News Release Details
Marine Lubricants – A Perspective Comprehension
New Delhi 25-Jul-2007
Marine lubricant is an all-encompassing industry parlance which comprises essentially lubricants for marine slow speed, 2-stroke, crosshead engines-the marine cylinder lubricants (MCL) and lubricants for main engine of the vessels-the system oils. However, medium speed 4-stroke trunk piston engine oils (TPEOs) for power generation applications are also often referred to as marine lubricants. The main reason for this misnomer is that often the original equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) for both types of engines are the same and so are the approval procedures. Further, as long as the type and make of the engine is same, the same OEM approval is valid for both types of applications. <b>Marine Lubricant Market Potential</b> Global marine oil market potential as per the latest estimates is around 2.1 million metric tonnes. Of this, around 55% account for marine cylinder and system oils and rest 45% for trunk piston engine oils. (Fig.1). Continental wise break-up (Fig.2) shows that far east and Asia (38%) followed by Europe and Africa (32%) are way ahead in marine oil consumption compared to North America, Latin America and Middle East. The Euro- Asian domination of marine oil consumption can be attributed to the larger dependence of these continents on their inland waterways for freight movement. In the advanced North America, preferential mode of freight movement, for example , is the much developed road ways and rail roads than their water ways. As far as marine oil suppliers are concerned-five global oil majors-BP-Castrol, Exxon Mobil, Shell, FAAM, Total- Fina/Elf are having their own marine lubricant technologies - be it for marine cylinder lubricants or for trunk piston engine oil applications. All other oil companies in the world have been re-branding these technologies for their captive use. However, it is heartening to mention that Indian Oil Corporation Limited is the first ever Asia-Pacific Oil Company to have developed a full range of indigenous marine oil technology for both shipboard and power generation segments. Though no authentic industry figures are available, presently, the Indian marine oil market is estimated to be well above 50,000 kl/pa with TPEO vs MCL ratio is very much akin to that of global figure of 45:55. <b>Major Marine Engine Mix --- Global Scenario</b> Among the global marine engines, around 30% belong to 4-stroke medium speed diesel engine segment with rest 70% belonging to low speed, 2 - stroke, crosshead engines. In the crosshead engine market (Fig.3), MAN B&W is the leader with around 66% of market share followed by Wartsila Sulzer (26%) and Mitsubishi (8%). In the 4-stroke engine market (Fig.4), there are several players like MAN B&W, Mitsubishi, Fuji, Allen etc. with Wartsila being the undisputed market leader with a staggering 53% of market share. In India also Wartsila leads the lot especially in powergen segment with more than 2000 MW of installed capacity. Trunk piston engine oils are essentially medium speed diesel engine oils which should be endowed with detergency, dispersancy, reserve alkalinity buffer, thermo-oxidative stability, anti-wear and antifoam characteristics. Though, no universal specifications are in place to govern their performance credentials, APICF is the baseline performance, one normally vouch for these oils. However, OEMs ac cord lubricant approvals only based on structured field trials generally spanning 4000 hours of actual operation. They are formulated in both SAE 30 and 40 viscosity grades and in the base number range of 10-55. Lower base number (BN) oils are normally for those engines, which are operating on distillate fuels. <b>Attributes Of Marine Lubricants</b> With sulphur content equal to or less than 1%. Higher BN oils are used for those engines, which are operating on residual/furnace oils with higher sulphur content. Fuel sulphur content and age of the engine form the major selection criteria for BN and viscosity grade of TPEOs. However, of late, for modern engines with very low oilappetite, irrespective of the fuel sulphur content, higher BN oils are being employed to augment faster BN depletion arising out of higher residence time of the oil with minimal oil-top-ups. As regards to marine cylinder lubricants, detergency, film strength, spreadability, liner wear protection are more important attributes. They are normally formulated to 70-80 BN to offer better corrosive wear protection to cylinder liners by neutralizing the acids being generated during bunker fuel engine operation. Preferred viscosity grade is SAE 50 to offer better film strength characteristics in elastohydrodynamic conditions. System oils are like rust and oxidation type (R&O) of oils, which are normally expected to be endowed with adequate detergency and bearing protection (towards corrosion) characteristics. They are also formulated in such a way to possess excellent water separation characteristics. They are circulating oils with 5 BN and SAE 30 viscosity grade. Cylinder and system oil approvals are also based on structured field trials for 4000 hours of operation. <b>Trunk Piston Engine Oils - Recent Trends</b> Four-stroke trunk piston engines, over the years, have undergone several design changes in terms of engine size, temperatures, peak injection pressures and introduction of anti-polishing or fire/flame rings. These changes coupled with deteriorating residual fuel quality owing to the advancement of refining technology by way of secondary refinery processes, made the lubrication of these engines a veritable challenge. Smaller size and higher temperatures enhanced the thermal stress on the oils. Oils should be robust over longer period of operation for oxidative degradation. Higher injector pressures increased the extent of raw fuel contamination thus causing the blackening problems more acute and prevalent. The high molecular weight polar aromatic asphalt of modern residual fuels, when comes in contact with engine oil, tend to plate out because of polarity difference, thus causing black deposits on the engine parts. Asphalt dispersion has become a bigger issue having direct bearing on engine deposits, centrifuge operation and filter life. So the new generation TPEOs should be in a position to effectively tackle fuel asphalt. Further, low Nox engine modifications and anti-polishing rings have pushed the engine oil appetites to incredibly lower levels. In the event of minimal fresh oil top-ups, base number of the existing oil is fastly depleting thus resulting in increased sweetening or premature oil drain with respect to BN depletion. Hence, use of higher BN oils, irrespective of fuel sulphur level, has become the new trend. <b>Marine Cylinder & System Oils - Recent Trends</b> Overall economics of marine propulsion operations in the shipping industry are very much dependant on the enhancement of time intervals between engine overhauls. Major engine down time is arising out of replacement of piston rings and to an extent to renew cylinder liners as they wear to the replacement limits. Marines hip engine manufacturers, over the years, have changed their engine designs to make them more fuel-efficient resulting in substantial increase of maximum combustion pressures and brake mean effective pressures. These higher pressures increase the load/stress on the cylinder lubricant films between piston rings and cylinder liners. At top end of the piston, these films further squeeze thus making them degrade faster, vaporize and form more deposits. All these consequences end up in one eventuality- cylinder liner wear or scuffing as a severe extremity. Cylinder liner wear, apart from combustion pressures, also depends on a variety of parameters like operational and liner surface conditions. From cylinder lubricant viewpoint, aspects like film strength, spreadability, viscosity at surface and additive composition of the oil are of vital significance. From formulation viewpoint, for years industry had coped up with cylinder oil formulations based on conventional chemistries. However, the new engine design and operational features pressed for more thermally stable formulations. The latest trend is marine cylinder oils fortified with extra anti -wear and Extreme Pressure additives for that extra bit of wear protection. System oils are also being looked for EP performance apart from conventional attributes in order to enhance their multifarious utility. <b>IOC's Servo --- A New Star On The Firmament Of Global Marine Lubricant Scenario</b> In the early Nineties, IOC R&D centre took up the project of developing indigenous marine lubricant technology. To understand the basic additive-additive interactions among the pre-dominant additive chemistries of marine lubricants, extensive basic research studies were conducted. Meaningful key additive synergies were worked out of the vast data thus generated. Incorporating these new, innovative insights of basicadditive action mechanism and structure performance relationships, the first brick of prospective mega marine product series was assembled. Thus, came into existence the first ever, home grown, Servo Marine XXXX series way back in 1995. As a part of our brick-bybrick approach, we have first tested a 10BN formulation in a small 1000KV oil engine and got significant performance data reflecting the superior detergency and oil consumption features of the innovative formulation series. Encouraged by these results, we have undertaken a 4000 hours structured field validation exercise in a Wartsila Vasa 32 DG set (12V32, 3 MW). Based on the validation results, M/S Wartsila Finland approved this entire series comprising of 10-55 BN in their family of engines operating on both distillate and furnace oils up to their Vasa 32 LN make. Subsequently, Rolls Royce (UK) for Allen engines, MAN Holeby, Fuji etc have approved this series for use in their engines. These efforts of IOC were recognized with the prestigious National Petroleum Management Programme (NPMP)'s highest award in the team category of creativity and innovation in the year 1997. As a part of our continuous on-going process of quality upgradation, a new variant-Servo Marine K - serieswas subjected to field validation in a Wartsila 12V46 engine (9 MW). Based on the excellent performance , Wartsila, Finland recently accorded Servo Marine Kseries across – the -board approval for entire family of Wartsila and Sulzer trunk piston engine range operating on heavy fuels. Making our forays into marine shipboard segment, new additions of 5 BN and 70 BN grades to Servo Marine XXXX series were made to cater to the much intense shipboard applications. Subsequently, field trial clearances were obtained from MAN B&W, Denmark and Wartsila, Switzerland for trying out these new products in their respective marine 2-stroke engines. Field validation of Servo Marine 7050 and 0530 was initiated in a Shipping Corporation of India's vessel- M.T.Suvarna Swarajya fitted with MAN B&W 5S50MC 2-stroke engine. After 4500 hours of trial, Servo Marine 0530 and Servo Marine 7050 has been approved for use in MAN B&W 2-stroke marine engines globally in the year 2005. Quickly acting to consolidate these superior findings, this newly developed Servo Marine oils were subjected to second field validation in a Wartsila-Sulzer 2-stroke marine engine in a much bigger ship (98,000 MT tanker capacity). 4000 hours evaluation, this time against a leading industry benchmark product as reference, revealed the superior detergency and cylinder liner wear protection characteristics of these oils. These good results led to the approval of Servo Marine Oils by Wartsila, Switzerland for use in the entire family of Sulzer 2-stroke engines. With these two global approvals,Servo Marine Oils have become eligible to cater to the lubrication requirements of around 90% of global marine 2- stroke engine population. To conclude, modern TPEOs are required to be more robust towards a wide variety of fuel oil qualities with respect to engine cleanliness, BN stabilization, wear protection and finally longer useful oil life. In case of marine cylinder lubricants, the need of the hour is to shift towards new chemistry based formulations, which offer anti - scuff protection and more thermal stability. IOC's Servo Marine Oil series is the India's and Asia-Pacific regions first home grown marine lubricant technology, which after due field validation, was accorded with global OEM approval credentials.
New Delhi 25-Jul-2007
Marine lubricant is an all-encompassing industry parlance which comprises essentially lubricants for marine slow speed, 2-stroke, crosshead engines-the marine cylinder lubricants (MCL) and lubricants for main engine of the vessels-the system oils. However, medium speed 4-stroke trunk piston engine oils (TPEOs) for power generation applications are also often referred to as marine lubricants. The main reason for this misnomer is that often the original equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) for both types of engines are the same and so are the approval procedures. Further, as long as the type and make of the engine is same, the same OEM approval is valid for both types of applications. <b>Marine Lubricant Market Potential</b> Global marine oil market potential as per the latest estimates is around 2.1 million metric tonnes. Of this, around 55% account for marine cylinder and system oils and rest 45% for trunk piston engine oils. (Fig.1). Continental wise break-up (Fig.2) shows that far east and Asia (38%) followed by Europe and Africa (32%) are way ahead in marine oil consumption compared to North America, Latin America and Middle East. The Euro- Asian domination of marine oil consumption can be attributed to the larger dependence of these continents on their inland waterways for freight movement. In the advanced North America, preferential mode of freight movement, for example , is the much developed road ways and rail roads than their water ways. As far as marine oil suppliers are concerned-five global oil majors-BP-Castrol, Exxon Mobil, Shell, FAAM, Total- Fina/Elf are having their own marine lubricant technologies - be it for marine cylinder lubricants or for trunk piston engine oil applications. All other oil companies in the world have been re-branding these technologies for their captive use. However, it is heartening to mention that Indian Oil Corporation Limited is the first ever Asia-Pacific Oil Company to have developed a full range of indigenous marine oil technology for both shipboard and power generation segments. Though no authentic industry figures are available, presently, the Indian marine oil market is estimated to be well above 50,000 kl/pa with TPEO vs MCL ratio is very much akin to that of global figure of 45:55. <b>Major Marine Engine Mix --- Global Scenario</b> Among the global marine engines, around 30% belong to 4-stroke medium speed diesel engine segment with rest 70% belonging to low speed, 2 - stroke, crosshead engines. In the crosshead engine market (Fig.3), MAN B&W is the leader with around 66% of market share followed by Wartsila Sulzer (26%) and Mitsubishi (8%). In the 4-stroke engine market (Fig.4), there are several players like MAN B&W, Mitsubishi, Fuji, Allen etc. with Wartsila being the undisputed market leader with a staggering 53% of market share. In India also Wartsila leads the lot especially in powergen segment with more than 2000 MW of installed capacity. Trunk piston engine oils are essentially medium speed diesel engine oils which should be endowed with detergency, dispersancy, reserve alkalinity buffer, thermo-oxidative stability, anti-wear and antifoam characteristics. Though, no universal specifications are in place to govern their performance credentials, APICF is the baseline performance, one normally vouch for these oils. However, OEMs ac cord lubricant approvals only based on structured field trials generally spanning 4000 hours of actual operation. They are formulated in both SAE 30 and 40 viscosity grades and in the base number range of 10-55. Lower base number (BN) oils are normally for those engines, which are operating on distillate fuels. <b>Attributes Of Marine Lubricants</b> With sulphur content equal to or less than 1%. Higher BN oils are used for those engines, which are operating on residual/furnace oils with higher sulphur content. Fuel sulphur content and age of the engine form the major selection criteria for BN and viscosity grade of TPEOs. However, of late, for modern engines with very low oilappetite, irrespective of the fuel sulphur content, higher BN oils are being employed to augment faster BN depletion arising out of higher residence time of the oil with minimal oil-top-ups. As regards to marine cylinder lubricants, detergency, film strength, spreadability, liner wear protection are more important attributes. They are normally formulated to 70-80 BN to offer better corrosive wear protection to cylinder liners by neutralizing the acids being generated during bunker fuel engine operation. Preferred viscosity grade is SAE 50 to offer better film strength characteristics in elastohydrodynamic conditions. System oils are like rust and oxidation type (R&O) of oils, which are normally expected to be endowed with adequate detergency and bearing protection (towards corrosion) characteristics. They are also formulated in such a way to possess excellent water separation characteristics. They are circulating oils with 5 BN and SAE 30 viscosity grade. Cylinder and system oil approvals are also based on structured field trials for 4000 hours of operation. <b>Trunk Piston Engine Oils - Recent Trends</b> Four-stroke trunk piston engines, over the years, have undergone several design changes in terms of engine size, temperatures, peak injection pressures and introduction of anti-polishing or fire/flame rings. These changes coupled with deteriorating residual fuel quality owing to the advancement of refining technology by way of secondary refinery processes, made the lubrication of these engines a veritable challenge. Smaller size and higher temperatures enhanced the thermal stress on the oils. Oils should be robust over longer period of operation for oxidative degradation. Higher injector pressures increased the extent of raw fuel contamination thus causing the blackening problems more acute and prevalent. The high molecular weight polar aromatic asphalt of modern residual fuels, when comes in contact with engine oil, tend to plate out because of polarity difference, thus causing black deposits on the engine parts. Asphalt dispersion has become a bigger issue having direct bearing on engine deposits, centrifuge operation and filter life. So the new generation TPEOs should be in a position to effectively tackle fuel asphalt. Further, low Nox engine modifications and anti-polishing rings have pushed the engine oil appetites to incredibly lower levels. In the event of minimal fresh oil top-ups, base number of the existing oil is fastly depleting thus resulting in increased sweetening or premature oil drain with respect to BN depletion. Hence, use of higher BN oils, irrespective of fuel sulphur level, has become the new trend. <b>Marine Cylinder & System Oils - Recent Trends</b> Overall economics of marine propulsion operations in the shipping industry are very much dependant on the enhancement of time intervals between engine overhauls. Major engine down time is arising out of replacement of piston rings and to an extent to renew cylinder liners as they wear to the replacement limits. Marines hip engine manufacturers, over the years, have changed their engine designs to make them more fuel-efficient resulting in substantial increase of maximum combustion pressures and brake mean effective pressures. These higher pressures increase the load/stress on the cylinder lubricant films between piston rings and cylinder liners. At top end of the piston, these films further squeeze thus making them degrade faster, vaporize and form more deposits. All these consequences end up in one eventuality- cylinder liner wear or scuffing as a severe extremity. Cylinder liner wear, apart from combustion pressures, also depends on a variety of parameters like operational and liner surface conditions. From cylinder lubricant viewpoint, aspects like film strength, spreadability, viscosity at surface and additive composition of the oil are of vital significance. From formulation viewpoint, for years industry had coped up with cylinder oil formulations based on conventional chemistries. However, the new engine design and operational features pressed for more thermally stable formulations. The latest trend is marine cylinder oils fortified with extra anti -wear and Extreme Pressure additives for that extra bit of wear protection. System oils are also being looked for EP performance apart from conventional attributes in order to enhance their multifarious utility. <b>IOC's Servo --- A New Star On The Firmament Of Global Marine Lubricant Scenario</b> In the early Nineties, IOC R&D centre took up the project of developing indigenous marine lubricant technology. To understand the basic additive-additive interactions among the pre-dominant additive chemistries of marine lubricants, extensive basic research studies were conducted. Meaningful key additive synergies were worked out of the vast data thus generated. Incorporating these new, innovative insights of basicadditive action mechanism and structure performance relationships, the first brick of prospective mega marine product series was assembled. Thus, came into existence the first ever, home grown, Servo Marine XXXX series way back in 1995. As a part of our brick-bybrick approach, we have first tested a 10BN formulation in a small 1000KV oil engine and got significant performance data reflecting the superior detergency and oil consumption features of the innovative formulation series. Encouraged by these results, we have undertaken a 4000 hours structured field validation exercise in a Wartsila Vasa 32 DG set (12V32, 3 MW). Based on the validation results, M/S Wartsila Finland approved this entire series comprising of 10-55 BN in their family of engines operating on both distillate and furnace oils up to their Vasa 32 LN make. Subsequently, Rolls Royce (UK) for Allen engines, MAN Holeby, Fuji etc have approved this series for use in their engines. These efforts of IOC were recognized with the prestigious National Petroleum Management Programme (NPMP)'s highest award in the team category of creativity and innovation in the year 1997. As a part of our continuous on-going process of quality upgradation, a new variant-Servo Marine K - serieswas subjected to field validation in a Wartsila 12V46 engine (9 MW). Based on the excellent performance , Wartsila, Finland recently accorded Servo Marine Kseries across – the -board approval for entire family of Wartsila and Sulzer trunk piston engine range operating on heavy fuels. Making our forays into marine shipboard segment, new additions of 5 BN and 70 BN grades to Servo Marine XXXX series were made to cater to the much intense shipboard applications. Subsequently, field trial clearances were obtained from MAN B&W, Denmark and Wartsila, Switzerland for trying out these new products in their respective marine 2-stroke engines. Field validation of Servo Marine 7050 and 0530 was initiated in a Shipping Corporation of India's vessel- M.T.Suvarna Swarajya fitted with MAN B&W 5S50MC 2-stroke engine. After 4500 hours of trial, Servo Marine 0530 and Servo Marine 7050 has been approved for use in MAN B&W 2-stroke marine engines globally in the year 2005. Quickly acting to consolidate these superior findings, this newly developed Servo Marine oils were subjected to second field validation in a Wartsila-Sulzer 2-stroke marine engine in a much bigger ship (98,000 MT tanker capacity). 4000 hours evaluation, this time against a leading industry benchmark product as reference, revealed the superior detergency and cylinder liner wear protection characteristics of these oils. These good results led to the approval of Servo Marine Oils by Wartsila, Switzerland for use in the entire family of Sulzer 2-stroke engines. With these two global approvals,Servo Marine Oils have become eligible to cater to the lubrication requirements of around 90% of global marine 2- stroke engine population. To conclude, modern TPEOs are required to be more robust towards a wide variety of fuel oil qualities with respect to engine cleanliness, BN stabilization, wear protection and finally longer useful oil life. In case of marine cylinder lubricants, the need of the hour is to shift towards new chemistry based formulations, which offer anti - scuff protection and more thermal stability. IOC's Servo Marine Oil series is the India's and Asia-Pacific regions first home grown marine lubricant technology, which after due field validation, was accorded with global OEM approval credentials.