Hot Standby Function Enables Main Boiler to Be in Regular Operation Quickly

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Marine Machinery & Equipment provides a hot standby function (our patented technology) that allows the main boiler to be in regular operation quickly.

This function maintains the boiler at low pressure by using a desuperheater, traditionally used for temperature control of superheated steam for turbines, as a boiler water heater. In case of emergencies, a simple line switch can swiftly bring the boiler into regular operation.

Recently, the planning and construction of floating storage units (FSU) and floating storage & regasification units (FSRU) have been increasing worldwide as alternatives to onshore LNG receiving terminals. As a result, there is a growing number of projects involving the conversion of existing steam turbine-driven LNG vessels into FSRU/FSU. FSRU vessels operate the boiler at low loads rather than the conventional high load and run only one of the two boilers during open-loop operations in the summer (utilizing seawater for LNG vaporization) and when used as an FSU vessel. However, during emergency boil-off gas (BOG) processing or emergency unberthing due to bad weather conditions, there is a need to bring the main boiler into regular operation as quickly as possible.

To meet these requirements, we recommend the addition of the hot standby function. In the future, we plan to extend support for LNG vessels equipped with main boilers, not only from our production but also from Mitsui E&S Co., Ltd. (formerly Mitsui E&S Machinery Co., Ltd. ) with whom we have a service agreement.
 

[Inquiries]
Marine Machinery Service Section, Marine Machinery Division
E-mail: [email protected]