Flagships of the Future

B9 Shipping Ltd is developing the design of a 3,000 dwt coastal sailing vessel that is fitted with a spark ignition main engine designed to burn bio-methane. About 60% of the thrust will come from soft sails utilising the offshore wind resource (zero carbon emissions) and 40% will come from the engine (carbon neutral).
 
The free standing and free rotating Dyna-rig system, originally designed in the 1960's by Wilhelm Prolls, has been chosen as the sailing rig and the biogas will be produced by the anaerobic digestion of food waste and other commercial and industrial organic waste streams by B9 Organic Energy. The biogas is processed to give bio-methane and when this is liquefied it exhibits all the characteristics of LNG so that off the shelf equipment for storage and handling of LNG can be used.

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  People & Blogs

[KernowMarineNetwork]

THIS WAS TWO YEARS AGO....What's happening, here and worldwide...?

Any updates?

[MrAppleblyte]

Great to see.

Back in the 1970s a New Zealand deign engineer friend of mine designed and built a working model of a vessel driven by the wind using a wind driven 3 bladed turbine mechanically linked to a conventional drive shaft and screw. The vessel was able to sail directly into the wind and of course at any other angle to the wind flow. There was some talk at the time about his design rights being sold to the British Navy ??? I wonder, has this concept been explored elsewhere ?

robin.

[Grant Simpson]

Looks and sounds cool.......Great Effort! May be best to have the bridge at the Bow though so the crew can have better visibility for safety.....The cyclone engine could be a candidate for the engine as it can run on any fuel that's available.

[windytreeman]

Fantastic!!!! This is a no brainer! Do it!!! Good luck :)