Cylinder Oil Prevents Detergency Deposit Build-Up

Tom Mulligan October 1, 2019

LUKOIL NAVIGO MCL Extra is a 40 BN cylinder oil designed to prevent the build-up of deposits as a result of the extra detergency associated with the use 2020 fuels. (Photo: LUKOIL)

LUKOIL Marine Lubricants, subsidiary of Russian in oil exploration, production and refining company LUKOIL, has highlighted the advantages of using LUKOIL NAVIGO MCL Extra, a new 40 BN cylinder oil designed to prevent deposit build-up due to the extra detergency associated with ‘2020 fuels’. At a recent technical seminar, Stefan Claussen, Technical and Marketing Director of LUKOIL Marine, described how the company is introducing future lubrication solutions for very-low- (VLSFO <0.5%S) and ultra-low-sulfur fuel oils (ULSFO <0.1%S) in response to the changes in engine lubrication that the shipping industry is facing because of the major legislative changes taking place in 2020.

Claussen advised users to start with 40 BN cylinder lubricants for VLSFO operation from 2020, a method also shared by OEMs, quoting as an example MAN’s latest service letter SL2019-671/JAP: “It is expected that the vast majority of all vessels with MAN B&W engines will experience a trouble-free transition to max. 0.50%S fuels. We recommend beginning with 40 BN cylinder oil and evaluating the condition continuously.” According to Claussen, “the challenge is to create a sufficient level of detergency to avoid deposits in the engine”.

Kenny Park, Technical and Marketing Manager at LUKOIL Marine Lubricants, added: “Similar to 2012, when we launched our BN100 cylinder oil NAVIGO 100 MCL as a pre-emptive countermeasure against cold corrosion, we have already been anticipating in advance that with cylinder oil for all fuels up to 0.5%S the crucial factor will be cleaning capability rather than neutralization.”

“No 40 BN cylinder oil designed for pre-2020 low-sulphur residual fuels was covering distillate fuel operation sufficiently to handle 0.1%S and any 0.5%S fuels”, said Claussen, “so, we acquired major engine designers’ full Non-Objection Letters for our new extra-detergency BN40 cylinder oil NAVIGO MCL Extra on the basis of a successful field test in 2014 to 2017. Since then, we have been experiencing its excellent cleaning performance, for example on engines running long-term on low-sulfur fuel between Brazil and northern European ports.”

NAVIGO MCL Extra is a new 40 BN marine cylinder oil for distillate, ULSFO, VLSFO and low-sulfur heavy fuel oil (<1.5%S) applications approved for MAN, WinGD and J-ENG (Mitsubishi) engines.