PentoMag® for marine diesel engines

IMO 2020 situation

The need to switch to and from one of these fuel variants when entering or leaving an ECA poses a range of issues for vessel operators – many of which are still not fully understood or easily overseen and can easily lead to disaster. In order to best deal with these difficulties it is essential that vessel operators recognise the characteristics of the various ECA-category fuel grades and how to manage the fuel switch-over. Importantly, when a ship switches fuel it needs to be done safely and effectively so as to avoid any technical issues and to also ensure that the emission limits are not breached. The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) requires vessels using separate fuel oils to develop and utilize written procedures showing how the fuel oil change-over is to be carried out, allowing sufficient time for the fuel oil service system to be fully flushed of all fuel oils exceeding the applicable sulphur content prior to entry into an ECA.

Challenges

# compatibility and stability issues of fuel blends

Sedimentation and sludge formation can occur in oil tanks, oil preheaters, strainers and fuel lines. The main cause of sediment and sludge in oil tanks and fuel oil lines is due to separation of the water content from the fuel oil and when asphaltenes, waxes and other materials flocculate and settle. In detail sludge particles settles in and accumulates in the bottom. So the industry best practice – without PentoMag additive – is to avoid mixing fuels from different sources and with different formulations as arbitrary comingling leading to incompatibility problems and a loss of stability in the resultant blend. (For example, when a heavy fuel oil (HFO) with a high asphaltene content is mixed with a low-gravity distillate with a predominance of paraffinic aliphatic hydrocarbons the solvency reserve can be depleted and asphaltenes can flocculate and precipitate as sludge.)

 # sedimentation issues in tank 

The potential for a fuel to change condition in storage in certain circumstances, depending on its resistance to breakdown Bulk fuel stored for long periods can become unstable – the asphaltene content can precipitate out of solution causing the formation of sludge. This has the potential to block filters and pipes, leaving tanks with an unpumpable residue. The ‘break up’ is dependent on the nature of the liquid hydrocarbons in which the asphaltenes are suspended. If the medium is aromatic (hydrocarbons in ring formation) then they will remain in suspension but if it is paraffinic (linear hydrocarbon formation) the asphaltenes may have a propensity to coalesce into sludge. Once a fuel has chemically broken down there is no way to satisfactorily reverse the process. Precipitated asphaltene cannot be redissolved. # combustion and ignition problems Total engine failure is possible due to sludge formation in the tank, plugging or erosion of valves and their seats as well as lack of lubrication of the cylinderliners. Combustion and ignition problems to sticky unburned carbon can lead to corrosion. In addition, different qualities of VLSFO prove to be incompatible with each other when mixing with the possibility of strong separation of elements or inability to mix.    

Our passion for results

The combustion catalysts main task is to reduce the emission of unburned carbon. With a higher amount of asphaltenes and heavy fractions of the fuel ending up in the diesel engine, this is very important to keep the combustion inside the diesel engine clean and the stack free of a black cloud. PentoMag® 4410 contains catalyst that reduce the activation energy required for combustion of the fuel. Atomized fuel will burn faster and the amount of unburned carbon in the emission is reduced by >50%. This reduces fouling in the diesel engine itself but also in the turbo charger and recovery boiler and creates a visible reduction of solid emission on the stack. As the total dust load carried through the diesel engine is reduced, the time required for cleaning deposits is reduced as well. Turbo charger efficiency is increased as fouling is reduced a lot and the remaining deposits can be removed without applying force, preventing damage to the blades.

Our promise

We always see the big picture of a combustion process from fuel to emission. This allows us to work in close collaboration with our customers on finding solutions that reduces emission and pay for themselves.

Working principle Understand tasks and components

Combustion Catalyst

Without catalyst:

• more unburned carbon • corrosive combustion residuals • higher emission

With catalyst:

• reduced activation energy • carbon burnout is more complete

Support in all stages

With the premise of being ready to explain you and your results for our case study.  Please clarify your expectations in advance: when will the treatment with PentoMag be worthwhile for you and what will the result look like that really inspires you. And from what date and port of destination you would like to see this result. (Please consider we will need a preparation time to plan and run your demo).