Page 42: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (October 2010)

42 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News

REPORTING FROM SMM ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES

Lubmarine’s

New Lube Oil is Sulfur

Limit Compliant

Total Lubmarine says its new cylinder oil,

Talusia Universal, provides a lube solution to problems encountered by owners and opera- tors in meeting regulatory and environmental requirements relating to sulfur limits. Patrick

Havil, global marketing manager of Lubma- rine, said, “Lubricants have not always been top of the priority list for ship owners. But this is changing. In the current economic cli- mate, ship operators simply cannot afford to ignore any potential cost savings that can easily be made. And in the current legislative climate, ship operators are forced to face is- sues arising from the need to operate within

Emission Control Areas (ECAs).”

With effect from 1 July 2010, all ships oper- ating in the EU Emission Control Area have had to burn fuel with a maximum sulfur con- tent of 1 percent, down from the previous limit of 1.5 percent. Ship owners are thus faced with not only fuel-switching difficulties but with the additional need for lubricant switching as they move in and out of the

ECA. Furthermore, when the USA/Canada

ECA comes into force in 2012, it will affect 50 per cent of maritime traffic, and the issue of which lubricant to use will be absolutely vital.

Becker:

Composite Rudder Flap and Stock

Becker, along with Bureau Veritas, is continu- ally searching for new materials such as car- bon composites to use in its engineered solutions. Carbon fiber is interesting as it provides a weight savings of more than 50 percent; as well as a reduction of raw mate- rial waste of 60 percent compared to forged steel. Becker anticipates that the num- ber of com- posites and their applica- tion in mer- chant shipping will rise in future, especially for smaller com- ponents – like rudder flaps.

In this in- stance, com- posite materials en- able the man- ufacture of hull surfaces with better propulsion properties such as a slim design provides less drag and improved lift. Composite rud- der flaps are available for all types of Becker high-efficiency rudders such as FKSR, SA/SC and Heracles rudders. Becker also offers composite material for rudder stocks. The weight of a rudder stock for a 8,400 TEU container ship, for example, can be reduced from 72.2t to 26.6t by using the new mate- rial.

Stern Tube Leaks

Keeping Ahead of Regs

By Joseph Keefe 80 million liters of oil-based lubri- cants are lost to the sea annually from stern tubes alone. Regulators work to stop the problem and shipowners find more than one way to get to the Promised

Land. Oil-based lubricant discharges into the marine environment have long been the subject of scrutiny, especially in terms of overall pollution rates. One study found that 457 million liters of oil enter the oceans annually as a result of shipping operations. Presentations at the

International Maritime Organization (IMO) Marine Environment Protection

Committee (MEPC58) put the total volume of oil-based lubricants lost at sea annually, from stern tubes alone, at as much as 80 mil- lion liters. Formerly treated as a part of normal operations, stern tube leakage is now receiving greater attention and is subject to legal and financial consequences.

Recently, Dr. Dagmar Etkin of

Environmental Research Con- sulting was commissioned by

Castrol Marine to establish lev- els of lubricant loss into the ma- rine environment. The study, entitled, “Analysis of Accidental

Spillages and Operational Leak- age and Discharges of Lubricants from Vessels in Ports,” focused on ports and harbors, providing indi- cators for the extent of lubricant pollu- tion in the wider marine environment.

Since ships spend more time at sea than in port, the actual level of annual world- wide discharge may actually be several times higher – with reliable estimates putting the figure at twice that of the

EXXON VALDEZ oil spill. At least two viable and proven solutions are already on the market and the greater global focus on stern tube leakage is leading shippers, ahead of what some see as in- evitable regulatory action, to seek out ways to mitigate the problem.

What’s Coming and Why

According to Dr. Etkin, and with the issue being actively considered by the

IMO MEPC and the European Commis- sion, the development of Marine Pro- tected Areas (MPAs) also may lead to tougher restrictions and more conscien- tious operations in these waters. Some standards for lubricants in the North Sea offshore industry, as well as some inland waterways in Europe, already exist.

Etkin’s report adds, “In the US, an Envi- ronmental Protection Agency (EPA) reg- ulation requires all commercial and non- recreational vessels of 79 feet (24 meters) to have general permits under the Na- tional Pollution Discharge Elimination

System (NPDS) for all operational dis- charges of any pollutant in US waters.

This includes lubricating oils from stern tubes.” Tighter regulation isn’t just com- ing; it is here. Because stern tubes are below the waterline and contain a signif- icant amount of lubricant oil, the shaft seals are the only barrier between the oil and the environment. Ideally, there should be no leakage to the water and the

US Environmental Protection Agency says that oil lubricated stern tube seals cannot release oil to the environment under normal ship operations. Unfortu- nately, that’s usually the case. That’s not to say industry isn’t doing something about it – they are.

Biodegradable Lubricants

In response to heightened regulatory scrutiny, biodegradable lubricants are set to assume increasing importance.

TOTAL Lubmarine, for example, re- ports that customers are showing in- creased interest in biodegradable lubricants as they look for ways to elim- inate pollution. For stern tube lubrication,

TOTAL Lubmarine offers a fully biodegradable product, Bioneptan, which has achieved approval from more than one operator.

Another player is Castrol, which has developed BioStat. Designed for stern tubes and gears, the product is designed to provide a high level of protection to heavily loaded bearings and gears, a lower friction coefficient than conven- tional oils and perhaps just as impor- tantly, reduced environmental impact when compared to conventional lubri- cants.

Seawater-Lubricated Stern Tube

Bearings: Zero Discharge

The simplest way to eliminate oil from the stern tube is to use seawater as the lu- brication medium and non-metallic bear- ings in place of oil and white metal bearings. The seawater enters the forward section of the stern tube just aft of the seal and passes through the forward and then aft bearings prior to reen- tering the sea. The quality of the sea- water supplied to the bearing is critical to long wear life. To ensure that abrasives are removed from the seawater, a water quality package employs centrifugal forces to re- move particulate from the seawater stream, then collects and discharges it overboard. Seawater-lubricated bearings eliminate the aft seal as well as the storage, sampling, dis- posal of oil and – more importantly – the risk of stern tube oil pollution.

According to Craig Carter of

Thordon Bearings, the installation of seawater-lubricated stern tube bearings is a smart investment. Elim- inating stern tube oil pollution as a source of fines is the immediate dividend.

Longer term, the higher cost of this sim- ple yet valuable equipment yields a much quicker payout time than one might think. Carter, Director of Marketing and

Customer Service, admits that the cost of

Thordon bearings exceed that of the con- ventional oil-lubricated unit, but adds, “We expect 15 to 20+ years of service life, depending on the ship’s operational profile.” That’s only part of the story.

Shipowners using Thordon bearings re- alize significant savings from multiple cost centers, including: • reduced operating costs (no aft seal) • greater time spans between required seal maintenance • fitting and monitoring methods to meet class society approvals • reduced legal and business risks from oil pollution

On the Web: www.lubmarine.com www.castrol.com/marine www.environmental-research.com www.ThordonBearings.com

Thordon Compac water lubricated propeller shaft bearing.