Wärtsilä successfully test runs engines on re...

Wärtsilä Corporation, Trade & Technical press release, 27 May 2009

Wärtsilä, a leading supplier of flexible power plants for the
decentralized power generation market, has successfully performed a
number of tests that demonstrate the ability of its engines to run on
a range of vegetable and animal-based oils. This enables a wider
range of renewable fuel options for the Wärtsilä engines, while at
the same time enabling further CO2 emission reductions.

In the tests, conducted between February and April of this year at
the VTT technical research centre in Espoo, Finland, a Wärtsilä Vasa
4R32 engine successfully operated on jatropha oil, fish oil and
chicken oil.

The first tests with engines running on a liquid biofuel were carried
out in 1995, when Wärtsilä began testing with rapeseed oil. Since
2003, Wärtsilä engine power plants have been in commercial operation
using palm oil as the fuel source. Wärtsilä has, as an example, a
market share of more than 95% in Italy for power generation from
liquid biofuels. The aim of these recent tests has been to assess the
capability of engines to operate on renewable fuels that do not
compete with agricultural uses.

Commenting on the future market for power plants running on liquid
biofuels, Vesa Riihimäki, Vice President, Power Plant Technology
said: "Liquid biofuels represent an emerging market. We see that fuel
supply infrastructures for crude vegetable oils are being developed
at an increasing pace, suggesting that the availability of such fuels
will be vastly extended during the next 5 to 10 years. We provide
technology that can use these new fuels, and we have demonstrated
that the chain from fuel to electricity exists. In addition to
commodity fuels, we see a significant potential in industry process
side streams, such as, fish and chicken oils, which can used for
generating renewable energy."

Jatropha oil holds great promise

The first engine test with straight jatropha oil was performed in
January 2009, with the engine being operated successfully on a batch
of oil delivered from India. Jatropha oil is extracted from the seeds
of the jatropha plant. The seeds are a non-edible, high-energy fruit
grown on semi-arid or marginal land in Asia, Africa, and Latin
America. The fact that jatropha oil cannot be used in the food
industry, makes it extremely promising as a future fuel source.

An additional test will be conducted later this summer on a further
batch of jatropha oil imported from Tanzania.

In April last year, Wärtsilä secured an order for an engine-based
power plant that will run on jatropha oil at the Koekhoven combined
heat and power plant in Merksplas, Belgium. This plant, which is
expected to start operation this autumn, will be the first commercial
installation of an engine running on the fuel.

Good results on animal oil

Fish oil has been tested in February 2009. Fish contains 10-30% oil
or fat, depending on the species. The global production of fish oil
in 2007 was 1.1 million tonnes, exceeding the amount needed for food
supplements.

Tests showed that the engine performed in much the same way as when
running on vegetable-based oils, and no further testing will be
necessary for evaluation purposes at this stage.

Chicken oil, a by-product of the rendering process of chicken, was
tested in April 2009. During the test, the engine performed as
expected.

From these tests, it can be concluded that most animal fats are
similar to conventional diesel fuels in terms of energy content, and
ignition and combustion properties. The main differences are the
melting point, the level of impurities, and the degree of acidity.

The main aim of the tests was to gain some experience with
alternative fuels, and to verify that the engines would behave as
expected in terms of performance and exhaust gas emissions.

Niklas Haga, Chief Development Engineer, Wärtsilä Power Plants
commented: "We have successfully tested and operated our engines
using various vegetable-based oils in the past, now we are in the
process of looking at animal-based oils. As a result of these tests,
we are confident that we can operate our current engines on these
renewables."

Mr Riihimäki continues: "In the future, we will pursue further
opportunities in the fuels arena, with a target to provide even more
fuel flexibility to our customers."


For further information, please contact:

Vesa Riihimäki
Vice President, Power Plant Technology,
Wärtsilä Power Plants
Tel: [phone]
e-mail: [e-mail]

Maria Nystrand
Publicity Manager,
Wärtsilä Power Plants
Direct tel: [phone]
e-mail: [e-mail]

Wärtsilä in brief

Wärtsilä is a global leader in complete lifecycle power solutions for
the marine and energy markets. By emphasising technological
innovation and total efficiency, Wärtsilä maximises the environmental
and economic performance of the vessels and power plants of its
customers.

In 2008, Wärtsilä's net sales totalled EUR 4.6 billion with 19,000
employees. The company has operations in 160 locations in 70
countries around the world. Wärtsilä is listed on the NASDAQ OMX
Helsinki, Finland.

www.wartsila.com


This announcement was originally distributed by Hugin. The issuer is 
solely responsible for the content of this announcement.