Bowman Power Group, Rolls-Royce Power Systems (RRPS), Lloyds Register, and University College London (UCL) have developed a new system to increase engine efficiency for the marine sector.

The system is also capable of reducing emissions and is expected to help users to comply with the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) new carbon emissions reduction goal from the global shipping sector by at least half by 2050.

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It was developed with an investment of £1.5m, a portion of which was provided by Innovate UK.

The system has the potential to save up to 7.8% fuel and reduce CO2 emissions for various ships that are currently operating at sea and in port.

Bowman Power Group CEO Paul Dowman-Tucker said: “In the past 12 months, we have explored and successfully entered a number of new markets, including active discussions with two large marine engine OEMs and a major ferry operator.

“The support of Innovate UK and our partners went a long way towards making this happen.”

The newly developed system is based on Bowman’s ETC 1000 product, which was developed using the company’s electric turbo compounding (ETC) technology.

“The system has the potential to save up to 7.8% fuel and reduce CO2 emissions for various ships that are currently operating at sea and in port.”

During the development of the marine-capable ETC system, RRPS provided data and simulation results for their MTU Series 4000 M93 engine, which is used in the marine sector.

As part of the project, Bowman has worked with UCL’s Marine Research Group to identify the feasibility of ETC technology across multiple marine fleets.

UCL has developed a system modelling approach to investigate the benefits, performance, limits, secondary impacts and expected results of the project.

After completing the modelling, Bowman developed seven different turbogenerator and power electronics prototypes and trialled them in a specialist test facility and within various land-based applications.

This allowed Bowman to simulate the system in real operating conditions.

As part of its involvement in the project, Lloyds Register provided inputs to create mechanical and electrical marine compliance response documentation.