantly interacting parts that is large
enough not allow intuitive prediction of all input-output relations, but small enough to
enable a clear identification of all components and of their interactions.
A system is non linear when at least one element in the system relates to and
varies in a non-linear way with another ˝ (Flood & Carson, 1993, p. 28). Linearity
allows very simple intuitive estimations. A ship is made of several complex components,
few of which can be described with a linear behavior. These components also give rise
to asymmetrical relationships.
Emergence refers to the property of the system to be more than the sum of its
parts. The ability of a ship to fulfil its mission depends on the coexistence of a number
of interacting components. A ship is more than the sum of an engine, and propeller, a
hull, and many other subsystems; it is the unique combination of all these components
that makes the system to be able to deliver its final function.
The ship, and in particular its energy systems, can therefore be said to be a complex
system which can take a benefit from the application of a systems approach. Before
proceeding further with the description of the work the led to the results of this thesis,
the most relevant features of a ship are introduced, with a special focus on those that
are most closely connected to the thematic of energy efficiency.

2.2 The ship

A ship is a floating, autonomously propelled platform which is designed for performing
a specific mission. As this generally implies moving the ship through water, propulsion
is often one of the major sources of energy consumption. The propulsion system fulfils
this function on board of the ship. On the other hand, a ship has additional func-
tional requirements, such as providing accommodation to the crew, supplying cooling
and lubrication, etc. These functions require additional power, in the form of electric,
mechanical, and thermal energy. A short overview of the most relevant auxiliary con-
sumers and of the most common technologies for the generation of auxiliary power and

10
 2.2 The ship

heat is then presented. A visual representation of ship energy systems is provided in

Figures 2.1 and 2.21 .

2.2.1 The propulsion system

A detailed description of ship resistance would be out of the scope of this work; however,
for giving an estimation of how the system is influenced by external parameters, it is
often assumed that the power required for ship propulsion can be approximated as
shown in equation 2.1 (Woud & Stapersma, 2008, p. 52).

P = y · c0 (v)v 3 (2.1)

The factor y accounts for the influence of non-design conditions, such as hull fouling,
displacement, sea state, and water depth. The coefficient c0 , representing the charac-
teristic behavior of a specific ship, is normally increasing with speed, meaning that the
final dependance of ship propulsion power requirement with speed is not exactly a third
power curve (Woud & Stapersma, 2008, p. 52). The function of the propulsion system
is to provide the ship with the ability to move. Even if the propulsion arrangement
can vary substantially from vessel to vessel, the most common configuration can be
described by one or more prime movers, coupled to one or more propellers. This is the
typical arrangement for most of today’s commercial vessels.

Propellers
The propeller is the most widespread solution among for converting of the rotating
mechanical power from the engine shaft into a thrust force. Thrust bearings connect
the shaft to the ship, thus allowing to convert thrust force into ship motion.
Fixed pitch propellers (FPP) are characterized by having blades whose angle relative
to the axis of the shaft (pitch) is fixed. FPPs are generally directly connected to
low-speed two-stroke engines, therefore building a very solid, reliable, and efficient
propulsion train. However, this system suffers low flexibility and scarce manoeuvrability
(Molland, 2008). FPPs are the most widespread solution for ship propulsion, and are
particularly common among container ships, tankers, and bulk carriers (Carlton, 2007).
Controllable pitch propellers (CPP) allow the variation of the pitch. This ability
provides the CPP with an extra degree of freedom in addition to its rotational speed. As
a consequence, CPPs are installed for increasing ship manoeuvrability, for improving the
ability of adapting load to drive characteristic, and for giving the possibility to generate
constant-frequency electric power with a generator coupled to the main engines (Woud
& Stapersma, 2008). As a consequence of the system being more complex, CPPs are
more expensive and delicate than FPPs. CPPs are most favoured in passenger ships,
ferries, general cargo ships, tugs, and fishing vessels (Carlton, 2007).
1
Please note that the arrangement represented in these figure is only intended to give a feeling of
what are the main components positioned on board of the case study vessel. Their location in the
actual arrangement might differ substantially.

11
2. THE SHIP AS COMPLEX ENERGY SYSTEM

Prime movers
Diesel1 engines are the most widespread solution for the generation of mechanical power
from chemical energy. Firs installed on a ship in 1903, Diesel engine finally substituted
steam turbines in the 60s, and today constitute 96% of installed power on board of
merchant vessels larger than 100 gross tons (Eyring et al., 2010). Marine Diesel engines,
in fact, can achieve efficiencies up to 50%, allow operations to very low load (down to
10% of maximum continuous rating, MCR (Laerke, 2012)), and are designed to burn
both residual fuels (heavy fuel oil, HFO, and intermediate fuel oil, IFO), and distillates
(marine diesel oil, MDO, and marine gas oil, MGO) (Woud & Stapersma, 2008, p.
132). Recent developments also made dual-fuel engines available on the market, which
can run both on liquid fuels and on natural gas (Aesoy et al., 2011). The most relevant
features of Diesel engines are summarised in Table 2.12 .

Diesel Engines
Low-speed Medium-speed High-speed
Process 2-stroke 4-stroke 4-stroke
Construction Crosshead Trunk piston Trunk piston
Output power range [kW] 8000 - 80000 500 - 35000 500 - 9000
Output speed range [rpm] 80 - 300 300 - 1000 1000 - 3500
Fuel type HFO/MDO HFO/MDO MDO
SFOC [g/kWh] 160 - 180 170 - 210 200 - 220
Specific mass [kg/kW] 60 - 17 20 - 5 6 - 2.3

Table 2.1: Performance parameters of Diesel engines, state of art 2001 (Woud & Sta-
persma, 2008, p. 136)

Gas turbines are today the only alternative to Diesel engines for ship propulsion.
Despite being less efficient (efficiency for gas turbines ranges between 30% and 40%),
and less flexible with load and fuel quality (Woud & Stapersma, 2008, p. 138) than
Diesel engines, their main advantage lies in their higher power density. This makes
them suitable for applications where high power and low weight are required, as in the
case of fast ferries or naval vessels.

2.2.2 Auxiliaries
Ship auxiliary systems are a vital part of the ship. They are generally connected with
energy demands that can, depending on ship type, represent a significant portion of
1
As Diesel is the surname of the inventor of this type of engine, Rudolf Diesel, I will refer to Diesel
engines with capital letter.
2
For a detailed description of the different principles the reader is invited to refer to the extensive
literature on the subject, such as (Stone, 1999; Heywood, 1988; Kuiken, 2008).

12
 2.2 The ship

overall ship energy use. As a ship at sea cannot use an external source of energy for its
auxiliary needs, these must be provided by on board machinery. This can be divided
as a function of the purpose (consumers, producers) or of the type of energy processed
(thermal, electrical).

Auxiliary consumers
A number of components on board require electric or mechanical power. Pumps are of-
ten a major consumer in this category, and they can be found in fuel and lubrication sys-
tems. Compressors are installed on board for air conditioning (HVAC, especially when
additional accommodation is required for passengers), refrigeration and compressed air
systems. Fans, both in the engine room and in cargo spaces, cargo handling, in the
form of pumps or cranes, lighting, especially for passenger vessels, and all navigation
equipment can also be a relevant source of electric power consumption. Ballast water
pumps also constitute large auxiliary consumers, as most ships need to load water into
specifically allocated tanks in order to maintain stability, especially when sailing with
empty holds1 . Most ships are also equipped with bow thrusters, propulsors located in
the fore of the ship, that provide additional manoeuvrability in port.
Cooling demand is met by using sea water as a cooling flow and is also associated to
relevant power demand, especially for pumps. The main cooling demand is represented
by the main engines, which is subdivided into cooling of the cylinder walls (normally
referred as jacket cooling, JW), of the charge air flow (charge air cooler, CAC), and of
the lubricating oil (lubricating oil cooler, LO). In general, a high temperature (HT) and
a low temperature (LT) circuits are used not to provoke too high thermal stress in the
components. Additional systems are installed when refrigeration or air conditioning
are required. The first is often needed by fishing vessels and reefers, while the second
is connected to accommodation facilities and is a major consumer in cruise ships and
ferries. Cooling demand generally translates in additional auxiliary power requirement
for the operation of cooling pumps and refrigeration systems.
Heat consumers can also be relevant to the overall energy balance of the ship,
especially for some specific vessel types, such as tankers and cruise ships. A large
heat demand is often connected to accommodation, both for heating and fresh water
generation. As HFO has very high viscosity at ambient temperature, fuel heating is
also often a major figure in this category. Finally, some vessel types (e.g. tankers) can
have specific mission-related heat demands, such as cargo heating.

Auxiliary producers
Electric power is often generated using auxiliary Diesel engines (AEs, also referred to as
auxiliary generators), coupled to electric generators and, in turn, to a main switchboard.
This solution is the most common when a 2-stroke engine is used for propulsion. When
a larger amount of auxiliary power is needed, a generator (in this case normally referred
1
A ship is said to be ”sailing ballast” when it is navigating with empty cargo holds for picking a
new cargo.

13
2. THE SHIP AS COMPLEX ENERGY SYSTEM

to as ”shaft generator”, S/G) can be coupled to the main engine shaft. This increases
the efficiency of auxiliary power generation since the main engines are generally more
efficient than the auxiliary engines. This solution requires however either a constant
engine speed (and, thus, a CPP), or the installation of power electronics for frequency
conversion, since the frequency of the current generated by the S/G directly depends
on the speed of the main engine (Woud & Stapersma, 2008).
Auxiliary heat is generated in different ways depending on the required quality
(temperature) and quantity. Heat exchangers recovering energy from the exhaust gas
(also referred to as exhaust gas economisers, EGE) are often employed when a relatively
small amount of process heat is required (i.e. only for fuel heating and accommodation,
which is the most usual case on merchant ships). A separate boiler is necessary for
higher heat demand, such as in the case of tankers and cruise ships. Heat is normally
distributed to different consumers either using steam or thermal oil. The freshwater
generator is a special case, as it can use low-grade heat and is therefore often located
on the high temperature cooling water systems.

Waste heat recovery systems

WHR systems refer to technical devices designed to make use of thermal energy that
would otherwise be wasted to the environment, a solution which is widely used in
various industrial sectors. The possibility of recovering waste heat from the main
engines exhaust gas to meet auxiliary heat demand has already been mentioned in
the previous section, and conceptually falls in this category. However the acronym
WHR will be used, in the continuation of this thesis, to identify systems whose main
purpose is to generate mechanical and/or electric power from a flow of waste heat. This
distinction is used since the technology required for the conversion of waste heat into
mechanical/electric power are conceptually different from what needed for the heat-to-
heat conversion.
Some different technologies exist for the conversion from thermal to mechanical
energy (Shu et al., 2013). However, this work focuses on the utilisation of systems
based on Rankine cycles. This technology has been particularly successful because of
its simplicity, safety, and relatively high efficiency (Tchanche et al., 2011). A Rankine
cycle is based on the generation of high-pressure steam and its subsequent expansion
in a turbine, which generates mechanical power. Organic Rankine cycles (ORC) are
often used when only low-temperature waste heat is available; their working process is
analogous to that of a standard Rankine cycle, but they make use of different working
fluids which allow additional freedom in the choice of the evaporating temperature.
On a ship, the main engines are the principal source of waste heat on board of most
of vessels, in particular through the exhaust gas and the cooling water flows. Despite
the application of WHR systems is still quite rare in shipping, they are considered to
have a high likelihood to be retrofitted on existent ships in the future (DNV, 2012c).

14
 Accomodation
Fuel heating
Auxilary boilers

Exhaust gas Tank cleaning

15
economisers
Auxiliary engines
Engine room
auxiliaries N2
Bow thrusters

Propeller

Gearbox Main engines

Figure 2.1: Schematic representation of ship energy system

2.2 The ship
 Mechanical energy consumer / producer

Heat consumer / producer

Exhaust gas
economisers
Accomodation Electric energy consumer / producer

Fuel heating
Auxilary boilers
HVAC Nitrogen
compressors
Tank cleaning

16
Auxiliary engines
Engine room
auxiliaries Bow thrusters

Propeller
2. THE SHIP AS COMPLEX ENERGY SYSTEM

Gearbox Main engines

Shaft generator
Cargo pumps

Figure 2.2: Schmeatic representation of ship energy flows

3

The study of ship energy systems

with a systems approach

In Chapter 2 ship energy systems have been described, and they have been shortly anal-
ysed from a systems science perspective. Having assessed the complexity of ship energy
systems, it is necessary to employ a systems perspective rather than a component-wise
optimisation. Systems analysis is a methodology suggested when dealing with problem-
solving in complex systems (Flood & Carson, 1993, p. 100).
The community of systems scientists only partially agrees on the specific procedures
to be applied in systems analysis (Checkland, 1999, p. 139), and it is common to adapt
the methodology to the specific need of the situation. In the case of this thesis, the
task of problem solving has to coexist with the more scientific need of improving the
understanding of a system.
The analysis of the problem constitutes the first part of a systems analysis. The
focus can be summarised in the question What are the limitations of the present system?
(Flood & Carson, 1993). Valuable information for answering to this question can be
provided by the results of energy and exergy analysis. A description of these methods,
together with some required thermodynamic background to the concept of exergy and
with an investigation of the existing literature, are provided in section 3.2.
The results from the energy and exergy analysis provide the basis for the following
steps of systems analysis: the generation and evaluation of alternative solutions. This
process requires an additional premise; in fact, during specific and in-depth studies,
conceptual or mental models are often not sufficient to cope with the type of complexity
involved. [...] It is, therefore, necessary to seek more formal structured approaches to
modeling (Flood & Carson, 1993). The second part of this thesis, hence, focuses on
the application of models to the evaluation of alternative solutions for improving the
system. This process is subdivided in its application to ship operations, retrofitting,
and design. More details on systems modeling and its application to ships in existing
literature are provided in Section 3.3.
The main interest of this study is to argue for the application of a systems perspec-
tive to ship energy systems. However, the presentation of such a method without any

17
3. THE STUDY OF SHIP ENERGY SYSTEMS WITH A SYSTEMS
APPROACH

Figure 3.1: Graphical representation of thesis methodology

reference to real cases would fall short both in explanatory power and persuasion. As
observed in most literature in the field, in the present work the proposed methods are
applied to a case study. The technical details of the selected case study ship and more
information about the data sources used in this study are here presented.

3.1 The case study of a chemical tanker

The case study represents an existing vessel, for which the company owning the ves-
sel (named the ”partner company”) provided extensive operational measurements and
technical information.

3.1.1 Description of the ship

The case study ship is a chemical/product tanker of 45 000 tons of deadweight which
largely operates in international waters and, often, in ECA areas. The propulsion
system is composed of two equally sized medium speed 4-stroke engines for a total
installed power of 7 680 kW. Both engines are connected to a common gearbox, which
in turn is connected to the propeller shaft, which provides the required thrust for
propulsion.
The ship is equipped with a S/G (rated 3200 kW), connected to the main gearbox,
which can provide auxiliary power. When operating in this configuration (”generator
mode”) both the main engines and the propeller need to be run at constant speed,
while acting on the pitch of the CPP enables setting the speed. Alternatively, the
ship can run in ”combinator mode”; this operational mode allows for variable propeller
speed, and consequently requires the use of at least on the two auxiliary engines (rated

18
 3.1 The case study of a chemical tanker

682 kW each) for power generation. The ship is, however, operated in generator mode
during most of its operations.
When the main engines are running, the auxiliary heat is supplied by two EGEs,
capable of generating 700 kg/h of steam at 10 bar each, while two large auxiliary boilers,
rated 14 000 kg/h of steam at 14 bar, are used for peak demands and when the main
engines are not in operation.
For both electric power and heat, most auxiliary consumers are the same that can
typically be found on most merchant ships. Special functions connected to the ship
mission are the following:

Inert gas production and compression: Nitrogen needs to be produced on board

and pumped into cargo tanks when inflammable liquids are transported. Nitrogen
compressors have a high power demand, but are only operated intermittently.

Cargo pumping: When unloading the vessel, cargo pumps are required (high pressure
in the shore-based tanks is normally sufficient for cargo loading). They can require
a large amount of power when operated simultaneously.

Tank cleaning: After one cargo has been unloaded, tank cleaning is generally neces-
sary in order to prepare the cargo tanks for the following shipment. This operation
is performed either directly in port or during ballast trips, and requires the use
of the auxiliary boilers.

Cargo heating: Some specific liquids are characterized by very high viscosity at am-
bient temperature, which makes them unsuitable for handling. For this reason,
cargo heating can be ensured by means of process steam. This operation is,
however, very seldom required.

The energy system of the case study ship is schematically represented in Figure 3.2.

3.1.2 Input data

Measured data and technical information for the case study ship were provided by the
partner company. The different sources of quantitative and qualitative information are
hereafter described.

Continuous monitoring

The case study ship is equipped with an energy monitoring system which logs on board
measurements on a dedicated server with a frequency of acquisition ranging between 1
and 15 seconds. Data are automatically processed by the systems in order to produce
15 minutes averages, to check data reliability, and to filter output values. The list of
the measurements available on the energy monitoring system is presented in Table 3.1.

19
3. THE STUDY OF SHIP ENERGY SYSTEMS WITH A SYSTEMS
APPROACH

Mechanical energy

Electric energy

Thermal energy

Thermal auxiliary
Producers consumers
Converters
Engine
room

Auxiliary Nitrogen
boilers Compressor

Boiler
auxiliaries

Engine
room
Cargo
pumps
Fuel input Auxiliary Nitrogen
engines Switchboard Compressor
HVAC
Boiler
auxiliaries
Other
S/G consumers

Electric auxilairy
consumers
Main Gearbox Propeller
engines

Propulsion
EGE

Lub oil
cooler LT
cooling
Jacket
cooler
HT
cooling Cooling
CAC systems

Figure 3.2: Conceptual representation of ship energy systems and flows

20
 3.1 The case study of a chemical tanker

Measured variable Unit

Ambient air
Dew point temperature ◦C

Relative humidity %
Auxiliary engines
ton
Fuel consumption 15mins
Power output kW
Shaft generator power output kW
Propeller
Power kW
Speed rpm
Torque kNm
ton
Main engines fuel consumption 15mins
Fuel temperature ◦C

Seawater temperature ◦C

Table 3.1: Available measurements from on board energy management system

Technical documentation
When direct measurements of ship and components performance are not available, they
can be calculated starting from available knowledge of the system. In this sense quite
extensive technical documentation was made available by the partner company for the
different components installed on board.

Main engines project guide contains information directly provided by the engine
manufacturer and publicly available online (MaK). Data here provided comply
with ISO 3046/1 and 15550 standards. Information connected to engine perfor-
mance, inlet and outlet flows, and thermal losses to the environment are used in
the study.

Main engine shop test contains experimental data provided by the manufacturer
and measured under well-defined conditions. Information on engine performance
for different load, including efficiency and exhaust temperature, is available from
this type of technical document.

Ship sea trials are performed when the construction of the ship is completed in order
to verify that the actual vessel performance conforms to the initial requirements
set by the customer. Ship sea trials were available for the case study ship and
for all its sister ships1 . On board sensors are generally used in this phase, but a
1
In shipping jargon, ”sister ships” are vessels built according to the same design

21
3. THE STUDY OF SHIP ENERGY SYSTEMS WITH A SYSTEMS
APPROACH

reasonable level of accuracy is guaranteed.

Propeller curves are represented as a diagram provided by the propeller manufac-

turer and generated through numerical codes. They provide information on pro-
peller performance for different values of propeller pitch, speed and power and
for different ship speeds.

Combinator diagram maps the characteristics of the control system installed on

board for engine-propeller interaction. The combinator diagram is used when the
ship is run in combinator mode, and is needed for engine protection versus too
high torque at low speed, which would result in excessive thermal loading for the
engine.

Ship electric balance is provided by the shipyard and summarises the expected
power consumption of different auxiliary components depending on ship oper-
ational mode.

Ship heat balance is supplied by the shipyard and provides details on the different
parameters used in the calculations such as heat exchange areas and heat transfer
coefficients.

Other technical documents provide design information to be used for the estima-
tion of the efficiency of the auxiliary engines, the shaft generator, and of other ship
components.

Noon reports and other data sources

On the case study ship, as on most vessels, information and measurements related to
on board fuel consumption and machinery relevant parameters is manually collected
daily by the crew and logged in paper and electronic format. Although the accuracy
and reliability of these data is often questioned (Aldous et al., 2013), they constitute
a broad source of knowledge and are used in this thesis when none of the previously
mentioned sources could provide the required information.

3.2 The analysis of ship energy systems

In this thesis, as energy efficiency is the main focus, the analysis of ship energy systems
is performed as first step of the systems analysis methodology. The analysis of ship
energy systems is subdivided in two main parts, energy and exergy analysis. While the
former is quite known in various fields of science and in the industry, exergy is only
seldom used, and will hence require some additional background.
The analysis of energy systems is often also divided between two main approaches
A top-down approach mostly relies on the analysis of extensive measurements carried
out in existing facilities (see, for example, Basurko et al. (2013)). On the other hand, a
bottom-up approach uses mechanistic knowledge of the system in order to simulate its

22
 3.2 The analysis of ship energy systems

behavior and draw conclusions based on simulation results (see, for example, Nguyen
et al. (2013)). The choice of the type of analysis strongly depends on the availability
of input data and other information about the system.

3.2.1 Energy analysis

Energy analysis is defined as the process of determining the energy required directly and
indirectly to allow a system to produce a specified good or service(IFIAS, 1974), and
refers to the application of the first law of thermodynamics, which states the principle
of energy conservation (Clausius, 1850).
Energy analysis provides a quantitative insight of the relevance of different energy
flows. It can help to identify, for example, the largest consumers in a system, on which
efforts should be focused in order to improve the overall efficiency1 .
Studies reporting the analysis of the whole ship energy system are not common in
literature. The work of Thomas et al. (2010) and Basurko et al. (2013), related to fishing
vessels, propose an estimation of ship energy consumption and its repartition among
different consumers, followed by the generation of a number of different alternative
solutions for decreasing fuel consumption and their evaluation.

3.2.2 Exergy analysis

Energy analysis becomes incomplete and can be misleading when thermal energy flows
are compared to electric and mechanical flows; the first law of thermodynamics, in fact,
does not include any consideration about energy quality (Dincer & Rosen, 2013). The
concept of exergy can be of particular use in this case, as the exergy content of a flow
depends both on the quantity and on the quality of its energy content.

Heat and disorder

The need of introducing a new concept lies in the discrepancies between different energy
types and, especially, in the conversion from one to another. Electric energy can be
easily transformed into mechanical power and vice verse (electric motors have efficien-
cies of more than 90%, and the same holds for electric generators). Both these forms
of energy can also be easily converted into thermal energy (respectively, for instance,
through a fan and a resistance), with efficiencies close to 100%. The same cannot be
said of the opposite: in practical applications the conversion from thermal to mechani-
cal energy reaches maximum values of roughly 60% in advanced combined cycles. There
is always a part of the thermal energy input which cannot be converted into work. This
asymmetry is expressed by the second law of thermodynamics, which states that it is
not possible to have a cycle whose only result is to convert a given amount of heat into
work.
1
Using high efficiency led lamps can be a very good idea for an office building, where large amounts
of energy is required for lighting. On a container-ship, on the other hand, the same measure would
lead to much less rewarding improvements as overall consumption for lighting is almost negligible in
comparison to other needs.

23
3. THE STUDY OF SHIP ENERGY SYSTEMS WITH A SYSTEMS
APPROACH

Coherent No coherent
movement
movement

(a) Mechanical energy (b) Thermal energy

Figure 3.3: Conceptual representation of the coherency of mechanical and thermal energy

Explaining the reasons of this asymmetry requires to look into matter at microscopic
level. With reference to Figure 3.3, it is easy to observe that mechanical energy is
characterised by a coherent motion of particles, for which it is possible to identify a
principal direction. On the other hand, thermal energy is characterised by a completely
random motion, for which it is not possible to identify any main pattern. A cost is
associated to the passage from chaos to order, and the second law of thermodynamics
qualitatively describes this cost (Atkins, 1984).
A quantification of this cost would allow to compare thermal flows among each
other and versus more coherent forms of energy. Sadi Carnot provided the tools for
this quantification: the Carnot efficiency is defined as the maximum efficiency that
could be achieved by an ideal engine in generating mechanical power when receiving
heat from a thermal source at a temperature Th and rejecting the waste heat to a
thermal sink at a temperature Tc , lower than Th :
Tc
ηex = 1 − (3.1)
Th

Exergy

The concept of exergy derives from a generalisation of the Carnot efficiency. As con-
ceptually represented in Figure 3.4, exergy represents the fraction of a given energy
flow that could be converted into work using an ideal, Carnot engine. In fact, for a
given amount of matter, its thermal exergy content is defined as showed in Equation
3.2. The remaining fraction of the initial energy flow represents the part that cannot

24
 3.2 The analysis of ship energy systems

Energy

Exergy

Anergy

Figure 3.4: Conceptual representation of the property of exergy

be converted into work, even in ideal conditions, and is called anergy.

EX = m[(h − h0 ) + T0 (s − s0 )] (3.2)

where EX, h, T and s respectively represent exergy, specific enthalpy, temperature and
specific entropy, while the subscript 0 represents reference conditions. It is possible
to demonstrate that, under certain assumptions, Equation 3.2 can be derived from
Equation 3.1.
For energy in a coherent form, such as in the case of mechanical, chemical, and
electric, energy and exergy flows coincide1 . Exergy and energy flows are instead re-
markably different in the case of thermal energy. As it appears from Equation 3.1,
the higher the temperature of a flow, the higher the fraction of that flow that can be
converted to work.
Equation 3.2 shows how the exergy content of a flow of thermal energy also depends
on the ambient temperature, which in general represents the cold sink of the hypothet-
ical Carnot cycle. A flow of steam at 500◦ C could not be converted into work if its
environment was at the same temperature2 .
1
In this thesis, differently from common practice in exergy analysis, the lower heating value (LHV)
is used instead of the higher heating value (HHV) for the quantification of chemical exergy. The reason
for this choice lies in the fact that as conditions of exhaust gas condensation are never reached in ship
energy systems, the use of HHV does not add any additional accuracy to the analysis.
2
Despite this argument, there is still debate on whether a fixed reference temperature should be

25
3. THE STUDY OF SHIP ENERGY SYSTEMS WITH A SYSTEMS
APPROACH

Exergy flows and efficiencies

According to Dincer & Rosen (2013) exergy flows calculated according to equation 3.2
can be divided in three main categories:
˙ in ) : the flow of exergy entering the component.
Input (EX
˙ out ) : the flow of exergy leaving the component.
Output (EX
˙ : the amount of exergy lost in the component operation (also
Irreversibility (I)
known as exergy distruction). This part represents energy quality deterioration
and is defined as I˙ = T0 Ṡgen , where Ṡgen represents the rate of entropy generation
in the component. In practical terms, however, exergy destruction is normally
calculated as the difference between input and output exergy flows.

There are several different figures of merit that are commonly used in exergy anal-
ysis. In this thesis, four different quantities are used:
˙
EX
p
Exergy efficiency ηex is defined for this study as ηex = EX ˙ in , where the subscripts
p and in respectively refer to products and inputs. This definition of exergy
efficiency gives an estimation of how efficient the component is in the generation
of useful products. In the case of heat exchangers, as there is not a clear distinction
∆EX˙ c
between inputs and products, the alternative definition of ηex = ∆ EX˙ h is used,
where subscripts c and h respectively refer to the cold and the hot fluid. The
definition of the ∆EX are adapted depending whether the component is meant
for cooling or heating.

Irreversibility ratio λ is used according to the definition proposed by Kotas (1980),

I˙
i.e. λ = EX˙ in . The irreversibility ratio gives an estimation of how much energy
quality is lost in the component.

Irreversibility share δ is defined as the ratio between the exergy destroyed in the
component and the total rate of exergy destruction in the whole system, i.e.
˙
δ = II˙i .
tot

Task efficiency ηtask is used in this thesis in a modified form from what proposed
in Dincer & Rosen (2013), and is defined as the ratio between the irreversibility
in an ideal exchange at constant temperature difference (here arbitrarily fixed to
˙
10◦ C ) and the irreversibility in the actual process, i.e. ηtask = IIid˙ . The task
efficiency gives an estimation of how close the component behavior is to an ideal
process.

Exergy analysis allows overcoming many of the shortcomings related to energy

analysis. The most typical and clear example is that of a heat exchanger: from a first-
law analysis, the component can be assumed to have a 100% efficiency, if the small
used instead for the evaluation of exergy flows (Pons, 2009).

26
 3.3 The improvement of ship energy performance

heat losses to the environment are neglected, regardless the temperatures of inlet and
outlet flows. If a second-law analysis is performed instead, the exergy losses connected
to inefficient thermal exchanges (those, for instance, in which a low-temperature fluid is
heated using a very high-temperature fluid, as generally happens in households boilers)
can be identified. Exergy analysis provides, in general, an insight when both thermal
and mechanical/electrical energy flows are present in the systems (Dincer & Rosen,
2013).
Exergy analysis, however, is not widely used in shipping. Only few examples of
the application of this method to ships can be found in literature, and only focus on
individual components (Matuszak, 2008; Leo et al., 2010) or subsystems (Lijun et al.,
1996; Choi & Kim, 2012). In the only example of the application of exergy analysis
to the whole ship, Dimopoulos et al. (2012) presented the utilisation of exergy analysis
for the optimisation of a marine WHR system.

3.2.3 Procedure
In the application of the analysis of energy systems to the case study presented in this
thesis, a top-down approach is used, as extensive measurements are available. Input
data from the continuous monitoring system for propeller power demand, MEs and
AEs fuel consumption, S/G and AEs power output are used. The whole analysis of
energy and exergy flows represents an aggregation over one year of operation of the
case study ship.
Mechanistic knowledge of the system is used to break down the analysis of the energy
flows among different components. Data from the different sources presented in Section
3.1.2 are used to identify thermal flows in the exhaust gas, cooling systems, and in the
heat consumers. Data from the electric balance is elaborated to subdivide the overall
auxiliary power consumption among different users. Records from noon reports are used
to calculate the fuel input to auxiliary boilers. Heat exchange areas and coefficients
from the heat balance are used to estimate auxiliary heat consumption. Available
measurements of external seawater temperature are used as reference temperature for
the calculation of exergy flows.

3.3 The improvement of ship energy performance

As introduced in the beginning of this chapter, the results provided by the application
of energy and exergy analysis to ship energy systems should be used for the subse-
quent process of proposing and evaluating possible improvements to the system under
study. This thesis focuses on the application of such process to the three main types
of intervention in systems improvement: operational, retrofitting, and design.
In Section 2.1 the ship has been identified as a complex energy system. As suggested
by Flood & Carson (1993, p. 151) during specific and in-depth studies, conceptual or
mental models are often not sufficient to cope with the type of complexity involved.[...]
It is, therefore, necessary to seek more formal structured approaches to modeling. The

27
3. THE STUDY OF SHIP ENERGY SYSTEMS WITH A SYSTEMS
APPROACH

subject of system modeling is therefore hereafter introduced.

3.3.1 Systems modeling

Structured, mathematical modeling allows predicting the response of a system to differ-
ent inputs without the need of experimentation or prototyping (Blanchard & Fabrycky,
2006, p. 164). Depending on the problem to solve, different modeling approaches can be
used; a basic description of different criteria used when making decisions on approaches
and assumptions to be used in models is here provided, adapted from Grimmelius et al.
(2007) and Flood & Carson (1993, p.155):
Physical requirements: The model must be able to produce the outputs required
by its utilisation and must to reproduce the required physics. This for instance
might include the decision of whether the model should be dynamic or stationary,
or of which variables it is required to predict.
Accuracy requirements: Higher accuracy means better results. However, as re-
sources are limited, a target for model accuracy should be set in order to optimise
computational effort and final result. Accuracy requirements for a specific model
are normally related to the accuracy of other models in the same systems (in
order to avoid the ”bottleneck effect”), and to the accuracy of model inputs.
Data availability: A model should be constructed in accordance with the available
information on the system, both in terms of system parameters and system inputs.
Some parameters can be assumed based on previous work (physical constants,
empirical correlations), while in presence of experimental data it is also possible
to let some of the parameters vary in a calibration process, as long as enough
experimental points are available for performing both the calibration and the
validation of the model.
The main choice connected to the modeling approach refers to the use of mechanis-
tic (often referred to also as white-box, bottom-up, or deterministic) models, as opposed
to empirical (also referred to as black-box or top-down) models. Mechanistic models at-
tempt to describe the physical phenomena that characterise a system, thereby assuming
a deterministic approach; they typically make use of physical laws or empirical corre-
lations in order to model and predict the behavior of a system. In contrast, empirical
models treat the system to model as a black-box, and have no interest in the descrip-
tion of the underlying physical phenomena; starting from input-output databases, the
empirical modeller employes regression techniques in order to generate a model able
to predict system’s output. The difference between the two approaches is conceptually
visualised in Figure 3.5, while their characteristics are compared in Table 3.2.0
Finally, hybrid models (also known as gray-box or semi-empirical models) attempt
to mix the positive properties of both white- and black-box models.
1
The information summarised in this table is taken from (Duarte et al., 2004; Bieler et al., 2003,
2004; Braake et al., 1998; Groscurth et al., 1995; Bontempi et al., 2004; Grimmelius et al., 2007; Oliveira,
2004), which the reader is also referred to for further reading on various types of system modeling

28
 3.3 The improvement of ship energy performance

(a) White box (b) Black box

Figure 3.5: Conceptual representation of white and black box modeling

Mechanistic models Empirical models

System knowledge required High Low
Validity of extrapolation High Low
Applicability in design phase High Low
Accuracy Low High
Improvement of system knowledge High Low
Amount of input data required Low High

Table 3.2: Comparison of mechanistic and empirical models1

29
3. THE STUDY OF SHIP ENERGY SYSTEMS WITH A SYSTEMS
APPROACH

3.3.2 Ship systems modeling

Application of energy system analysis in shipping dates as back as 1979 (Fake &
Pundyk, 1979). More recently, Shi et al. proposed models for predicting ship fuel
consumption in design and off-design conditions, both aiming at ships in general (Shi
et al., 2009, 2010) and in the specific case of dredgers1 (Shi & Grimmelius, 2010; Shi,
2013). The work of Shi (2013) focuses on the dynamic modeling of dredger energy
systems with the aim predicting energy consumption starting from the knowledge of a
limited number of external variables.
More focus on energy and fuel consumption while considering the ship as a system
was introduced by Dimopoulos et al., whose work first focused on LNG carriers (Di-
mopoulos & Frangopoulos, 2008a,b) and then more generally on marine energy systems
(Dimopoulos & Kakalis, 2010). In Dimopoulos et al. (2011) the use of optimisation al-
gorithms in order to optimise the design of marine energy systems, with a particular
focus on the implementation of WHR solutions and to the optimisation of related de-
sign parameters is proposed. The same authors also introduced exergy analysis applied
to ship energy systems (Dimopoulos et al., 2012).

Propulsion system modeling

The largest quantity of work in the field of ship systems modeling with an energy
perspective has been devoted to the propulsion system, as it constitutes the largest
share of ship energy consumption. Attempts in this sense started from the works of
DeTolla & Fleming (1981) in the US Navy during the oil crisis, and went to the tool
presented by Dupuis & Neilson (1997) and the modeling analysis described by Neilson
& Tarbet (1997).
Work by Benvenuto et al. (2005); Benvenuto & Figari (2011); Campora & Figari
(2003); Figari & Altosole (2007) focused on the propulsion system, proposing different
alternatives for the modeling of Diesel engines and gas turbines, ship dynamics, and
different control systems. Similar work was presented by Theotokatos (2007, 2008),
while Schulten (2005) focused on the interaction between the engines, the propeller and
the hull, with a particular focus of the dynamic events occurring during manoeuvring.
Grimmelius (2003); Grimmelius et al. (2007) also relates to modeling of ship propulsion
system, with a specific focus on the main engines. Tian et al. (2012) proposed and
validated a model for the prediction of the behavior of the propulsion system of a
RoRo vessel.
Some examples exist of the application of pure black-box models to ship propulsion
systems modeling. Among them, work from Leifsson et al. (2008) and Shi & Grimmelius
(2010) showed the comparison of the application of white-, grey-,and black-box models
to the prediction of ship performance. The results, in accordance to the theory, show
that black-box models provide the most effective prediction, but only when applied
inside the initial data range and when a large amount of input data is available. Other
1
A dredger is a vessel whose purpose is to excavate and remove material from the bottom of a body
of water.

30
 3.3 The improvement of ship energy performance

attempts of predicting the influence of different control variables (speed, trim, etc.)
are mostly related to navigation, as proposed for instance by (Petersen et al., 2012).
In relation to the objectives of this thesis, however, black-box models fail to provide
additional insight on flows and phenomena in the energy system; furthermore, black-
box models are not suitable for the evaluation of alternative solutions, as they provide
only little possibility for extrapolation.

Auxiliary modeling
Studies related to ship auxiliaries are not common, as auxiliary power and heat demand
often constitute a negligible part of ship energy consumption. Some of the studies
mentioned in previous sections also include some part of the auxiliaries, such as in Shi
(2013) for the case of dredger pumps.
Among the few examples of auxiliary system modeling in literature, Balaji & Yaakob
(2012) analysed ship heat availability for use in ballast water thermal treatment tech-
nologies; others studied very specific types of auxiliary power consumption, such as
Fitzgerald et al. (2011) who focused on the consumption of refrigerated containers,
where Tilke et al. (2010) directed their interest on ship unloaders from bulk carriers.
Hulskotte & Denier van der Gon (2010) specifically studied ship consumption when
at berth, which is of particular relevance for the high impact of ship emissions when
released in densely populated areas (Winnes, 2010). Bidini et al. (2005) proposed in-
stead an analysis of the combined heat and power energy consumption of a small ferry
operating in lakes.
Work has been published on the design and optimisation of WHR applications
to ships already starting from the 70’s (Tarkir, 1979). Some studies, such as Tien
et al. (2007); Larsen et al. (2013), focused on a theoretical investigation of the WHR
cycle, while Ma et al. (2012); Grimmelius et al. (2010); Theotokatos & Livanos (2013);
Dimopoulos et al. (2011) proposed and evaluated different designs for the installation
of WHR systems on ships.

3.3.3 Ship operations

The first possibility for reducing ship energy consumption relates to the improvement
of ship operations. This alternative is of particular interest as it does not require
any installation of new equipment and, therefore, only limited investment. Ships are
normally optimised for one specific design point, while energy efficiency deteriorates in
off-design conditions. The design power for the case study ship refers to the condition
of sailing at a speed of approximately 15 kn in calm sea. Figures 3.6 and 3.7 show the
frequency distribution for ship speed, propulsion system load, and individual engines
load over one year of operations.
The figures show that the condition at design load (85% MCR) is far from being the
most frequent condition for ship operations, a consequence of the fact that the ship is
very seldom sailing at its design speed. In fact, it appears that the engines are mostly
operating between 40% and 70% load and that the ship mostly sails in the of range 8-12

31
3. THE STUDY OF SHIP ENERGY SYSTEMS WITH A SYSTEMS
APPROACH

0.20
Frequency of occurrence

0.15

0.10

0.05

0.00
0 5 10 15 20
Ship speed [kn]

Figure 3.6: Ship speed distribution over one year of operations for the case study ship

0.14 Individual engines

Propulsion system
Frequency of occurrence

0.12

0.10

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

0.00

0 20 40 60 80 100
Load [%]

Figure 3.7: Propulsion system and individual engines load distribution over one year of
operations for the case study ship

32
 3.3 The improvement of ship energy performance

knots. Ship energy performance at low loads becomes therefore of primary importance.
This consideration, here deducted from the analysis of the case study ship, has also
been proved to apply to many other vessels operated today (Banks et al., 2013).
Propulsion is the main source of energy consumption on board of the ship and
should be addressed first. The systems approach suggests to look at interactions be-
tween components rather than at components themselves, which in the specific case is
corroborated by discussions with the partner company. The issue of engine-propeller
coupling, especially when the presence of a shaft generator requires to operate at con-
stant propeller speed, has also already been treated in literature (Woud & Stapersma,
2008; Van Beek & Van Der Steenhoven, 2005).
In this case, two alternative arrangements for ship propulsion are evaluated and
compared (see Figure 3.8):
Case 1 Fixed engine speed, auxiliary power provided by the shaft generator. This
arrangement corresponds to the standard operations in today’s settings.
Case 2 Variable engine speed, auxiliary power provided by the auxiliary engines. The
advantage in this case is the possibility of modifying propeller speed in order
to adapt to the conditions of best efficiency for different ship speeds. This case
represents the proposed alternative to be evaluated.

ME 1 ME 1

ME 2 ME 2

AE1 AE1

AE2 AE2

(a) Case 1 (b) Case 2

Figure 3.8: Schematic representation of the two operational modes compared in the study

As mentioned in the introduction to this section, the use of models rather than
prototypes or intuitive estimation is used to evaluate the different proposed alternatives.
In the case of the propeller, curves produced by the manufacturer displaying propeller
power as a function of ship speed, propeller pitch, and engine speed are available and
used in this study. In the case of the engine, however, more modeling effort is required.
In fact, all available information is related to engine operation at constant speed, which
does not reflect the operating conditions for Case 2. For this reason, an in-house engine
model is built in the Matlab© environment1 . The modeling of auxiliary engines and
1
A detailed description of the model is provided in Paper II.

33
3. THE STUDY OF SHIP ENERGY SYSTEMS WITH A SYSTEMS
APPROACH

of the shaft generator is based on simpler numerical regressions, widely used in this
field of engineering. All the different models are finally coupled and the behavior of the
system for the two different alternatives at different ship speed is evaluated.

3.3.4 Retrofitting
Retrofitting, i.e. the modification of an already existing vessel, is also considered as a
possible alternative for the improvement of ship energy performance.
Despite their high efficiency, Diesel engines reject to the environment a considerable
amount of energy, especially in the form of exhaust gas and cooling water. The imple-
mentation of WHR technologies is not new in shipping, even if still not common. The
utilisation of a systems perspective in the analysis of the feasibility of such systems is
hence employed. In particular, this thesis focuses on evaluating the recovery potential
compared to the actual need of auxiliary power, based on measurements relative to one
year of operations of the case study ship1 . A criteria was set for the evaluation of the
possible installation of such systems, as compared to standard operations: if installed,
it should provide the totality of ship auxiliary power need for a minimum of 80% of the
time spent sailing. The exergy efficiency of the WHR system required to achieve this
goal is then calculated for a number of different possible sources of waste heat.
The availability of waste heat is also influenced by engine load, and therefore by
ship operations. For this reason, in the second part of the study the focus is shifted
to the evaluation of the WHR potential as a function of ship speed. The same model-
ing approach as proposed for ship operations is used, where the potential for WHR is
evaluated using model output on exhaust gas temperature and mass flow. The arrange-
ment here proposed consists of positioning a WHR system on the exhaust gas flows of
the main engines (Case 3, see Figure 3.9). Case 3 is compared to both the previously
proposed Case 1 and Case 2.
In both parts of this study, the concept of exergy efficiency was used in order to
give an estimation of the technical complexity of the recovery system. This approach,
though only partially corresponding to real conditions, represents an improvement from
the use of energy efficiency, which does not allow to account for differences in energy
quality.

3.3.5 Design
As possible improvements both in operations and retrofitting are identified, the question
can be further moved to investigating how it is possible to improve the ship directly from
the design stage. Compared to common practice, the work presented in this thesis aims
at proposing a more holistic perspective, thus taking into account aspects such as fuel
selection, engine selection, WHR installation, energy performance and environmental
1
It should be noted that, as reviewed by Shu et al. (2013), several alternatives to power generation
exist for the exploitation of ship waste heat. However, given the ship needs of auxiliary heat are already
fulfilled by heat recovery and no additional requirement of, for instance, refrigeration was measured,
auxiliary power generation was the only possible utilisation of waste heat taken into account.

34
 3.3 The improvement of ship energy performance

ME 1

ME 2

AE1

AE2

Figure 3.9: Schematic representation of the propulsion arrangement with WHR system
installed: Case 3

performance in the same study. In addition, the influence of the utilisation of a real
operational profile instead of a single design point, as suggested by Motley et al. (2012),
is evaluated.
The study is carried out by comparing a total of 11 different arrangements, as
showed in Table 3.3, which are generated assuming that the system should comply with
future emission limits in ECAs for SOX and NOX . The arrangements are generated
combining different alternatives of fuel type (HFO, MGO, or LNG), type of engine
(2-stroke and 4-stroke) and the utilisation of a WHR system1 . The performance of a
database of engines collected from technical documentation is evaluated using numerical
regressions. For each of the 11 proposed arrangements, the best performing engine was
selected. This allowed to compare ”best practice to best practice”. The analysis is then
completed by looking at how the picture changed when including a carbon footprint
analysis, thus including focusing on GHG emissions and employing an LCA approach.

1
The case of two-stroke engine with WHR using HFO as a fuel was not taken into account. This
case would require too complex arrangements in order to fulfil future ECA emission limits and therefore
was excluded from the study.

35
3. THE STUDY OF SHIP ENERGY SYSTEMS WITH A SYSTEMS
APPROACH

Case Fuel Engine WHR

1 HFO 2-st N
2 HFO 4-st N
3 HFO 4-st Y
4 MDO 2-st N
5 MDO 2-st Y
6 MDO 4-st N
7 MDO 4-st Y
8 LNG 2-st N
9 LNG 2-st Y
10 LNG 4-st N
11 LNG 4-st Y

Table 3.3: Alternative arrangements evaluated in ship design. 2-st and 4-st respectively
stand for two-stroke and four-stroke engines

36
4

Ship energy system analysis

The analysis of ship energy systems is applied to the case study ship. The objective
is to show the typical results of this application and the kind of information that it is
possible to extract. Energy and exergy analysis are applied to the case study ship.

4.1 Energy analysis

The results of the application of energy analysis to the case study ship are shown in
Figure 4.1 and in Table 4.1.
The first observable result is that consumption related to propulsion is the largest
figure, as expected, accounting for 70% of the overall energy consumption. This also
translates in the main engines consuming the largest share of the overall energy input
of the system, representing around 89% of the total.
However, the contribution from the auxiliaries cannot be neglected, particularly
because the ship spends a significant part of time waiting in port, when the only energy
demand comes from ship auxiliaries. Both auxiliary engines and boilers (respectively
representing 8.0% and 2.6% of ship energy input) on one side, and auxiliary power and
heat consumers (16% and 14% of ship energy output) on the other, should be given
significant attention. Boiler auxiliaries should be added to these considerations, as they
also represent a significant share of the total output (2.7%). Auxiliary boilers are also
run at low load most of the time, leading to low efficiency. Fuel heating also represents
a surprisingly high share of the overall ship energy consumption (7.8%).
Finally, a large amount of energy is wasted to the environment through the exhaust
gas (41% of main engines power output), the CAC (20%), JW cooler (22%) and the LO
cooler (24%). This suggests that there is a potential for the utilisation of these waste
flows for the generation of additional useful power.

4.2 Exergy analysis

Results of the application of exergy analysis to the case study ship are presented in
Figure 4.2 and in Table 4.2.

37
4. SHIP ENERGY SYSTEM ANALYSIS

The exergy analysis provides a different type of information on the system under
study. The irreversibility ratio (λ) quantifies the tendency of a component to deteriorate
energy quality in its internal processes. High values of λ correspond to high losses in
energy quality. It can be seen, for example, that according to this definition, boilers
(λ = 64%) are much less efficient than both main (37%) and auxiliary engines (38%).
In the case of heat exchangers, the utilisation of the irreversibility ratio as a figure
of merit can be misleading: a heat exchanger located on a large exergy flow (e.g.
on the exhaust gas) could have very high λ only because of its low heat exchange
area. This is the case, for example, of the EGE, which has a very low rate of exergy
destruction compared to the total exergy input (λ = 6.5%) and therefore appears to
be a very efficient component. If task efficiency (ηtask ) is used instead, it appears that
the EGE and all heat consumers are very badly designed exchangers, from an exergy
perspective, as they could achieve the same task with a much lower exergy destruction.
On the other hand the LT/SW exchanger, which is responsible of the highest rate of
exergy destruction among heat exchangers (δ = 5.3%), shows that this is connected to
its particular function; its task efficiency is not, in fact, particularly low (ηtask = 32%)
Figure 4.2 can be helpful in the evaluation of different waste flows with respect to
both energy quantity and quality. It is here shown that the exhaust gas is a much
larger source of potentially recoverable heat than the cooling systems, contrarily to
what could be deducted from Figure 4.1. When looking at the results of the exergy
analysis, exergy flow in the exhaust gas represent 54% of the total recoverable energy,
compared to 38% in energy analysis. The absolute estimation of the recoverable energy
is also redimensioned: the energy flow in the exhaust is estimated to be 41% of the
main engine output, while this value is decreased to 18% from an exergy perspective.
This reduction is even more pronounced when looking at the cooling systems. In this
case, it should also be noted that every step of heat exchange brings a decrease in the
recovery potential; as an example, the exergy flow entering the jacket cooling alone is
almost the same size as that flowing into the LT/SW heat exchanger. These results
show how exergy gives a much more realistic estimation of the actual power that could
be generated through a WHR system.
Even if smaller in size than that of the exhaust gas, the energy flow in the cooling
systems should not be discarded as it still constitute a relevant source of potentially
recoverable energy. Looking at task efficiencies leads to the identification of which
components could be improved in order to perform the same task while reducing exergy
destruction. This is particularly true for the charge air cooler (ηtask = 27.5%).
From the point of view of energy use, the very low efficiency of all auxiliary heat
consumers (tank cleaning, hotelling, and fuel heating respectively have task efficiencies
of 4.7%, 7.2% and 9.1%) indicates that it would be possible, by using a different heat
transfer fluid (or, in alternative, steam at a lower pressure), to generate the same heat
requirements while using much lower heat-grade sources. It is noted, for instance, that
fuel handling and hotelling only require temperatures as low as 70-80 ◦ C (a part from
fuel heaters before the engine, which warm HFO up to around 100◦ C ), which could be
provided at much lower temperature than by 9 bar steam.

38
 4.2 Exergy analysis

Figure 4.1: Sankey diagram for the case study ship

39
4. SHIP ENERGY SYSTEM ANALYSIS

Figure 4.2: Grassmann diagram for the case study ship

40
 4.2 Exergy analysis

Energy analysis
%inp %out ηen
Producers
Main engines 88.4 42
Auxiliary engines 8.0 36
Boilers 2.6 81
Consumers
Propeller 70.0
Nitrogen compressors 2.1
Cargo pumps 0.8
Boiler auxiliaries 2.7
Engine room 3.5
HVAC 1.8
Miscellaneous 2.6
Tank cleaning 3.1
Hotelling 5.5
Fuel heating 7.8
Internal flows
Gearbox 37.0 99
Shaft generator 4.0 91
Turbocharger 34.1 26
EGE 3.2
Exhaust (after EGE) 22.0
Charge air cooler 7.6
Lub oil cooler 9.0
Jacket water cooler 8.4
HT/LT heat exchanger 14.0
LT/SW heat exchanger 28.0

Table 4.1: Energy flows and efficiencies for system components

41
4. SHIP ENERGY SYSTEM ANALYSIS

Exergy analysis
ηex λ δ ηtask
Main engines
Engine 42.9% 37.2 % 64.2 % -
Turbocharger 35.9% 24.4% 6.4% -
Exhaust gas economiser 67.0% 6.5% 1.1% 4.8%
Charge air cooler 66.4% 6.8% 1.1% 27.5%
Lubricating oil cooler 59.3% 20.1% 1.1% 38.8%
Jacket water cooler 50.1% 15.9% 2.5% 49.5%
HT/LT heat exchanger 59.5% 11.6% 1.8% 38.5%
LT/SW heat exchanger 2.1% 85.3% 5.3% 31.5%
Auxiliary power
Auxiliary engines 61.7% 38.3% 5.3% -
Auxiliary heat
Boilers 29.7% 63.7% 5.4% -
Tank cleaning 25.3% 61.1% 0.8% 4.7%
Hotelling 37.8% 46.7% 0.6% 7.2%
Fuel heating 26.2% 62.1% 1.8% 9.1%

Table 4.2: Exergy flows and efficiencies for system components

Energy Exergy
%rec %M E,out %rec %M E,out
Exhaust gas 38 41 54 17.7
Charge air cooler 19 20 14 4.6
Jacket water cooler 21 22 20 6.7
Lubricating oil cooler 22 24 12 3.8

Table 4.3: Energy and exergy analysis of waste heat flows

42
5

Ship energy performance

improvement

Departing from the results of the first part of the thesis, the newly acquired knowledge
of the system can be used in order to improve its performance from an energy perspec-
tive. Measures of intervention are generally subdivided in the categories of operational,
retrofitting, and design, which are presented in Sections 5.1 to 5.3.

5.1 Ship operations

Figure 5.1 presents the result of the comparison of Case 1 and Case 2 operational modes.
The specific ship fuel consumption (SSFC), defined as the amount of fuel consumed by
the both the main and the auxiliary engines over one nautical mile distance (see Paper
II, equations 15 and 16), is plotted versus ship speed. The dashed and the solid lines
respectively represent the SSFC of the Case 1 and Case 2 arrangements.
The results indicate that a large reduction in SSFC can be obtained by modifying
the operating mode from fixed to variable propeller speed. The reason lies in the
very different efficiency of the propeller, at given ship speed, depending on propeller
speed, as shown in Figure 5.2. The propeller is designed for a ship speed of 15 knots,
where its best efficiency point corresponds to a rotational speed of 105 rpm. At lower
ship speeds, efficient propeller operations would require a slower rotation. Operations
in combinator mode do not allow reducing engine speed when only running on one,
high-loaded engine. As soon as operating on two engines is permitted, the reduction
of propeller speed brings an improvement of ship energy efficiency, as can be seen in
Figure 5.1 in the range between 11 and 13 kn. This advantage peaks at around 12 kn
and then diminishes when increasing ship speed. At around 14 knots, close to design
conditions, the performance of Case 1 becomes again more efficient than that of Case
2, as expected. With reference to Figure 5.1, it is possible to observe the moment
when the second main engine is clutched in, which in both cases corresponds to a sharp
increase in SSFC.

43
5. SHIP ENERGY PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT

80
Specific ship consumption [kg/nm]

60

40
Specific ship consumption [kg/nm]

80 20

Case 1: Fixed rpm

Case 2: Variable rpm
0
78 10 11 12 13 14
Ship speed [kn]

76

74

72

70

68
Case 1: Fixed rpm
66 Case 2: Variable rpm

10 11 12 13 14
Ship speed [kn]
Figure 5.1: Comparison of case study ship specific fuel consumption, fixed-speed versus
variable-speed setup

5.2 Retrofitting and waste heat recovery

The results of the first part of the analysis of WHR potential for the case study ship
are presented in Figure 5.3; for each value of WHR cycle exergy efficiency (X-axis),
the correspondent generated power is compared to the actual ship demand in auxiliary
power. The percentage of time during which the WHR system is able to generate the
required amount of auxiliary power is calculated (Y-axis). This process is repeated for
different choices on which waste heat flow is used as an energy source for the WHR
system. For each of these possibilities, the exergy efficiency of the WHR system required
for meeting auxiliary power demand for at least 80% of the time is shown.
When recovering on the exhaust gas alone the required efficiency amounts to ap-
proximately 58% if the WHR system is installed before the EGE (continuous line,
circular marks), while this value increases up to around 62% if the easier retrofitting
arrangement of installing the WHR after the EGE was employed (dashed line, trian-
gular marks). The required efficiency of the recovery cycle can be drastically reduced
by taking the cooling systems into account: either for the generation of auxiliary heat
(chained line, square marks) where 50% efficiency is required, and where all the energy
in the exhaust gas is available for WHR purposes; or for the WHR system itself (dashed
line, plus marks, and dotted line, rhombus marks) where 48% efficiency is required. It
should be noted however that these solutions would imply a shift in system complexity,

44
 5.2 Retrofitting and waste heat recovery

Figure 5.2: Propeller power versus propeller speed, for different values of ship speed and
propeller pitch; kindly provided by the partner company

100 Only Exhaust, EGE before WHR boiler

Only exhaust
Only exhaust, no aux heat generation
Exhaust + LT cooling
Fulfillment of auxiliary power need [%]

Exhaust + CAC
80

60

40

20

0
30 40 50 60 70
WHR system exergy efficiency [%]

Figure 5.3: Fractional coverage of the auxiliary need for different recovery arrangements
versus cycle exergy efficiency

45
5. SHIP ENERGY PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT

80
Case 1: Fixed rpm
Specific ship consumption [kg/nm]

Case 2: Variable rpm

Case 3: WHR
75

70

65

60

10 11 12 13 14
Ship speed [kn]
Figure 5.4: Comparison of case study ship specific consumption, standard setup versus
WHR retrofitting

from the efficiency of the WHR cycle to the equipment required for recovering waste
heat from the cooling systems.
The possibility of adapting ship operations towards the optimisation of the effi-
ciency of the whole system (including WHR) was also explored. The results indicate
that the installation of a WHR system on the case study ship becomes easier if both
engines are operated simultaneously. In this case, in fact, the advantages of permitting
low-propeller speed operations and having additional exhaust flow neutralise the dis-
advantage of operating at low load. This is graphically shown in Figure 5.4, where the
SSFC of the propulsion system with WHR (Case 3) is compared to operations in the
current arrangement of the case study ship (Case 1 and Case 2, see Section 5.1). For
operating speeds high enough to allow the utilisation of two engines (around 11 kn),
the calculated minimum exergy efficiency required in order to provide auxiliary power
(364 kW) on board was estimated at 39% (auxiliary needs are lower or equal to 364
kW for 80% of the sailing time). The utilisation of a WHR system for auxiliary power
production also allows operating the engine in combinator mode, as presented in the
previous section, hence contributing to the large improvement displayed in figure 5.4.

5.3 Ship design

The results related to the application of a method for the comparison of different
propulsion arrangements, presented in Section 3.3.5, are shown in Figure 5.5. Different

46
 5.3 Ship design

fuels perform in dissimilar manners depending on the selected propulsion system ar-
rangement, and vice verse. This distinction is particularly strong when WHR is taken
into account. It is therefore considered important to include the choice of both the
propulsion system and the fuel in the early phases of ship design.
Additionally, the study aims at evaluating the possible advantages of selecting the
propulsion system based on the whole operational cycle rather than on the design point.
The results show that there is no difference in the two approaches for 2-stroke engines,
which means that employing an engine selected based on its high efficiency at design
point also leads to the most efficient solution when the whole operational cycle is taken
into account. For 4-stroke engines instead a small improvement is computed when
using the ”operational-cycle approach”, evaluated in a decrease in fuel consumption
of 0.56% for the cases of HFO and MGO and 1.7% in the case of LNG. This latter
result is of particular interest and is connected to the fact that 4-stroke LNG-powered
engines operate according to a Otto cycle, which is known to have worse performance
at low-load than a comparable Diesel cycle-based engine. The use of the ”operational-
cycle approach” is therefore particularly advised when the choice of LNG as a fuel is
associated to a propulsion arrangement where 4-stroke engines are the prime mover,
which is becoming quite a common choice for ferries operated in ECAs (Aesoy et al.,
2011).

2
Note that in the LNG case pilot fuel injection is also taken into account

47
5. SHIP ENERGY PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT

0 2 HFO 4 MGO LNG

6 8Reference case10 12

150
Yearly energy consumption [TJ]

100

50

0
2-stroke 4-stroke 2-stroke 4-stroke 2-stroke 4-stroke
Propulsion arrangement

Figure 5.5: Cumulative fossil energy consumption over one year of operation for the al-
ternative design cases. Each group of bars represents the main fuel (HFO, MGO, LNG2 ).
In each group of bars, the first two represent the performance of a two-stroke engine ar-
rangement, while the last two that of a four-stroke engine arrangement. Finally, for each
pair, the first bar represent the yearly consumption of the vessel without WHR, while the
second also accounts for such system to be installed. The horizontal line gives the calculated
consumption of the existing ship arrangement. Finally, the error bars represent the extent
of the range of results for all the evaluated arrangements for each specific case. As the
main bars represent the most efficient engine choice for each arrangement, error bars only
stretch above the main level

48
6

Discussion

In Chapter 6 the implications connected to the results of this thesis are discussed,
together with the validity and generality of the conclusions that can be deducted (Sec-
tions6.1 and 6.2). A discussion related to the methodology employed in the study is
proposed in Section 6.3, referring to the validity of the thesis and to the quality of the
data.

6.1 Energy and exergy analysis

The application of energy and exergy analysis to the case study ship shows how these
methods can be used in order to improve the understanding of ship energy flows. These
methods can guide in the identification of main energy flows, therefore getting an
understanding of where intervention should be prioritised, and main inefficiencies, which
in turn can foster the ability of understanding where the potential for improvement is
located.
In this thesis, energy analysis led to results conceptually similar to what presented
in energy audits available in literature, such as Thomas et al. (2010) and Basurko
et al. (2013), which also include the identification of energy flows. The energy anal-
ysis proposed by the author, however, brings further detail in the analysis of internal
energy flows in systems such as the turbocharger, the cooling systems, the heat dis-
tribution systems and auxiliary power generators. This level of detail, to the best of
my knowledge, has never been presented in literature before and provides an improved
understanding of the relative and absolute sizes of different flows of different energy
types on board the ship.
The analysis of energy consumption led to the unexpected result of showing that
thermal (14% of total energy use) and electric (16%) users make up a large part of the
total ship consumption. Even if this result underscores the fact that the propulsion
line should be the first priority when approaching the issue of reducing ship fuel con-
sumption, it also shows that optimising ship energy systems performance based on the
propulsion power demand alone is not justified.
One additional contribution from this work is give by the introduction of exergy

49
6. DISCUSSION

analysis to the whole ship, which provided the basis for approaching the possibility of
implementing WHR systems on the ship as a way of reducing fuel consumption need
for auxiliary power generation. The estimation of the different energy flows including
considerations on energy quality allowed to select which flows could be of major interest
for energy recovery way that would not be allowed by energy analysis.
Additionally, exergy analysis allowed the identification of those components which
could be targeted in order to improve the overall potential for WHR. However, from a
technical point of view, improving the task efficiency of a heat exchanger is achieved by
reducing the temperature difference across the component. This reflects into an increase
in the exchange area required for maintaining the same amount of heat exchange,
which de facto translates into additional space and weight requirements. Furthermore,
improvements in the design of the network of heat exchangers could only be beneficial
if additional use of waste heat is planned. In the current arrangement all heat needs,
when the main engines are running, are met by the EGE and there is no need for an
optimisation.

6.2 Energy performance improvement

The results from the application of energy and exergy analysis to ship systems can be
used as the basis to ship energy performance improvement. The attention focused on
engine-propeller interaction, WHR systems, and whole propulsion system design.
It should be noted that the results presented in Chapter 5 only attempt to see
the matter from an energy perspective. Details regarding other aspects, such as the
economic (balance between savings and additional costs for installation, training, con-
tingent increased maintenance), human (increased workload in the engine room, lack of
expertise, safety), structural (additional space/weight requirements), and environmen-
tal (use of dangerous chemicals) were either not included, or considered qualitatively.
The results presented in this thesis should be seen as information to be put in a larger
context by the interested stakeholders when a decision is to be taken on how to operate,
retrofit, or build a ship.
The investigation of engine-propeller interaction led to the identification of possibil-
ities for improvement in this area for the case study ship. The results obtained through
the application of mathematical models to the interaction between engine and propeller
in the case study ship suggested that a reduction in ship fuel consumption of 5.8% can
be achieved while increasing ship speed from 10 to 12 kn if the ship is run in variable
propeller speed. Even though the outcome could vary for different ship types, the re-
sults suggest that this analysis can lead to the identification of possible improvements
of ship energy efficiency. Furthermore, although in this thesis the interaction between
engine and propeller was studied from an operational perspective, efforts can also be
directed to the retrofitting of existing ships and to the design of new vessels.
WHR systems are often suggested as one possible solution for decreasing ship energy
consumption, but the actual feasibility is seldom analysed in all its complexity. In this
sense, the main limitation in the approach proposed by the cited authors lies in the

50
 6.2 Energy performance improvement

accounting of the operational mode of the selected ship. Ma et al. (2012) assume
that the system is operated at design conditions for 280 days a year, an assumption
that rarely reflects real operational conditions (Banks et al., 2013). Grimmelius et al.
(2010) and Theotokatos & Livanos (2013) both take into account a typical voyage and
quantitatively use this assumption for the calculation of expected system performance.
The ”typical voyage” approach represents a widely accepted approximation, but is
only partially able to account for the impact of real operations on fluctuations in ship
operational pattern (typical of ships operating on the spot market) and in boundary
conditions (increased resistance due to weather and waves). In the work presented by
Dimopoulos et al. (2011) ship operations are divided in 4 well-defined categories with
an assumption for the time spent during each operation, which additionally increases
the detail, but is more suitable for the operational pattern typical of container ships.
The main contribution of this thesis to the subject consists in the evaluation of the
WHR potential over one year of real ship operations. The results indicate a profitable
application of WHR to the case study ship would require a rather complex recovery
system, either from the point of view of the recovery cycle (efficiencies of around 60%
are required, which could only be met by advanced Organic Rankine Cycles (ORC) with
high-performance fluids (Larsen et al., 2013)), or from that of the type and amount of
waste heat to be recovered (by making use of the waste heat in the cooling system the
required efficiency can be reduced to 48%1 ).
The possibility of adapting ship operations in order to maximise the energy efficiency
of the propulsion system including WHR was also explored. The results suggest that
by adapting operations for running the ship on two engines, even at low load, the
advantages from improved propeller and WHR performance would outweigh the loss
in engine efficiency, while requiring a relatively simple recovery system (16% reduction
of fuel consumption with a required ηex of 39% recovering waste heat on the exhaust
gas alone). This result indicates that the installation of WHR systems should be
evaluated taking also operational aspects into account. This results is considered to
be of particular relevance as it underscores the importance of addressing ship energy
systems with a systems approach. For the case study ship, both the improved engine-
propeller interaction and the installation of WHR systems, if taken alone, would provide
much smaller benefits than the two applied together. Looking at ship energy systems
as a whole allowed the identification of this synergy, something that would not have
been possible otherwise.
A similar consideration can be done on possible energy savings on auxiliary power
consumers. Small reductions in auxiliary electric demand can make the difference
on the feasibility of a WHR system. The availability of measured data on auxiliary
consumption would allow further research in this direction.
Finally, the possibility of influencing the system from the design stage was explored.
Even if results in the initial phases of the design are only partly representative of
1
It should be noted that the use of cooling systems as a source of waste heat is not technically
easy. Cooling is vital to engine operations, and introducing an additional system could generate issues
in safety and control.

51
6. DISCUSSION

what the real systems will look like, the methods proposed in this thesis show very
promising results. Different engines, arrangements, and fuels can be compared and the
resulting estimated yearly consumption can be used as one of the basis for the decision of
which propulsive arrangement should be installed. The importance of including several
different parameters in the early design phase is demonstrated by the large variance in
the results depending on the chosen arrangement. Finally, the influence of including
the operational cycle in the evaluation proved rather limited, and only relevant in the
case of four-stroke dual fuel engines based on an Otto-cycle.

6.3 Methodology
As part of the analysis of the scientific value of this thesis, the quality of the work should
be critically discussed. Validity is often referred to as a measure of the quality of a
scientific work. It is often subdivided in internal validity, which refers to the extent
to which the results represent the real problem to be studied, and external validity,
which concerns instead the generalisability of the results to a larger sample than what
specifically addressed in the work. Finally, the quality of the data also has a very
important influence on the value of the results.

6.3.1 External validity and case studies

External validity deals with the extent to which the results and the methods presented
in a scientific study can be extended outside of the specific application presented in
the work (Mitchell & Jolley, 2001). In the case of this thesis, external validity is a
subject of major importance, as the use of case studies is often connected to a loss
generalisability.
The methods proposed in this thesis are potentially applicable to all ship types. The
main restriction to the external validity of the methods here presented is the assumption
of steady-state behavior, as all models and analysis are conceived for steady state
operation. This requirement implies that vessel types characterised by a very dynamic
behavior, such as tugs and inland ferries, would not be suitable for the application
of the proposed methods. Other possible differences, such as a different engine type
(two-stroke Diesel engine, gas turbine), different propeller type (FPP, water jet), and
propulsion arrangement would just require an additional effort in the modeling of a
different component.
On the other hand, the external validity of the numerical results is more limited. For
what concerns the analysis of ship energy systems, it has been observed that time spent
in different operational modes tends to remain approximately constant over different
years (Banks et al., 2013). The possibility of extending the results of this thesis to
future operations of the case study, is correlated to vessel speed distribution, as it has
a strong influence on fuel consumption for propulsion, and can be subject to large
variations over the years (Banks et al., 2013). When it comes to the extension to other
ship types, the possibility of extending the results presented in this thesis is limited by:

52
 6.3 Methodology

Engine type: Two-stroke engines have lower exhaust temperatures (Theotokatos &
Livanos, 2013), therefore revolting all conclusion drawn in connection to the eval-
uation of WHR potential.

Propeller type: FPPs behave substantially differently from CPPs, and therefore all
results related to engine-propeller interaction would differ if a FPP is used instead.

Auxiliary power generation arrangement: Results related to engine-propeller in-

teraction are connected to the use of a shaft generator.

Ship type: All results, especially those connected to the evaluation of WHR potential,
are strictly related to the balance between ship requirement of propulsion power,
auxiliary heat, and auxiliary power. Different ship types might differ sensibly in
this matter.

These restrictions, should not lead the reader to think that the arrangement featured
by the case study ship is a special one. Four-stroke engines represent a significant
portion of the market (27.7% in terms of number of installed engines and 10.5% in terms
of installed power for engines with MCR > 2 MW (Haight, 2012)). Similarly, CPPs
have reached a stable market share of around 35% of the total number of propellers
installed; this is particularly true for some specific ship types, such as general cargo
vessels (80%), ferries (63%), tugs and offshore vessels (78%), and fishing vessels (89%)1 .
The utilisation of case studies is very widespread among applied researchers, es-
pecially when methods are proposed rather than specific designs. This is the case
for almost all work mentioned or referred to in this thesis: (Dimopoulos et al., 2011,
2012) refer to a specific containership with well defined loads and operational pattens;
Theotokatos & Livanos (2013) study one specific application to a bulk carrier, while
Thomas et al. (2010) present their method for energy audit applied to a fishing vessel.
Therefore, even if in applied science there is not such thing as a well defined scientific
method, as is instead the case in basic science (Niiniluoto, 1993), the thesis reflects
common practice in the field.
As an additional motivation to the choice of working on a case study, it should
be noticed that the close interaction with the company allowed to get a much better
insight of how the academic work here presented could be used in the ”real world”.
It is sometimes observed in academic researchers to become too much theoretical and
forgetting the challenges that arise when theories and models need to be applied in
practice. As highlighted by Cross et al. (1981), ”knowing how” is often as important as
”knowing that”, where the first refers to explicit, procedural knowledge and the second
to the knowledge that, despite its evident existence, is not structured.

6.3.2 Internal validity

Internal validity refers to the extent to which it is possible to identify a causal connection
between a study and its results (Brewer, 2000). Verification and validation are two of
1
Data referring to the 2000 to 2004 period, (Carlton, 2007, p. 21)

53
6. DISCUSSION

the main methods employed in the evaluation of internal validity (Oberkampf et al.,
2002).
Verification refers to the process of determining that a model implementation ac-
curately represents the developer’s conceptual description of the model and the solution
to the model ˝(DoD). Verification is very important in those cases, such as system
design, when no data for validation is available.
Validation refers to the process of determining the degree to which a model is
an accurate representation of the real world from the perspective of the intended use
of the model ˝(AIAA, 1998). The validation of a model is performed by comparing
model outputs versus experimental measurements. Different levels of validation can be
achieved depending on the thoroughness of this process (Oberkampf et al., 2002).
As described in the dedicated methodology section, energy and exergy analysis in-
volve both a top-down and a bottom-up approach. The two parts are connected to
different issues when it comes to internal validity. From a top-down perspective, the
analysis simply relates to the observation of existing measurements, which allows no
validation. From a bottom-up perspective, instead, the individual models used to sim-
ulate different components could, and should, be validated. In particular, the absence
of data for model validation when the propulsion system is operating at variable speed
can cast some doubts on the applicability of the model to such cases. Furthermore, no
information was available for the validation of individual components either.
The main uncertainty is related to the main engine model; even though a validation
of the model is proposed (see Paper II), it only refers to operations at fixed speed, as
no information is available on variable speed operations. However, the absence of the
related data was also a major justification for employing a larger mechanistic content in
the modelling: in fact, white-box models provide much larger safety when extrapolating
them out of the initial boundaries. This explains why not only pure black-box, but also
hybrid models that employ a lower grade of mechanistic content (such as mean-value
models) were excluded. If extensive data were available on off-load engine speed, the
task of modeling would have been approached in a different way, giving larger room
to the black-box part of the model. It should be noted, additionally, that despite the
modifications proposed in Paper II, the modeling approach used in this thesis is not
dissimilar to what can be found in literature (e.g. Scappin et al. (2012); Payri et al.
(2011); Benvenuto et al. (1998)) and therefore represents an application of common
practice. The validation of the overall results is discussed with the partner company,
and tests are being carried out for the purpose. Unfortunately, to the moment the
thesis is going to print, this kind of validation data has not been provided yet.
A verification process, comparing findings versus existing literature, was performed
instead. As studies available from scientific literature normally only include sailing
operations, the results from the energy analysis used in this thesis were recalculated
for only accounting for the time spent by the ship at sea. From the energy analysis
perspective, results presented by Thomas et al. (2010) and Basurko et al. (2013) can be
used as a confirmation of the orders of magnitude. Figures for total propulsion need,
for example, are quite in accordance in identifying propulsion as the main consumer

54
 6.3 Methodology

on board (75.7% in the author’s work, 76% in Thomas et al. (2010) and 84.3%, 87.3%,
and 87.8% in Basurko et al. (2013)).
The results of the exergy analysis here proposed could be partially compared to
what was obtained by Dimopoulos et al. (2012). The paper confirms the fact that
most of system irreversibilities are connected to main engine operations (79% in this
thesis compared to 82% in literature1 ), while relevant losses are also connected to
turbocharger operations (respectively 7.5% and 3.9%). As the exergy analysis proposed
by Dimopoulos et al. (2012) refers to a system equipped with a WHR system it is
not possible to compare the results connected to other components, as the resulting
arrangement is much different for the two case-studies.
Results related to the evaluation of WHR systems are rather consistent with what
expressed in similar studies. The results presented by Dimopoulos et al. (2011) relate
to a similar ratio of propulsive over auxiliary power and show how auxiliary power
demand can be completely met by a recovery system only for high loads. In this case,
full power production using WHR system is guaranteed for only 17% of the time, but
this is mostly connected to the higher auxiliary power need compared to propulsion
(for normal speed transit the auxiliary power need represents 11.4% of total demand,
while on the case study ship this value is normally lower then 10%) and to the use
of two-stroke engines, known for their lower availability of waste heat (Theotokatos &
Livanos, 2013). Similar results are also obtained by Theotokatos & Livanos (2013), who
present the analysis of a simpler recovery cycle (around 34% exergy efficiency2 ) which
leads to a higher need for the operation of auxiliary engines in order to generate the
required electric power. It should be noted that even in this case, in sea-going mode,
the WHR system is able to provide around 72% of the power requirement.

6.3.3 Data quality

The availability and quality of the available information used in a scientific study are of
vital importance for the quality of the work itself. A perfectly built model can still give
misleading results if data are not handled correctly. A model can only be as accurate
as the data it is used to process.
Data quality is often defined as ”fitness for use”, i.e. can only be evaluated in light
of the purpose data are used for (Haug et al., 2001). According to Wang (1996) the
data qualities most found in reviewed scientific literature are:

Intrinsic: The extent to which data values conform to the actual variable to be mea-
sured.

Contextual: The extent to which data are useful to the purpose.

1
Note that the value referred to the result presented in this thesis refers to the aggregation of losses
in the main engine and in the cooling systems.
2
It was not possible, unfortunately, to evaluate the exergy efficiency of the WHR system proposed
by Dimopoulos et al. (2011) based on the information provided in the article. The estimation of
complexity is based on a purely qualitative evaluation of system design, ad described by the authors of
the two studies

55
6. DISCUSSION

Representational: The extent to which data are presented in a clear and unambigu-
ous manner.

Accessibility: The extent to which data are easy to obtain.

As already mentioned in section 3.1.2, it has not been possible to perform exten-
sive, own measurements. Data were made available from one shipping company, who
collaborated with the author, for one of their ships.
The strong collaborative framework with a ship operator in the related industrial
sector (in this case a shipping company) have both positive and negative sides. On the
one hand, in fact, it has not been possible to run own experiments, as the ship was sailing
in very different locations under hardly predictable schedules; moreover, the company
manifested the interest in sharing large amount of available information with the author,
but did not back up any experimental campaign. This translates in inconsistencies in
data quality: continuous monitoring, for instance, provides higher data quality than
noon reports, which is reflected in the accuracy of the results (Aldous et al., 2013).
Referring to the categories of data quality presented before, intrinsic quality was very
variable depending on the specific measurement; contextual quality was limited, as
extensive data were available on variables of little interest to the scope of the thesis
and lacked for other, more important variables. Additionally, data consistency was
rather poor, as very different sources had to be used to be able to perform the analysis.
No issue can instead be reported on data representational and accessibility quality.
On the other hand, the process showed that the proposed methodology is very
resilient to different data quality (this is often referred to as ecological validity (Shadish
et al., 2002)). The analyses was conducted using data from the real world, meaning
that the presented methods do not belong to a restricted community of researchers
but can be used in virtually any real life situation. The alternative of tailoring the
method on measurements performed in a proper scientific way would have improved
the accuracy of the results, but would have made the model of limited use outside the
specific proposed application.

56
7

Future work and

recommendations

Suggestions on how to proceed from the results of this thesis are here presented. These
are divided into proposals to the scientific community (Section 7.1) and recommenda-
tions to the industry (Section 7.2).

7.1 Proposals to the scientific community

• The application of energy and exergy analysis to ship energy systems should be
expanded to include different ship types. This would bring a larger literature on
which to base further studies like the one presented in this thesis.

• This thesis focuses on large vessels, operating on mostly international routes, for
which it is legitimate to assume a steady-state behavior. Some specific applica-
tions do not allow this kind of assumption, such as small inland ferries and fishing
vessels. The influence of transient phenomena can become relevant in particular
when phenomena characterised by different inertiae are coupled. This is for ex-
ample the case of WHR systems, where fast mechanical transients are coupled to
slower thermal ones.

• Engine-propeller interaction showed large margins of improvements in arrange-

ments were the propulsion system is operated at constant speed for using a shaft
generator, especially at low propeller load. The findings presented in this thesis
should be extended to other types of propulsion systems, including slow-speed
engines and fixed pitch propellers.

• Additional focus should be put on the environmental impact from the initial
stage of ship design. Future work should be focused on including not only GHGs
but also other relevant pollutant emissions, such as N OX , SOX , and PM to the
analysis. Issues related to different pollutants are, in fact, strongly interconnected
and should not be addressed separately.

57
7. FUTURE WORK AND RECOMMENDATIONS

• Even if extensive work on Diesel engine models has been performed to date, very
little has been done on their modeling for implementation into energy systems
modeling, especially when it comes to the cooling systems. As showed in paper
I there are large amounts of energy available through different flows from en-
gine cooling, and a more detailed modeling of thermal losses and cooling systems
should be available for the optimisation of WHR systems for using the highest
possible amount of available waste heat.

7.2 Recommendations to the industry

• ”Know what you do, know what to do”. The application of energy and exergy
analysis to the case study ship has been facilitated by the existence of a large,
reliable dataset based on a continuous monitoring system. The availability of
such large and complete databases is still not common in shipping. Resources
should be invested on reliable sensors and online data storage, since this would
expand the information available for a correct planning actions to improve energy
efficiency.

• WHR systems are a promising solution for improving ship energy efficiency. It is
recommended to consider this possibility for both retrofitting and new buildings.
However, as showed in this thesis, the profitability of this technology strongly
depends on ship operational mode, engine type and auxiliary demands. For this
reason, it is recommended to increase the expertise in such systems and in the
evaluation of waste heat availability and quality.

• As suggested by the results of this thesis and by existing literature, engine-

propeller interaction can have a strong influence on ship energy efficiency. This
aspect should be kept under strong focus, both in the operation, retrofitting, and
design of marine vessels. The impact of this interaction on propulsion systems
based on FPPs and two-stroke engines, as well as the influence of sea state and
hull fouling, should be investigated.

• The initial design phase of a vessel should be emphasised more. New knowledge
in the field of systems optimisation and environmental studies should not be
relegated to the last phases of the design, where most of the choices are already
taken, but rather be included in the initial phases of ship design.

• Sampling data is not enough. The analysis of these data is crucial. In this
sense, I would personally like to further emphasise the importance of academic
collaboration. We, as researchers, have an interest in improving our understanding
of systems and reality; you, running a business, have an interest in having access
to knowledge and expertise that might be missing in your human resources. It is
a win-win situation that should happen more often!

58
8

Conclusions

The main findings of this work can here be summarised:

• Energy and exergy analysis applied to ship energy systems provide a useful tool
for the identification of main energy flows and of inefficiencies. For the case study
ship, auxiliary heat and power consumption was found to account together for
30% of the total ship energy consumption. The evaluation of the waste flows
allowed to estimate that a large potential for WHR exists on the case study ship,
particularly in the exhaust gas.
• Engine-propeller interaction can have a strong impact on ship energy efficiency.
In the case study ship, the application of such models suggests that specific ship
fuel consumption can be reduced by 5.8% while increasing the speed from 10
to 12 knots by operating engine and propeller at variable speed instead of at
constant speed. The benefit of an increased energy efficiency of the propulsion
train outweighs the disadvantage of using the auxiliary engines instead of the
shaft generator for meeting on board auxiliary power demand.
• The profitable application of WHR systems is subjected to an analysis of the
availability of waste energy in comparison of auxiliary power demand. For the case
study ship, results suggest that a rather effective system (ηex of 58%) is required if
only heat in the exhaust gas is recovered. The situation can be improved either by
increasing the number of sources of waste heat (the required ηex when including
cooling water goes down to 48%) or by adapting ship operations in order to always
run on two engines (ηex = 39%.)
• Ship design can be improved, with both economic and environmental benefits,
if parameters such as engine type and fuel choice are taken into account from
the initial stages of the design. Results from the application of mathematical
models to the evaluation of alternative arrangements suggested that both fuel
consumption and carbon footprint are strongly influenced by these choices.
All the results and findings presented in this thesis were obtained by addressing
the challenge of improving ship energy efficiency with a systems perspective. This

59
8. CONCLUSIONS

translated in the application of energy and exergy analysis to ship energy systems, as
well in the use of mathematical models for the simulation of these systems without the
need to resort to time consuming sea trials. This approach proved to be particularly
beneficial, and systems thinking is expected to become more and more important in the
challenge of making shipping a cleaner and more energy efficient mean of transportation.

60
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