Ocyan, LZ Energia team up with DNV for hydrogen conversion of diesel drilling rigs

DNV on January 10 said it has been engaged by Ocyan, a unit of Brazil's Novonor, as an independent third party in the qualification process of a system injecting hydrogen as an additive in the internal combustion engines of drilling rigs, in order to reduce diesel consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from drilling.  

Ocyan is working with technology partner, LZ Energia, which develops technological solutions to reduce its customers’ operations fuel consumption and air pollution. The project is supported by Shell Brasil.

DNV said its technology qualification process will ensure that the technology achieves the expected degree of maturity, following provisions in DNV-RP-A203 – which provides the industry with a systematic approach to technology qualification, ensuring that new technologies function reliably within specified limits.  

“Starting from a pilot concept that LZ uses in engines for the road segment (trucks), we are adapting it for use in large engines of our rigs. By using hydrogen together with diesel, optimising combustion, the differential of the proposal is saving fuel and emitting less pollutants,” said Leandro Brandao, new business manager at Ocyan.

Brandao said that after carrying out a pilot test on one of Ocyan’s rigs earlier this year to validate the concept, the partners are still in the first phase of the project, which includes the delivery of the functional prototype of the product.

“Having overcome all the challenges of this phase, in the future, we intend to continue with a second stage, whose efforts will be based on tests in a relevant environment and the commercialization of the product,” added Brandao.