High manganese steels (HMnS), developed by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering after 10 years of joint research with POSCO, was applied to a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) fuel tanks for the first time in the world.
On June 16, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, one of the big three shipbuilders of South Korea, held a loading ceremony for installing an HMnS LNG fuel tank on a super-large crude oil carrier in the presence of officials from both companies, including President Park Doo-sun and POSCO R&D Center Executive Vice President Choi Jong-gyo.
Until now, materials such as Invar (nickel alloy steel), aluminum, and stainless steel have been used for cargo holds and fuel tanks that can withstand the cryogenic temperature of -163°C.
However, they had disadvantages such as high price, difficult work process, and low strength.
HMnS, newly applied this time, has a lower price than existing materials, and has high strength as well as performance at cryogenic temperatures.
Recently, as eco-friendly policies such as carbon dioxide reduction are being strengthened around the world, ships are also changing to use LNG as fuel.
In such an environment, all ships that Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering won this year are eco-friendly ships that use LNG as fuel.
In addition, the HMnS fuel tank manufacturing technology, which has been developed this time, adds value in that it is a purely domestic technology.
In the future, if price competitiveness is secured through mass production of HMnS, it is expected that technological independence will be possible in the production of LNG cargo holds, which has been pointed out in the past.
“Our company, which boasts the world’s most competitive edge as a famous LNG carrier, has set another milestone," said Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering President Park Doo-sun. "It is a valuable result obtained as a joint project in the industry and it is a technology that can be used at any time by the same industry, so we will lead to strengthening the competitiveness of the entire Korean shipbuilding industry.”
