Lomar Shipping’s innovation arm, lomarlabs, has partnered with Blaze Energy to pilot an onboard fuel reforming system designed to enable conventional engines to operate on multiple fuels, including ammonia, methanol and liquefied natural gas.
The pilot will involve the installation of Blaze Energy’s engine-integrated Flex-Fuel Reformer on a Lomar vessel. Deployment is targeted for early 2027, following land-based testing and engagement with classification societies.
The system converts ammonia, methanol or liquefied natural gas into hydrogen onboard the vessel. This allows propulsion and power generation systems to operate on full or partial hydrogen blends without requiring a dedicated hydrogen supply chain.
The system will first be tested using ammonia, in a process whereby the reformer injects small quantities of hydrogen into the combustion process to improve combustion of slower-burning fuels. This is expected to reduce ammonia slip, improve combustion efficiency and mitigate methane slip in liquefied natural gas engines.
The pilot is intended to test the system under commercial operating conditions and generate data to support classification approval. Stylianos Papageorgiou, managing director of lomarlabs, said: “The energy transition in shipping will be non-linear, and multi-fuel for longer than we may want or expect. Technologies that create optionality, rather than betting on a single outcome, will be strategically important.’
Rok Sitar, CEO and co-founder of Blaze Energy, commented: ‘This pilot marks a deliberate shift from proving technology to proving operability. By integrating Blaze Flex-Fuel System with a trading vessel we are addressing one of the key bottlenecks in adopting alternative fuels: practical, safe, and flexible use in existing vessels,” said
The pilot has been structured as a capital-efficient first deployment and is intended to support further engagement with engine manufacturers, classification societies and shipowners.
According to the press release, the system is designed to enable vessels to use different fuels depending on availability, subject to onboard storage capacity. If successful, the pilot could support further deployment of onboard fuel reforming systems across existing vessels and newbuilds.
