Page 20 - SMI Issue 62

Chemicals & Lubricantscylinder lubricants onboard and switch between them. Its better anti-wear performance and overall flexibility make for wider operational safety margins. Its performance also enables the optimisation of lube oil feed rates and maintenance costs, thus saving owners and operators time and money,” said Thibault Cartier, Brand Manager at Total Lubmarine.Total recently produced a VGP (vessel general permit) compliant stern tube EAL (environmentally acceptable lubricant) called Bioneptan HT 100. This was recently certified by a key supplier and is being phased into use on 235 vessels.“Scuffing of an incorrectly lubricated cylinder can occur quickly and within the timeframe of a single voyage and repair work to a single scuffed cylinder wall could cost as much as $150,000 – and modern two-stroke engines have multiple cylinders. This makes it critical for owners and operators to make sure they use the correct lubrication,” added Mr Cartier.Two chemical products that help to protect fuels, cylinders and tanks,DieselPower CFPP (cold filter plugging point) and FuelPower Soot Remover Liquid Plus, have been introduced in 2016 by Wilhelmsen Ships Service’s Oil Solutions company. The former helps protect marine diesel oil (MDO) fuel against cold corrosion by preventing wax build-up in cold temperatures and improves cold flow properties.“The industry is still learning to adapt to some of the inherent operational challenges posed by MDO. Paraffin waxes which are part and parcel of the fuel coagulate to form heavy wax and start settling at the bottom of the tankin cold conditions. In the worst case scenarios the entire stock can forma thick wax leading to a potentially catastrophic loss of power,” said Sachin Gupta, Business Manager, Oil Solutions, Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS).WSS’s second product, FuelPower Soot Remover Liquid Plus, is designed to eliminate the need to clean the exhaust gas economiser every one to two months while in port. Field tests of the product have demonstrated thatit can extend the intervals between cleaning by 15 to 18 months.WSS’s range of DieselPower fuel additives has also helped resolvethe operational challenge of vessels switching from high sulphur heavy fuel oil to ECA compliant low sulphur diesel since the first ECAs came into force.“Ships using MDO have experienced high wear rates in main engine components like fuel pumps, incompatibility and excess sludge when heavy fuel oil (HFO) mixes with diesel oil during fuel changeovers, and stability issues with diesel oil during storage,” said Mr Gupta.“With new ECA rules in place and more expected in the future, investment has been coming both from withinthe industry and from outside. For example, engine manufacturers have developed engines that can run on LNG fuel, taking away the need to change over from heavy oil to diesel oil. Ships can run on just one type of fuel and remain compliant. You could argue that this comes at a high price, but that is short-sighted. Mass-market adoption will bring the price levels down and, most importantly, the change benefits everyone,” added WSS’s Oil Solutions