Simulation Analysis of a Methanol Fueled Marine Engine for the Ship Decarbonization Assessment

Methanol as marine fuel represents one of the most cost-effective and practical solutions towards low-carbon shipping. Methanol fueled internal combustion engines have a high level of technological readiness and are already available on the market; however, technical data in terms of fuel consumption and emissions are not yet easily accessible. For this reason, the present study deals with the simulation of a virtual spark-ignition methanol engine, carried out in a Matlab-Simulink© R2023a environment to assess the CO2 emissions in several working conditions of a possible ship power system. The thermodynamic model of the methanol fueled engine is derived from a marine gas engine simulator, already validated by the authors in a previous work. This article presents the relevant modifications necessary to adapt the engine to the methanol fuel mode with regard to the different fuel characteristics. The simulation analysis compares the results of the virtual methanol engine with available data from a similar, existing gas engine, highlighting the differences in efficiency and carbon dioxide emissions.