Maersk Fluid Technology exhibits at SMM

Maersk Fluid Technology will be present at SMM, on stand number A5.210, with examples of the company’s Blending-on-Board (BoB) system and the associated XRF scrapedown oil analyser.

MFT will be exhibiting a new blender, the SEA-Mate B1000, which is specifically designed for medium-sized two stroke engines. The new unit can cover all engine sizes from 480 mm to 980 mm bore.

BoB has been used with both Wärtsilä/WinGD and MAN B&W engines, and both companies have issued letters of no objection to the use of BoB technology.The system utilises the in-use system lubricant as base stock, and blends it with a high-alkalinity (which may be as high as 300BN) cylinder oil concentrate to produce a cylinder lubricant with the optimum base number (BN), anything from 40BN up to well above 100BN.

With current industry concerns about cold corrosion, and the need to adjust fuel sulphur levels to meet emissions limits, the importance of using cylinder oil of the correct alkalinity level has never been greater. Experience in some of the world’s largest fleets has proved that BoB is a simple, low-cost, flexible, reliable and environmentally-friendly method of achieving this.

Sune Lilbaek, Head of Sales at Maersk Fluid Technology, explained: “The BoB system added to the existing lubrication system and after installation it will no longer be necessary to adjust cylinder oil feed rates is needed regardless of the sulphur content in the fuel oil. When switching from traditional lubrication oil to our future-proof blending system, experience with the current 200 installations has proved that it will be possible to achieve lubrication at or close to the lowest allowed consumption of lubricant as specified by the engine manufacturer. This results in the cylinder lubricant from the BoB system always matching the sulphur content in the fuel. It is no longer necessary to increase lubricant supply to counter corrosive wear or fouling - instead the concentration of BN and other additives are adjusted on-the-fly, creating a fit-for-purpose cylinder oil at same or better quality than a standard fixed-BN cylinder oil. Being able to match lubricant with the fuel in use translates to proven reductions of up to 50% in consumption. Once the system has been set up, on-board engineers will merely need to enter the sulphur content of the fuel in use and the system will automatically blend a cylinder oil matching the fuel sulphur – the process can be fully automated and does not require interaction from the operator.”

As the oil used for blending down the concentrate is taken from the in-use system oil, system oil is frequently replenished with new stock. This prevents oil quality deterioration.

Experience has shown that by maintaining the original viscosity of the system oil, friction losses are reduced and fuel consumption has proven to be cut by up to 1.5%.

The Sea-Mate XRF analyser, which will also be on display at SMM. Although it is perfectly possible to utilise BoB without the analyser, including the XRF as part of the system facilitates fast and precise evaluation of every lubrication adjustment made. The XRF is the only system intended for onboard use, which gives a precise on-board measurement of both corrosive and abrasive iron in scrapedown oil, making it possible to identify if corrosive wear is taking place and take appropriate action without delay.

At SMM, visitors will have the opportunity to try out the XRF using their own oil samples, and to calculate savings that can be expected through using BoB.

Edited from press release by Angharad Lock

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/product-news/26072016/maersk-fluid-technology-exhibits-at-smm-2835/