Lubricants must evolve along with ships’ bunker fuels

Lubricants for ship engines will have to evolve along with the changing bunker fuel market, as more stringent emission controls come into play, said Total lubmarine technical director Jean-Philippe Roman in an interview with global energy, petrochemicals and metals information provider, Platts. With the evolving regulations on ship emissions by the various emission control areas(ECAs) as well as the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) global sulphur cap limits becoming more stringent in 2015-2020, shipowners have to start considering alternative fuels, other than heavy fuel oil, to power their ships. The current focus is on alternatives such as distillates and LNG to comply with stricter global sulphur regulations. Lubricants for these same ship engines will have to evolve along with the type of marine fuel used, Roman said. For existing conventional diesel engines that currently run on heavy fuel oil, most ships use two types of lubricants to ensure engines run smoothly, and the combination of the two is usually “double trouble”, according to Total marketing and analysis manager Serge Dal Farra. If there were a mismatch in both types of lubricants, it would result in severe engine damage, he said. The problem usually occurs when the basicity of the lubricant is high and the sulphur level in the marine fuel is too low, this could mean more calcium carbonate deposits in the ship’s engine, potentially causing severe damage, Roman added. The level of basicity usually determines how well the lubricant can break down the acid that makes up the sulphur in marine fuels. With marine fuels expected to contain less sulphur, the type of lubricant used would need to evolve along with the level of sulphur in marine fuel, especially with some ECAs now mandating a maximum of 1% sulphur, he added.