Everllence has confirmed the running on ethanol, at all load points, of its 21/31 dual-fuel engine at test facilities in Frederikshavn, Denmark.

Everllence pioneered the two-stroke methanol-burning engine platform over a decade ago, with the first commercial engine entering service in 2016.

Rasmus Frimann Nielsen, senior manager of Head of Four-Stroke Small-Bore Engineering at Everllence, said: “This engine platform has shown great promise when burning alternative fuels and, during testing, we even managed to expand the ethanol fuel-share compared with methanol.”

“In general, the past few years have seen steadily growing interest in ethanol from the market. We always do our utmost to listen to these signals and had accordingly been carrying out the necessary design considerations, which has provided us with a solid technical foundation,” added Nielsen.

“Tests in Frederikshavn have now provided us with the technical know-how to take us to the next level. We are still evaluating the data; however, it confirms our earlier assumption that we could run the 21/31 engine on ethanol without issues.”

Lars Zimmermann, director of sales and promotion for Marine GenSets at Everllence, said: “We keep a close eye on the market and see some uncertainty among our customers regarding which fuel strategy they should pursue.”

“In response, Everllence has pioneered many fuel-flexible solutions with ethanol on the 21/31 platform, just the latest,” added Zimmermann.

“Our position as the world’s leading engine designer means that we have a special, ongoing obligation to develop new technologies to decarbonize the global maritime industry. Now we need legislation in place that considers the case of ethanol as a viable fuel source, as well as developing a requisite market demand.”

The company said in a press release that building on this, Everllence became the first company to launch a small-bore, four-stroke, methanol-burning GenSet in 2024, the 21/31DF-M (Dual-Fuel Methanol) unit, with several already in commercial operation.

Everllence added that the operation on ethanol provides the company with a fully operational engine with which to document ethanol’s capabilities as fuel.