Flowmeter controls consumption to reduce costs
Emerson’s Micro Motion Coriolis flowmeter installed on the MV Transpaper is helping the operators, Rederi AB Transatlantic, to maximise fuel efficiency while reducing fuel costs by 2%.
Following a joint programme by Rederi AB Transatlantic, Transas AB, and Emerson Process Management to develop an onboard solution for better control of marine fuel consumption, Rederi AB Transatlantic has installed Emerson’s Micro Motion Coriolis mass flowmeters on several ships in its fleet.
The standard solution uses a compact Micro Motion F100-Series Coriolis sensor with a Model 1700 transmitter to provide highly accurate, traceable and transparent mass-based measurement of fuel oil.
Using the MODBUS communications protocol, the mass flowmeter sends data to a fuel efficiency control system supplied by Transas AB in Sweden. This system, also called a Conning unit, collects information from the flowmeter and other onboard systems to help the crew optimise the operation of the ship. Tighter control and management of fuel burned improves engine efficiency, delivering fuel savings and reducing emissions.
Emerson also supplied its Mobrey MCU 901 Universal Transmitter Controllers and Indicators to show the actual flow for local reading in the engine room or control room.
According to Leif Holmberg, superintendent at Rederi AB Transatlantic, ‘The Coriolis mass flowmeter and Conning unit have been installed and running for over a year on the M/V Ortviken, and a slightly shorter time on the M/V Transpaper. The installations have reduced our fuel costs by approximately 2% over a 12 month period for each vessel. These savings in fuel have provided a return on our total investment of just two months.
‘Based on these successes, we will be investing in further installations onboard other ships in our fleet. We are also working to develop the fuel efficiency system to be even more effective in saving fuel by using additional information that other systems onboard can provide.’
Shipping operators, including Rederi AB Transatlantic, are facing volatile fuel prices and challenging emission regulations. These issues are compounded by the need to control costs and improve operating efficiencies. Fuel represents a major cost in the operation of a large vessel, making fuel efficiency a real focus for the shipping and marine industry. With highly accurate, continuous, and reliable measurement of fuel quality, usage costs and waste can be managed.
Micro Motion F-Series Coriolis meters are designed to provide highly accurate mass flow, volume flow, and density measurement in applications that require a compact, drainable design. Coriolis meters deliver high accuracy direct mass, density and temperature measurement as compared with mechanical meters that measure volume flow only and have to be read manually. The Coriolis mass measurement can be directly correlated to cost and energy content of fuel, and the measurements are unaffected by changes to the flow profile and variable fuel properties such as density or viscosity.
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