The principal aim in HERCULES-B was to reduce fuel consumption of marine diesel engines by 10%, to improve efficiency of marine diesel propulsion systems to a level of more than 60%, and thus reduce CO2 emissions substantially. An additional concurrent aim is towards ultra-low exhaust emissions (70% Reduction of NOx, 50% Reduction of Particulates) from marine engines by the year 2020. Today diesel propulsion systems power 99% of the world fleet. HERCULES-B targets the development of engines with extreme operational pressure and temperature parameters, considering the thermo-fluid-dynamic and structural design issues, including friction and wear as well as combustion, air charging, electronics and control, so as to achieve the efficiency / CO2 target.

To achieve the emissions target, combustion and advanced after-treatment methods have been concurrently developed. To improve the whole power train, the interaction of engine with the ship, as well as the use of combined cycles in overall system optimisation, will be considered. The project HERCULES-B structure of work comprises 54 sub-projects, grouped into 13 Tasks and 7 Work packages, spanning the complete spectrum of marine diesel engine technology. The project HERCULES-B has a total budget of 25M, a duration of 36 months and a Consortium with 32 participants.