World’s largest dual-fuel marine engine ready for a new home

The WinGD 12X92DF, as the engine is known, is officially the world’s largest. It uses a two-stroke cycle and can run on either marine oil or LPG.

The turbocharged engine has a bore of 920mm with a stroke of 3468mm, and can come with anywhere between six and 12 cylinders – each cylinder produces 5320kW. The 12-cylinder model is more than 22 metres long and stands 15 metres tall.

For the big engine anoraks out there, the 12X92DF's ratio of stroke to bore is 3.77:1, while the compression at peak power is 17.3 bar – much higher than a road car running a turbocharger.

However, you're not going to be driving this thing bouncing off the 80rpm rev limiter all day. instead, you're probably going to be sitting on the cruise speed – 70rpm – where the performance drops to just 55,860kW in 12-cylinder mode.

The engine even comes with an installation manual.

The first nine engines to come off the WinGD production line will power a fleet of ultra-large container ships capable of 23,000 TEU – a single TEU is the equivalent of a 6.1-metre-long shipping container.

The least powerful version of the engine, the 6X92DF, produces a peak 31,920kW at 80rpm or 27,930kW at the 70rpm cruising speed.

Dual-fuel engines allow operators to switch from using fuel oils to LPG for certain parts of the journey, greatly increasing fuel efficiency as well as producing fewer emissions.