Sustainable solutions and technologies
There is an increasing focus within Alfa Laval to support customers towards the energy transition to meet the IMO’s recommendations for reducing GHG & CO2 by 2030 and to achieve net zero target by 2050. By innovations supporting alternative fuels like biofuels, methanol & ammonia and new technologies like air lubrication, wind propulsion & carbon capture, Alfa Laval supports its customers to redefine the onboard energy landscape and enhance ship efficiency.
 
Collaborating with partners
Strategic partnerships with known marine players for focusing together on developing new solutions can assist Alfa Laval’s customers in decarbonizing their ship operations. When working together with other industry players, in different structures the company ensures that the right innovations and solutions appear within the short timeframe that can help to meet sustainability requirements in the marine sector.
 
Some examples of such partnerships:
  • Project REMARCCABLE: Alfa Laval has joined project REMARCCABLE, the world’s first initiative demonstrating end-to-end shipboard carbon capture at scale. Alfa Laval will bring its technological expertise to help understand the challenges and opportunities of deploying carbon capture technology on ships while sailing.
  • Oceanbird: Alfa Laval and Wallenius have joined forces to supply wind power solutions — both wind-assisted and wind propulsion — to the shipping industry. Oceanbird provides a revolutionizing alternative, or complement, to fossil-driven cargo vessels.
  • Maersk & Mc-Kinney Mollar Centre: Alfa Laval as a partner at Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Centre (MMMC), plays an active role in accelerating the development of sustainable solutions for the maritime industry. Through collaborative research and innovation activities, the centre focuses on creating low- and zero-carbon technologies to handle new green fuels or solutions to improve overall energy efficiency.
  • Methanol Institute: Alfa Laval is a member of the Methanol Institute, a global association promoting the use of methanol as a marine fuel by supporting with essential methanol-based technologies and solutions.
  • Getting to Zero Coalition: an industry-wide initiative aiming to achieve commercially viable zero-emission vessels by 2030, with Global Maritime Decarbonization & World Economic Forum.
  • ISO regulation: a coalition for alternative fuels
  
AQUA Blue E2 freshwater generator. 
 
Advancing towards fuel savings and efficient operations
To be able to support on sustainable commitments, Alfa Laval provides solutions supporting energy efficiency, clean energy, water and circularity.
 
Energy efficiency is one of the most important ways to reduce emissions from shipping. By improving the efficiency of ships, it is possible to reduce fuel consumption and emissions without sacrificing cargo capacity or speed.
 
Looking at the energy efficiency solutions, Alfa Laval has a wide range of technologies and solutions available for energy efficient sailing and mitigating emissions.
 
Alfa Laval OceanGlide (image above) is a unique air lubrication solution with fluidic technology. It creates an even and controllable air layer across the entire flat bottom of the vessel, which is the best setup for reducing friction and drag between the hull and the water. By reducing the friction, OceanGlide can provide reliable propulsion power savings of up to 12%. The result is lower fuel consumption, less CO2 and a substantial impact on EEDI (Energy Efficiency Design Index), EEXI (Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index) and CII (Carbon Intensity Indicator).
 
The new improved two-stage AQUA Blue E2 freshwater generator cuts the seawater needs and power consumption for freshwater generation into half. Shipowners can get twice the fresh water out for the energy put in, or they can use the added efficiency to save in other ways.
 
Waste heat is a readily available but under-utilized energy source on board. By taking advantage of otherwise wasted thermal energy, Alfa Laval’s waste heat recovery portfolio significantly lowers fuel consumption and emissions.
 
The Alfa Laval E-PowerPack converts waste heat directly into clean electrical power, giving marine vessels a plug-and-play efficiency upgrade for meeting sustainability requirements. Based on Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technology, this compact and easily installed module can make use of a wide variety of gas and liquid heat sources on board.
 
The Aalborg Micro economizer extends a remarkable opportunity to vessels towards saving fuel and reducing CO2 emissions. It is an alternative to conventional exhaust gas boilers, offering higher efficiency, and a radically reduced footprint. Its game-changing compact and flexible design has opened avenues to waste heat recovery for the ships where it was earlier impossible to have full coverage due to space constraints. That enables ships to save up to 25% on fuel and comply with emission regulations.
 
In 2022, StormGeo, part of Alfa Laval, with its innovative software and services suite for shipping customers, provided route optimization services to its customers for more than 71,000 voyages. Fuel savings from route optimization averages 2.5%. This equates to saving 488,125 metric tonnes of fuel and the removal of 1.5 million metric tonnes of CO2 and more than 24,000 metric tonnes SOx from the atmosphere and ocean. This is the equivalent of removing 319,000 cars from the road for one year.
 
Always present, always on call
To further improve vessel operations, Alfa Laval supports its customers to keep sailing with least downtime and maximum product efficiency. Remote support is available around the clock through 24/7 Service & Support connected regional hubs, with a world-wide network of service engineers when needed. With over 100 years of serving the shipping industry, Alfa Laval enables its customers to elevate onboard energy efficiency, maximize vessel uptime and minimize environmental impact.