The successful completion of the Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) for Newlight’s hydrogen retrofit package represents a critical advancement for the maritime industry, moving the technology from a prototype stage to readiness for commercial ship installation.
Key Achievement: Successful FAT
The successful FAT confirmed that Newlight’s hydrogen injection system meets all required safety and operational standards, preparing it for deployment on commercial vessels.
- Technology: A hydrogen retrofit package that allows existing two- and four-stroke diesel engines to operate on a blend of hydrogen and conventional fuel.
- Primary Benefit: The system reduces carbon emissions and provides greater fuel efficiency without requiring the replacement of the entire engine.
- Regulatory Approval: The FAT was validated to RINA Class Rules for hydrogen-fueled ships and adheres to the International Code of Safety for Ships Using Gases or Other Low-flashpoint Fuels Code. RINA approved the testing.
- Validated Functions: The FAT verified critical system aspects, including safety layers, control and monitoring logic, electrical integration, and engine behavior under representative duty profiles.
Performance and Operational Validation
Newlight successfully demonstrated the system’s performance across different real-world maritime scenarios:
- Test Environments: Performance was proven on a four-stroke engine used as a genset in a shore-based test, and on a two-stroke engine used as main propulsion for a yacht during a sea trial.
- Real-World Operation: The tests demonstrated greater fuel efficiency and lower emissions while maintaining confident control of the engines through real-world sea conditions and load swings, up to full open-water passages.
- Technical Success: Validation included precise hydrogen-blend injection timing, rock-solid load tracking, and continuous thermal/emissions monitoring.
- Seamless Changeover: The system proved its ability to perform a seamless, instant changeover between conventional fuel and hydrogen, ensuring smooth engine performance with no downtime.
- Safety Verification: The focused four-day FAT program verified predictable transitions between system states, layered safety mechanisms, proportional responses to alerts, and the function of emergency stops and fire/leak detectors.
Next Steps
With FAT completed in collaboration with Lomarlabs, Lomar, and AURELIA, the solution is now ready for commercial retrofit:
- Readiness: The solution is ready for retrofit on a commercial vessel, with all interfaces set, layouts optimized, and class approval secured.
- Harbor Acceptance Testing: Newlight will now proceed HAT, which will be conducted under RINA’s supervision during the commissioning of the first vessel.
Did you subscribe to our daily Newsletter?
It’s Free Click here to Subscribe!
Source: RINA
