Creole Spirit: Keel Laying and MEGI Engine Installation
March 23, 2015
Keel Laying of Teekay’s First MEGI Vessel – Creole Spirit
March 4th marked the keel laying ceremony of Creole Spirit, Teekay’s first of nine LNG newbuilding vessels powered with M-type, Electronically Controlled, Gas Injection (MEGI) twin engines. The newbuildings are currently under construction by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) of South Korea and are scheduled to be delivered 2016 on a charter contract with Cheniere.
The project is already taking shape and around 60,000 insulation blocks per ship were installed temporarily for the assembly of the cargo containment system.
Installation of the First MEGI Engine
Shortly after the keel laying ceremony, approximately 10 days, the MEGI engine was installed on the Creole Spirit. Teekay is the first ship owner to order a MEGI-propelled LNG carrier, which are designed to be significantly more fuel-efficient and have lower emission levels than other engines currently being used in LNG shipping.
The heart of the MEGI engine consists of the Burckhardt Compressor and the Partial Reliquefaction System. The compressor will take the boil off gas from the cargo tanks and compress it to 300 bar for direct injection into the MEGI engine. The Partial Reliquefaction will take any of the excess gas not used by the engine and return it to a liquid state to put back into the cargo tank by dropping the excess gas pressure from 300 bar to 3 bar in a pair of Joule Thomson Valves.