South Korean Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has received design approval for X-Reli, an LNG re-liquefaction system for X-DF vessel engines, from American Shipping Bureau (ABS), it said on January 7.  

X-Reli is able to re-liquefy all the boil-off gas evaporated from cargo tanks except the gas necessary for vessel operations without additional refrigerants. “More and more ship owners are keen to adopt re-liquefaction system to respond to a variety of operational conditions, such as long-term lay-up or slow-steaming in consideration of seasonal changes in LNG prices,” it said. 

SHI believes it will be better positioned in the LNG carrier newbuilding market with technology that helps reduce CO2 emissions from unnecessary boil-off gas combustion with cargoes kept when slow steaming or berthing. 

“Thanks to the development of this new re-liquefaction system, we have secured our own independent technology that will help us satisfy ship owners’ demands. We will keep leading the market by advancing core technologies,” said Yong-Lae Shim, vice president of SHI Ship & Offshore Research Institute.