Representative application of LNG-fuelled ships: a critical overview on potential GHG emission reductions and economic benefits

The shipping industry is the primary and most significant mode of international cargo transportation. The ship must comply with strict rules regarding reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as a dominant transportation mode. Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) is the primary alternative fuel option for several shipping companies. In essence, many studies recommend LNG as a transitional and alternative fuel because its emission characteristics are cleaner than other fossil fuels. Several previous investigations have been carried out to develop an action plan for integrating the use of LNG as a ship fuel. However, there have been few discussions on the estimation of GHG emission reduction and the economic efficiency of a representative LNG-fuelled ship. The recent progress on LNG-fuelled ships is systematically reviewed to summarize the pathways and highlight the core technological concepts, technical issues, current LNG-fuelled ship applications, and future outlooks regarding integrating LNG energy resources into ship power systems to measure GHG emission reductions and cost savings estimations. The report will discuss the current development in the maritime sector and the effects of the macroeconomic scale. The result reveals that future research on ship-based LNG energy systems will probably concentrate on integrating new energy source generating strategies with existing ship power systems to improve energy efficiency. Several potential research areas for future outlook were also discussed to anticipate future challenges.