A video has been released to celebrate the innovative SEA-Mate® Blending-on-Board (BOB) lubrication system created by Maersk Fluid Technology (MFT).
The system has been tested for over a million hours on board Maersk’s own global fleet, as well as at a stationary power plant in Barbados.
MFT claims ship owners can reduce the consumption of fuel by 1.5% using the system, as well as decrease the use of lube oil by 40%. When using the BOB system, the currently used system oil is blended with a high base number cylinder oil, just as it is at onshore plants, with it being adjustable to make sure the cylinder oil is appropriate to the fuel consumption.
In addition, the BOB system can seamlessly adjust the blend composition, enabling it to minimise the cylinder lubrication feed. According to MFT, this decreases the consumption of cylinder oil by about 40%. Furthermore, this also causes system oil to be naturally consumed, meaning that new oil can be frequently introduced to the engine sump, helping to improve anti-wear and detergent properties.
The continual refreshment of system oil also means that deposits and particles no longer build up within the engine, and the BOB system even maintains the original system oil’s viscosity, leading to the claimed fuel savings of 1.5%.
Last February, MFT updated its products sheets to include BOB-suitable high-BN cylinder oils from oil majors like ExxonMobil, which also makes a range of industrial lubricants and greases that can be obtained through Mobil UK distributors.
MFT’s video can be viewed via YouTube.