MAN PrimeServ, MAN Energy Solutions’ after-sales brand, has announced that it is now offering its customers the opportunity to retrofit older MAN 48/60 marine and power-plant engines to state-of-the-art MAN 51/60 types as part of its new ‘lifecycle upgrade’ offering, according to the company's release.
The upgrade enables customers to prepare older engines already in service for future, climate-neutral operation. Converted engines will effectively be equivalent technically to newly built MAN 51/60 units and, as a result, achieve significant savings in fuel consumption, CO2 and pollutant emissions, and increase reliability. As a further option, newly converted engines can be upgraded for operation on synthetic fuels for a low premium.
MAN 48/60 engine types (variant A or B) already in operation, and which have more than 80,000 operating hours, are particularly suitable for a lifecycle upgrade. Post-upgrade, the engine becomes as reliable as a new MAN 51/60 engine, while future conversion to dual-fuel operation is straightforward as 80% of all necessary adjustments are already performed during the lifecycle upgrade.
MAN Energy Solutions reports that calculations based on an exemplary business case have shown that upgrading a 9L48/60 engine to a 9L51/60 type can save around 500 tons of fuel and 25 tons of lubricating oil per annum – based on an annual operating time of 6,000 hours under full load – thus achieving a significant improvement in efficiency.
MAN PrimeServ has already successfully completed the first lifecycle upgrade for a southern European customer, converting an MAN 18V48/60A power-plant engine with over 100,000 operating hours to a modern MAN 18V51/60 unit. Indeed, PrimeServ will implement a further five lifecycle upgrades for the same customer by spring 2023. In addition, another customer recently ordered a lifecycle upgrade for an MAN 9L48/60A to a 9L51/60 type at a power plant on a Caribbean island.