Industry Insight: New Lubricants for New Circumstances

Serge Dal Farra is the global marketing manager for Total Lubmarine

For many years, original equipment manufactures (OEMs) successfully upheld a simple set of guidelines to support ship owners and operators with lubricant selection. But amid the maritime industry's focus on fuel efficiency and environmental regulation, the days of clear-cut cylinder oil decisions are over.

The extensive knock-on impact of these new sustainability trends on engine design, engine layout and low-load operation has prompted OEMs to issue fresh guidelines to support informative lubricant application decisions. Additionally, lubricant providers are bringing new innovative products to market to support optimal engine performance, and protect against emerging challenges such as cold corrosion.

When making lubricant purchasing decisions, cost and engine performance have always been important considerations for ship owners and operators. Overarching these key factors was a simple cylinder oil specification that, in the case of MAN B&W engines, included recommendations on viscosity, alkalinity design basis and application to engines operating using low sulphur fuel.

This framework remained unchanged for years, until the emergence of three notable industry drivers summarised in MAN Diesel & Turbo's 2013 'Service Experience Two-Stroke Engines' update. According to the paper, the key challenges acting as a catalyst for renewed guidelines on cylinder lubricant application are: the recent changes in operational patterns towards lower-load operation, development of new cylinder oils aimed at being better able to cater for a larger variation of fuel oil sulphur contents and the general development of engines towards larger stroke-to-bore ratios and changed process parameters triggered by environmental compliance rules.

Driven by pressure to cut fuel use and the necessity to gain environmental compliance against regulations such as Emission Control Areas (ECAs), Sulphur Oxides regulations (SOx) and Vessel General Permits (VGP), OEMs have been concentrating on further enhancing the efficiency in newer engines, while maintaining high reliability and Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) compliance. While OEMs report positive customer experiences from low-load operation with two-stroke engines, in order to improve the specific fuel oil consumption, the pressure in the combustion chamber has been increased on the newest engine designs, especially at low load.

This pressure increase, together with the increased operating time at low load, has led to increased water and acid condensation on the cylinder walls, which leads to cold corrosion. The costly phenomenon causes excessive wear and tear on vessel cylinder liners, which cost an average of up to $150,000 to replace.

New Lubricant Selection Guidelines

Such severe cost implications have been taken seriously by OEMs, which have issued new guidelines for lubricant selection, based on the recent technical changes in the latest generation of engines. The advice offered to ship owners and operators included application of lubricants with high neutralisation efficiency - of particular importance to part load and low-load fuel optimised engines - as well as setting the lubricator part load control break point to 50% for Mark 8 and newer engines.

Further accentuating the role of cylinder oils, OEMs recently issued a service letter highlighting the 'uttermost importance' of cylinder oil lubricants in influencing operating costs, cylinder condition and overall condition of engines. MAN Diesel & Turbo also maintains that ship owners and operators can mitigate against cold corrosion by measuring residual BN as well as iron content in drain oils. Total Lubmarine supports this measure and recommends these requirements are fulfilled through drain oil analysis, on-board analysis kit and also scavenge port inspections.

Such is the significance of the cold corrosion challenge that major oil providers are working hand in hand with engine manufacturers and customers to ensure they have the best bespoke solution for their fleet. Many are working to bring new products to market specifically to combat cold corrosion.

In December 2013, Total Lubmarine launched its cold corrosion solution, Talusia Universal 100 (TU100), which is already available in all major ports with demand on the rise. OEMs recently recommended TU100 as a specific product to counter cold corrosion and confirmed the lubricant's compliance with all major OEM requirements. TU100 is a sister product to Talusia Universal and part of the family of Talusia products.

The chemistry of the Talusia range was pioneered by Total Lubmarine, which introduced the importance of neutralisation efficiency, over and above BN, which is a physico-chemical characteristic that cannot be used in isolation to judge the neutralisation performance of a cylinder lubricant. It is now understood that it is speed and effectiveness of the neutralisation reaction that counts; i.e. the oil's ability to fight acids rapidly and prevent wear, irrespective of simply BN.

Despite the paradigm shift in lubricants from a commodity selected on the basis of cost and performance, to a specialist product used to combat complex technical challenges that manifest in different ways unique to each individual new-generation engine, it is important to note that in a recent service letter MAN Diesel & Turbo maintained its support for single oil solutions such as Talusia Universal in vessels where it is already in use with good results. Currently this recommendation is applicable to up to 90% of the world's fleet.

Furthermore, those concerned about lubricant selection should take peace of mind from providers with a strong track record in the industry. For example, Talusia Universal has demonstrated its reliability on many vessels, under various running conditions, using a range of sulphur content fuels, accumulating over 60 million running hours since its launch in 2007.

Future Lubricants

In the short term, a lubricant's ability to fight cold corrosion will be the number one factor influencing procurement decisions for ship owners and operators of vessels with Mark 8.1 and newer engines. With the cost of cylinder oil replacement running into millions of dollars for a fleet of seven or more vessels, the need to engage products that proactively mitigate against the issue is clear.

In the longer term, a recent independent industry survey commissioned by Total Lubmarine demonstrated a strong trend towards the purchase of eco-friendly lubricants. Fueled by new regulation, almost seven in ten ship owners and operators surveyed indicated that they would purchase a biolubricant in the coming months.

Putting the issue of cold corrosion in two-stroke engines to one side, the biolubricant purchasing trend will be of particular significance to owners and operators of vessels most commonly operating in ECA zones, such as four stroke engine vessels including ferries, cruise ships and Ro-Ros.

In the context of fuel savings and sustainable operation priorities, flexible products remain the foundation for success in today's maritime market. Fundamentally, the greater the flexibility of the next generation of products, the better their ability to adapt - cost effectively - to a market fraught with uncertainty and complexity.

And to restore confidence in taking effective lubrication decisions, it stands to reason that the historical product performance, relationships with trusted partners, operating knowledge and technical support will all remain critical. With the future of marine fuels in a state of flux, a collaborative approach to lubrication has never generated so much value.