• Wind farm support
• Accommodations rig
• Oil & gas support
• For North Sea
• Powered by LNG

Bennett Designers ExploreUse of LNG as Liftboat Fuel

The Bennett design team believes LNG fuel will soon become a viable and desirable power generation choice for liftboats. Falling natural gas prices, the abundance of this resource, and new environmental compliance regulations are creating a growing market for cleaner, more efficient energy. In fact, a global fleet of LNG-powered vessels, while still small, is growing rapidly.

From an environmental standpoint, the advantages of LNG over bunker fuel are clear; nitrogen oxides (NO_x) are reduced by some 85 percent compared with diesel operation, sulphur oxide (SO_x) emissions are nearly eliminated as gas contains virtually no sulphur, and emissions of CO₂ are also lowered. Further, natural gas fuel produces nearly no airborne particulates.

It seems certain that as more LNG-fueled vessels prove successful, and as new drilling techniques continue to access vast reservoirs of natural gas, LNG infrastructure will expand and the availability of LNG generator sets will grow. Vessel builders and operators will see the justification of investing in this new fuel alternative, and demand for LNG-powered vessels, including liftboats, will take off.

To ease into the use of LNG fuel, Bennett has designed a liftboat that provides the operator with the choice of diesel or LNG power generation. The Bennett V-924 features a diesel generator room and an LNG generator room. The main engine configuration consists of three diesel generator sets and one LNG generator set. All main engine generators are located below the main deck, with the LNG generator segregated in a separate room. Four LNG storage tanks are to be located on the main deck along with a 20- ft standard ISO process container to house the vaporization kit, heater unit and vent mast.

The flexible Bennett V-924 design gives the liftboat operator the ability to switch between fuel sources as needed. We want to be ready to go when LNG gains significant ground in the market currently dominated by bunker fuel, so we will continue to develop this design and others as new equipment and LNG power technology becomes available.