As an industry, large two-stroke marine diesels used in over 30,000 ships worldwide,
waste in excess of US$2 billion in cylinder oil over lubrication
every year. In addition, over 1.25 million tonnes of unnecessary contaminated
drain oil need to be disposed.
Over-lubrication of cylinder lubricating oil in slow speed two stroke marine diesel
engines can cost ship managers and owners over US$100,000 per year per ship. The
Flame Diagnostic service from Flame Marine helps you prevent this loss by reducing
the cylinder lubricating oil feed rates in your ships to the lowest and safest levels;
fully in compliance with manufacturers guidelines. We do this by carefully
monitoring the performance characteristics of the engine and the precise chemical
composition of the cylinder drain oil and analyzing this information using novel
techniques proven by over 12 years of practical experience and currently used by
nearly 500 ships worldwide.
Working together with your chief engineers, we implement a gradual and safe process
of lubrication reduction and improving engine combustion. This is possible because
we not only look at the performance characteristics of the engine with the data
that you supply but also the chemistry of the combustion process itself using the
oil samples that you also supply. The combination of these allows us to build a
complex model of exactly what is happening within your engine and to advise you
on the best ways to improve combustion and reduce cylinder oil feed rates.
A byproduct of this whole process is a reduction in the amount of waste cylinder
drain oil that needs to be disposed and an increase in the reliability of your engines
together with the opportunity to increase the period between overhauls.
The Flame Diagnostic service is the world leader in this technology and is used
by the research departments of a number of the top names in the marine industry
as well as nearly 500 ships worldwide.
To fully appreciate the impact on engines of cylinder oil over-lubrication when
combined with slightly imperfect combustion, we only need look at the pictures in
the right hand column. Over-lubrication by cylinder oil is one of the chief avoidable
costs. It causes piston deposits which decrease the efficiency of the combustion
process and increase engine wear as well as increasing the generation of NOx and
particulates which cause air pollution. Flame Diagnostic will also detect early
ring groove wear, blow by and skirt abrasion from minute traces of wear components
in the cylinder drain oil.
The Flame Diagnostic service from Flame Marine not only saves you money by reducing
cylinder oil feed rates to the lowest safe levels and scheduling maintenance when
your engines need it but by regularly monitoring the engine, it helps detect potential
problems long before they can be detected using conventional means by the engineering
crews on the ship. Flame Diagnostic works for the crews and allows you to deliver
the most cost effective service.