Daewoo Shipbuilding wins major tech award

Fuel supply systems developed by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) have been praised as one of top 10 technologies of the year.

The company said yesterday that two fuel supply systems for liquefied natural gas (LNG) - HiVAR-FGSS, a high pressure natural gas supply system, and PRS, a partial reliquefaction system - were honored by the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies. The award was established last year to give credit to Korean organizations that developed a superb technology as part of the nation’s efforts to promote local companies’ technological achievements.

The company said HiVAR-FGSS is a core technology for vessels using LNG. DSME started working on it in 2008 and used the technique last year for the first time when they built an LNG carrier for Canadian company Teekay. It added that the technique was also used in building a LNG-fueled container vessel that they started working on this year.

Since LNG has never been used for container vessels, the technology has emerged as a viable option for environment-friendly vessels. LNG has less sulphur emissions than other marine fuels and is cheaper than bunker C oil and diesel.

The company said PRS has reduced the cost of vessel maintenance by utilizing vaporized LNG gas in the cargo hold as a refrigerant, thereby making the need for additional power sources and refrigerant compressors unnecessary.

DSME applied for 200 patents related to HiVAR-FGSS in Korea and overseas, of which 44 were approved as of October. Five of the 38 PRS patents applied for in Korea and overseas have been approved as well.

“We expect our new technologies to help us lead in LNG shipbuilding as we used to in the early 2000s,” said the company’s technical chief, Lee Sung-geun. “We will keep trying to lead the LNG carrier building market by inventing more environmentally friendly and fuel-saving shipbuilding techniques.”

BY KWON SANG-SOO [sakwon80@joongang.co.kr]