Bunker Fuel Quality
VPS: Bunker fuel quality in emergency equipment
Wolf Rehder, VPS Area Manager Germany, focuses on the critical importance of maintaining high bunker fuel quality standards for emergency equipment onboard vessels, which is often overlooked.
Marine fuels testing company VPS on Tuesday (13 February) published an article by Wolf Rehder, VPS Area Manager Germany, emphasising the critical importance of maintaining high bunker fuel quality standards for emergency equipment onboard vessels, which is often overlooked:
Prevent emergency equipment from failing during an emergency
The lifeboats, emergency generators, and emergency fire pumps onboard are among the vital critical equipment essential for efficient, dependable, and prompt operation during onboard emergencies and across diverse climatic conditions.
Most companies and vessels have procedures in place to monitor their fuel quality. Close attention is paid to the management of fuels to be used in main and auxiliary engines, regardless of fuel-grade, as this has a direct impact on safety, health and the environment as well as on the economic operation of the vessel.
Most companies and vessels also have routines in place to regularly test emergency equipment. Nonetheless, it seems that in numerous instances, there is insufficient focus on the quality of fuel utilised in emergency equipment.
Fuel grade DMX within the ISO8217 specification is specifically intended for use within emergency equipment. However, since this is not a mandatory requirement, marine gas oil (MGO grade DMA) used for other purposes on board, is often used to fill up emergency equipment tanks. This could lead to hazardous outcomes as the DMA grade fuel might not be suitable for its intended use. The quality of the fuel in the emergency equipment tanks may also deteriorate during storage. Hence it is essential to test and ensure that the quality of the fuel being taken into the tanks is ’fit for purpose’ and monitored at regular intervals.
Impact of various parameters on the operation of the emergency equipment
Cold Flow Properties (Cloud Point and Pour Point)
Distillate fuels are predominantly paraffinic in nature and under colder temperature conditions, the paraffins can precipitate from the fuel in the form of wax. As a consequence, this wax can lead to blocked pipework and filters, leading to numerous operational issues including potentially starving the vessel engine of fuel.
Cloud Point (CP) of a distillate fuel is the temperature at which the paraffinic wax begins to separate from petroleum oil and form a cloudy appearance. This is the first indicator of cold-flow issues with a fuel.
Pour Point is the lowest temperature at which the fuel will flow, i.e., the fuel becomes solid.
Whilst the Pour Point of a distillate can be lowered using additives, the Cloud Point is not affected by such additives. This means that even when a distillate has a very low Pour Point, it’s Cloud Point could be very much higher. As the fuel temperature drops to, or below the Cloud Point, wax crystals will start to form, at which point, filter clogging could begin to take place, resulting in fuel starvation and engine stoppage. Satisfactory storage, transfer and filtration needs a fuel temperature about 3-5°C above the Cloud Point. The Cloud Point of fuels used for emergency equipment should be below the ambient temperatures at which the equipment it is operating, or likely to operate.
One real case example saw a fuel in a lifeboat engine storage tank which had a Pour Point of -33°C whilst the Cloud Point was +17°C. This fuel could only be safely used at ambient temperatures above 20°C.
The additives used can also potentially cause operational problems as some of their chemicals can be absorbed by filter materials, causing them to appear blocked. This problem is exacerbated for emergency equipment which are typically fitted with very fine filters.
Filter blockage due to high Cloud Point
Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME)
Due to the practice of blending FAME into automotive diesel and heating oil, it is now more common and indeed inevitable, that some distillates supplied in the marine market contain FAME. FAME can lead to complications with respect to storage and handling in a marine environment, due to its increased level of oxidation tendency, long-term storage issues or shorter shelf life, it’s affinity to water and risk of microbial growth. Additional issues regarding FAME’s degraded low-temperature flow properties and FAME material deposition on exposed surfaces, including filter elements, also add to the fuel management concerns. Therefore, testing for the presence and levels of FAME within marine distillates, is a highly recommended practice.
Visual Appearance
Fuels grades DMA/DMZ/DMX should be bright and clear. If the fuel is hazy, it could indicate the presence of water or a high Cloud Point. Haziness could also indicate poor oxidation stability.
Sulphur Content
Vessels (including emergency equipment) required for securing the safety of a ship, or saving life at sea are exempted from the MARPOL Annex VI Regulation 3.1.1 Sulphur requirement. However, for the testing of emergency equipment in an Emissions Control Area (ECA), compliant fuel with sulphur content less than 0.10 % m/m should be used.
Fuel contamination, a potential hazard
Since fuels in the emergency equipment storage tanks remain unused for long periods of time, quality of such fuels may deteriorate due to the following:
Water can originate from contaminated fuel or condensation, and engines may not run because of water in the fuel lines. The presence of water can promote growth of microorganisms such as bacteria, yeast and fungi, and can also lead to blockage of fuel lines and filters due to icing when ambient temperature drops below 0°C.
Microorganisms (bacteria, yeast, fungi) – Given the correct conditions in fuel storage systems, micro-organisms can grow and multiply. Bacteria, fungi and yeast are living organisms which may be present in fuel storage tanks and in particular where water is allowed to build up. Distillate fuels are more prone to bacterial infection. Microbial infection can lead to slimy deposits in tank bottoms, plugging of filters, pitting corrosion on fuel tank bottoms or at oil water interface and injector fouling.
Corrosion caused by bacteria
Gas Oil Stability – Many different chemical reactions can cause a gas oil to be unstable. Instability can lead to sedimentation and eventually to the formation of gums. Instability is usually indicated by a colour change over a period of time.
Mitigate your emergency equipment risks
It is thus obvious from the above reasons that engines, which should be the most reliable of all, may fail to operate when they are most needed.
Testing of the fuel’s cold-flow parameters, FAME content, sulphur levels, water content and microbiological activity, is highly recommended. These tests will provide vital information and knowledge of a fuel’s quality and the management requirements that go beyond adherence to imperfect specifications. These are necessary to help ship operators deal with fuels which may meet the specification numbers but give serious operational problems.
Photo credit: VPS
Published: 14 February, 2024
Bunker Fuel Quality
VPS: Is your vessel fully protected from dangers of poor-quality bunker fuel?
VPS have issued 21 Bunker Alerts this year, which have highlighted witnessed quality issues with the three main fuel types of HSFO (6 alerts), VLSFO (9 alerts) and MGO (6 alerts), says Steve Bee of VPS.
Steve Bee, Group Commercial Director of marine fuels testing company VPS, on Tuesday (1 October) wrote about mitigating fuel quality risks and safeguarding vessel operations against poor-quality bunker fuels:
As the global marine fuel mix grows, becoming more varied and consequently more complex in terms of fuel management, there is a potential increasing risk to vessels, crew and the environment, from the possible impact of poor-quality fuels.
Yet, whilst shipping looks to decarbonise, with a view to introducing low-to-zero carbon fuels, such as biofuels and methanol, these fuels currently account for approximately 1% of the fuel mix. The more traditional fossil fuels are continuing to satisfy the day-to-day demand in terms of fuels supplied to vessels at this time, with almost 230 million MT of marine fuels being bunkered last year.
The VPS database shows for all fossil fuels tested the following current Off-specifications have been identified:
VPS Bunker Alerts, are also a good indication of current fuel quality and so far to date, VPS have issued 21 Bunker Alerts this year. These alerts have highlighted witnessed quality issues with the three main fuel types of HSFO (6 alerts), VLSFO (9 alerts) and MGO (6 alerts). The 2024 alerts show significant off-specifications for 8 different test parameters, from 11 different locations, across Europe, Middle-East, Asia and the Americas. This proves fuel quality issues can arise anywhere at any time, for any fuel type or test parameter.
June 2024, saw the 7th revision of the marine fuel standard ISO8217, released to the industry. ISO8217:2024 is seen as a major step forward in terms of setting specifications for marine fuel quality. This latest revision has moved from two fuel specification tables, to four. It now includes, for the first time, specifications for VLSFO and ULSFO fuels containing 0.50% or 0.10% sulphur respectively, plus biofuels containing FAME, HVO, GTL, BTL, bio-components.
Acknowledging that ISO8217:2024, is an improvement on previous revisions of the standard, it still does not cover enough of the further potentially problematic issues of chemical contamination, cold-flow properties, microbial-growth, plus wider bio-components such as Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL), to name but a few areas of concern.
In addition, the industry has a very poor track record of purchasing fuel against the very latest revision of the ISO8217 standard. To date, VPS as the world’s largest marine fuel quality testing company, still see 12.6% of samples received for quality testing, being purchased against the 2005 revision of the standard. So, vessels are purchasing fuel against a standard which is actually only 3 months off being 20 years old? That revision has since been replaced by four further revisions of the standard over the years and it bears very little relevance to today’s fuels. Therefore, these vessels are really operating at a significantly increased level of risk, if they are relying on ISO8217:2005 to fully protect them.
The most common revision against which marine fuel is purchased today, is still ISO8217:2010. 48% of all fuel samples received by VPS, are being tested against this revision. Again, ISO8217:2010 is almost 15 years old, so why is almost half of the fuel being purchased to it? There is no consideration of VLSFO, or ULSFO fuels, with FAME also being classed as a contaminant.
The 2017 revision, still only accounts for 20% of the fuel samples VPS receive for testing, even though its nearly eight years old. However, it does consider the presence of FAME within certain distillate grades, but still offers no specification for the lower sulphur grades of residual-based fuels, where VLSFOs are the most widely purchased fuel type.
All this means is the global fleet is buying fuel and testing its quality against a standard which is between 8-20 years old?
To date, VPS have not received a fuel sample, fossil fuel, or biofuel, purchased to the 2024 revision. Based on past history it maybe sometime before such a sample is received? Even then ISO8217:2024, whilst a major improvement to previous revisions, is not an all-encompassing standard.
As far back as 2018, The Swedish Club released their independent report, “Main Engine Damage”. This report highlighted how to avoid engine damage, including information showing the average cost of a single fuel management incident onboard a vessel was $344,069. It also stated the average cost of a single lubrication failure was $763,320.
The Swedish Club’s advice and recommendations were:
Back in 2019, in the lead up to IMO2020 and the reduction in the global sulphur cap to 0.50%, VPS foresaw potential quality issues with the new incoming VLSFO fuels. These fuels would be of higher paraffinic content, leading to poorer cold-flow behaviour, potential wax precipitation and major stability issues. VPS recognised that the ISO8217 standard did not provide sufficient protection to a vessel, when using VLSFO, or even HSFO and MGO fuels.
Therefore, the VPS Additional Protection (APS) service was launched prior to 2020. This service offers the full ISO8217 test scope, plus a number of additional tests, in one package offering, at a significantly reduced price, in order to ensure a greater level of protection to vessels and enhanced peace-of-mind to the, now more informed operator, using this service.
The APS Package is customised by fuel type, to cover, HSFO, VLSFO, or Distillates. The additional tests included, will provide much more information and greater understanding of the fuel in relation to stability, chemical contamination, cold-flow properties, lubricity and microbial-activity. The package can also be further customised to individual customer requirements. Many VPS customers have used and continue to use APS, to mitigate the potential risks from poor quality fuel and benefit from the added-value and cost savings, the service delivers.
In 2022, the incoming range of marine biofuels, warranted VPS to research a number of different additional tests to assist in identifying biofuel management issues and understanding their behaviour and operational risks. As a consequence, VPS launched the APS-BIO packages. Once again, these include the ISO8217 as a base test slate, but also include additional tests to measure energy content, stability, renewable content, microbial-activity, corrosivity and cold-flow properties. The APS-BIO suite of test slates cover different bio-components such as FAME, HVO, CNSL, plus the fossil fuels used in a bio-blend, eg HSFO, VLSFO, MGO.
Once again VPS customers, are seeing real benefits and added-value, as they look to use biofuels as their decarbonisation option, knowing that in VPS they have an experienced, expert fuel management partner.
Photo credit: VPS
Published: 2 October, 2024
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