Fuel savings and sludge reductions

[Mikkelsborg]

Heavy fuel oil has been homogenised successfully for many years. This process considerably improves the fuel quality and results in a better combustion.
The homogeniser breaks up the long asphaltene chains in the fuel and enables these to be burnt accordingly. Several ship owners have reported 1% fuel savings and it is also possible to use the FQI to reduce sludge by approx. 50%.
To achieve this two safety-homogenisers have to be installed, one before the separator and one in the booster circuit before the duplex filter. The return of investment should be achieved in less than a year.
However, a homogeniser should not and cannot be used to alter cat-fines. These have to be removed to avoid the fuel acting as a ‚lapping paste’ for the fuel injection parts and cylinders.
Any condensed water from the service tank can however by emulsified into the fuel by the safety-homogeniser to protect fuel injection parts from corroding.
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This is not a commercial but I would like to ask for some input from the group if any have any experience in this area that they would like to share,
I have more technical information on the systems that I can forward upon request, please email me directly on mie@scandiserv.com

But I would prefer to have a here so we all can share information and don't have to invent the deep plate twice

[Big Pete]

The Vicker's (Mechanical) Homogeniser was around when I did my Chief's Ticket 30 years ago, and I believe that there are now Ultrasonic Homogenisers as well. However, I have never sailed with this equipment.
I can see the appeal of reducing sludge production and being able to usefully burn some of the sludge as well, but I think a 1% fuel saving is too difficult to measure on a ship in Service, so shipowners would be reluctant to invest in the equipment, because they would be unable to confirm that they were saving anything.

The other advantage of Homogenisers is that they enable water to be emulsified in the fuel, thus improving combustion and reducing fuel consumption. Professor Thomson of Newcastle University (UK) did a lot of pioneering work on burning emulsified fuel in all types and sizes of Boiler and engines, back in the 1970's I think. He even appeared on "Tommorrow's World" a UK Science & Technology TV programme.
In spite of emulsified fuel being demonstrated to give fuel savings of over 5% if I recall correctly, the shipowners were never interested in the new technology.

If you have a homogeniser before the purifier, how do you stop this smashing up the Cat Fines into even smaller particles making it imposible for the purifier toremove them?

I sailed on one ship where electromagnets had been fitted on the fuel pipes to the main engines, according to the literature they were supposed to increase power and reduce consumption, but none of the Engineers believed it. According to the literature " all fishermen know about this and fit magnets to their fuel system" a statement that I found less than convincing. Ship owners are probably bombarded with fuel saving ideas, mostly rubbish.
BP

[Mikkelsborg]

My idea in not to present a revolutionizing product but to present small corrections and adjustments. A bit like a sailboat, always with trimming and adjusting in order to obtain smooth sailing.
With the FQI we have a possibility to reduce sludge - the general idea was also to have a "blender" that blends the fuel to below 5 microns. The idea from our side is that the system in any given situation should be able to be bypassed and no additional changes required or necessary for engine settings.

If we talk water in fuel emulsion that opens up a new discussion - For years we have tried to drain our fuels for water and now we want to put it back in....
The WIF units were designed because of the new tiers and nox requirements. The is a lot of different reasons to use or not use the units. Political, financially etc being proactive in an environmental approach cost money.
Most owners decide not to take the lead in order not to loose business to the competition. But with the stricter regulations especially on the Great Lakes we have to do something to comply as we can go and buy a new engine, economizer or switch to LNG with all new regulations. We have to work with what we have at hand ! But that said we also have to go in new directions...

I have attached a little more information about the solutions,

[Mikkelsborg]

Our last FQI mail led to several questions from shipping companies regarding the efficiency of the separators if the fuel is already homogenised to reduce sludge before entering the purifier.

Homogenisers do not alter cat-fines and to prove so LEMAG has now carried out field tests to show that the efficiency of the purifier is not reduced with homogenised fuel.

The results of the fuel analysis carried out by DNV clearly show that the purifier successfully removed cat-fines, even with fuel homogenised for over 4 hours:

Fuel test - non-homogenised fuel
Before the purifier: 47 mg/kg Cat-Fines

Fuel test after fuel homogenised for 1 hour
After the purifier: 6 mg/kg Cat-Fines

Fuel test after fuel homogenised for 4 hours
After the purifier: 6 mg/kg Cat-Fines

Many shipping companies are aware of the benefits of homogenisers, but unkeen to install them due to bad press in the past. With all the safety features we have implemented these issues now also belong to past.

Please therefore be informed of the benefits (potential 1% fuel savings and 50% sludge reduction!) and the tests we have carried out accordingly.