Project for Hybrid Hydrogen-Diesel Engine Retrofits to Start Tests in 2025
As the maritime sector works toward meeting IMO decarbonization targets, shipowners are searching for solutions to extend the service lives of their existing vessels. A new partnership between the innovation arm of Lomar Shipping, lomarlabs, is launching a partnership with a startup called Newlight to develop hydrogen retrofits to solve the challenge.
“Hydrogen has enormous potential as a maritime fuel, but transitioning entire fleets to pure hydrogen is a long-term challenge,” said Haran Cohen Hillel, CEO of Newlight. “By taking immediate steps with the current fleet, we can decarbonize ship by ship—delivering real impact today.”
Newlight reports it has developed a dual-fuel retrofit technology that will be a low Capex solution that enables existing vessels to integrate hydrogen as a fuel source. According to the company it on average should reduce fuel consumption by 20 percent.
By retrofitting existing diesel engines to operate on a hydrogen blend, the companies believe it can provide an immediate, scalable solution that cuts emissions without requiring a complete overhaul of the propulsion systems.
Lomarlabs announced a strategic collaboration that will make it possible to test the concepts using a vessel within the Lomar Shipping fleet. It reports that savings of up to 30 percent were demonstrated in workshop trials and through the collaboration will seek to replicate the results onboard vessels.
“Decarbonization isn’t about waiting for the perfect fuel; it’s about acting now with every viable tool at our disposal,” said Stylianos Papageorgiou, Managing director of lomarlabs. Newlight’s dual-fuel retrofit technology promises an immediate, scalable, and cost-effective way to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. This is exactly the kind of practical innovation that will bridge the gap between today’s operational realities and the long-term vision of a net-zero maritime industry.“
The collaboration will focus on retrofitting conventional diesel engines to operate on a hydrogen-diesel mix. Lomarlabs and Newlight report they will conduct a pilot installation scheduled for summer 2025 on board a Lomar vessel to collect data and carry out harbor and sea trials.
This is one of several projects that lomarlabs has in its portfolio. Others include an effort to capture CO2 emissions from a vessel’s funnel or another technology to convert it to natural sea salts. It is also supporting a technology to reduce methane from the atmosphere and to develop autonomous magnetic crawler robots for hull cleaning. It is also involved in AI for autonomous navigation and the CargoKite, a concept to transport goods on autonomous ships propelled by a high-altitude wind kite system.