Wärtsilä, one of the world’s two largest ship engine manufacturers, is getting closer to offering clients ammonia and hydrogen engine options.

Full-scale engine tests have been recently carried out in Wärtsilä’s engine laboratory in Vaasa, Finland, assessing the optimum parameters for operating the company’s fuel-flexible combustion engines on these fuels.

These test results were very encouraging, with one engine running on a fuel with 70% ammonia content and another running on pure hydrogen at typical marine load ranges.

For the marine market, Wärtsilä currently anticipates having an engine running on an ammonia fuel blend later this year, with a pure ammonia fuelled engine being available in 2023. An engine fuelled by pure hydrogen should be operational by 2025.

Håkan Agnevall, CEO of Wärtsilä said: “These are milestone moments in Wärtsilä’s transition to future fuels. The energy and marine industries are on a decarbonisation journey, and the fuel flexibility of the engines powering these sectors is key to enable the transformation.”