22 6월 2020

Babcock LGE shortlisted for prestigious engineering innovation award

Babcock LGE (Liquid Gas Equipment) has been shortlisted for the Royal Academy of Engineering 2020 MacRobert Award, for our innovative ecoSMRT^® technology that significantly improves the efficiency of transporting Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

Founded in 1969, the MacRobert Award is overseen by the Royal Academy of Engineering and is the UK’s longest running engineering prize. It recognises engineering achievements that demonstrate outstanding innovation, tangible societal benefit and proven commercial success.

LGE has developed truly disruptive technology for the LNG shipping market. Ships carrying LNG must control the pressure of their LNG cargo, as evaporation occurs in the tanks. The ecoSMRT^® system captures and reliquefies this ‘boil-off’ gas, with significant reductions in emissions compared with current technology. Unlike existing technology, the ecoSMRT^® system uses a single compressor, without the need for external pre-cooling, resulting in significant energy efficiency savings.

Neale Campbell, Managing Director of Babcock’s LGE business, said: “The development, bringing to market and successful in-service operation of ecoSMRT® has been a remarkable achievement across the entire Babcock LGE business over a five year journey. This highly innovative and disruptive technology has achieved significant commercial success and the arrival is well-timed, as LNG shipbuilding enters a new era where energy efficiency and environmental emission reduction are essential requirements of the world energy transportation markets.”

MacRobert Award Judge, Dr Liane Smith FREng, added: “The team’s ingenuity in designing a completely new approach for recovering boil-off-gas, in a competitive and highly technology-intensive engineering system, is very impressive.”

The winner of this year’s MacRobert Award will be announced in July, and will receive the signature MacRobert Award gold medal and £50,000.