Biggest Engine in the World
Is bigger necessarily better? In the case of engines… Absolutely! The largest engine in the world is quite the workhorse. Wartsila-Sulzer introduced the RTA96-C Turbocharged Two-Stroke diesel engine which was installed in the Emma Maersk container ship. Giant engines like these are used in large ships of all kinds. Ship lines like Maersk prefer a combination of a single engine and single propeller vs. multiple smaller engines and prop
ulsion systems. More engines equals more moving parts, problems for breakdowns and issues with both engines working in conjunction. The solution is one large engine.
The engine delivers 108,920 horse power directly to the propeller and weighs 2,300 tons. Just to give you an idea of how large this engine is, the cylinder bore alone is 38” and the stroke is just over 98”. It is 14 cylinders at 102 rpm and a peak torque 5,608,312 lb/ft. The engine displacement is 111,143 cubic inches.
The engine rises 44 feet above the ground and measures a full 89 feet long which is the size of a half a block. The crankshaft alone is 300 tons in gross weight! The engine uses a staggering 1,660 gallons of heavy fuel oil per hour.
