Ship equipped with rigid wind sails on trial run

With a pair of 37.5-meter-tall experimental sails, the massive cargo ship Pyxis Ocean is making a six-week journey from China to Brazil.

Ship equipped with wind sails on trial run — Pyxis Ocean sets sail with new wind sail technology. Video: *Cargill*

The large cargo ship Pyxis Ocean equipped with two special sails called WindWings has begun its first journey at sea, which could become a new model for wind-powered ships, Popular Science reported on August 21.

Each WindWings sail consists of three main sections, all 37.5 meters tall. The middle section is 10 meters wide, the front section is 5 meters wide, and the back section is also 5 meters wide. These three sections work together. Each section has a pivot in the middle, and the entire sail can also rotate. This allows the sail to be adjusted to many angles and shapes, depending on the angle and speed of the wind.

Chartered by shipping company Cargill, Pyxis Ocean will sail from China to Brazil to test two rigid WindWings sails made from the same material as wind turbines. The design could reduce emissions by up to 30% over the life of a vessel.

Each Pyxis Ocean WindWing can save 1.5 tons of fuel per day, which translates to a reduction of 4.65 tons of CO2. Combined with alternative fuel sources, that number could increase. During the estimated six-week voyage, the sails will be closely monitored in hopes of scaling up the technology for use on other Cargill vessels and the shipping industry.

“Wind is a fuel with virtually no marginal cost. In addition to significantly increasing operating costs, the potential for reducing emissions is also huge,” explains John Cooper, CEO of BAR Technologies, a company collaborating on the project.

In addition to providing zero-emissions propulsion, wind is also an inexhaustible and predictable resource. These characteristics are useful for the shipping industry, which accounts for around 2-3% of the world’s CO2 emissions, or 837 million tons of CO2 per year. Currently, fewer than 100 cargo ships use wind-powered technologies, a small fraction of the more than 110,000 ships in operation worldwide. Depending on Pyxis Ocean’s testing, WindWings could help accelerate the retrofitting of older ships with green technology or the construction of new ships with the appropriate systems.

Thu Thao (According to Popular Science )

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