Feature 1 | DIESEL TECHNOLOGY Total defend universal lubricant


A debate over whether an universal lubricant can be an effective replacement for a range of lubricants with differing BN numbers in marine diesels intensifies as Total launches a defence of its “technological breakthrough”, Talusia Universal.


market so far, Total’s Talusia Universal (TU), Total has released test results that it claims shows the lubricant can out-perform oil with high BN numbers after TU has already shown that it can replace low BN oils. Castrol


F believes that universal


lubricants wi ll damage marine diesel engines as the build up of iron is compounded with a failure to adequately deal with the calcification that takes place in the cylinder during operations. Higher BN oils target and neutralise harmful chemicals protecting the engine from excessive wear. Castrol


says that a universal


lubricant cannot perform as efficiently as an oil produced to specifically target the acidic compounds that can be deposited on cylinder walls. Total contests this view and claims


that “new technology” contained in its TU lubricant can be as efficient or more efficient as existing lubricants. In defence of its product the company has released test results, performed on four Wärtsilä marine diesel engines, that Total says shows TU outperforms high BN lubricants in most cases. Serge Dal Farra, in Total Lubmarine’s


marketing department, told The Naval Architect that TU “is already in use on over 3000 ships and is operating without problems.” Before Total marketed TU, however, the company tested the product to ensure that it could perform to the highest standards, says Dal Farra. Total customers using lubricants with


low BN numbers have already replaced these oils with TU, but customers using the higher BN numbers are still able to use conventional oil in their marine diesel. TU offers these clients a choice to convert to a single lubricant if they


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Total released these test results which it says show that its universal lubricant is as efficient as conventional oil.


will be using fuel with a range of sulphur content. This simplifies the storage and lubrication process on board a ship, says Dal Farra. The table above “illustrates how the


TU behaves versus conventional BN 70 (our HR 70) at all operating conditions, including of course slow-steaming and various sulphur content-according navigation areas,” says Dal Farra. Some 840 samples of drain oil were


taken and the graph illustrates the iron content on the vertical axis, in parts per million, while the horizontal axis shows the effective neutralisation of acidic compounds using potassium hydroxide (KOH) and the efficiency that the two lubricants display in neutralising acidic compounds in the cylinder. This document illustrates how the Talusia Universal


behaves versus


conventional BN 70 (our HR 70) at all operating conditions, including of course


slow-steaming and various sulphur content according navigation areas. “As you will see, on an 840 samples-


basis, the drain oil analysis shows that the TU basicity reserve is still available of about BN15 points (blue bubbles) after use, on the left part of the graph, this means that safety is not at all


a


‘border-line’ issue. Furthermore, the wear level


is equivalent (but actually


very low) or even less with TU compared to a conventional BN 70, while the performance and anti-wear capability is superior,” says Dal Farra. In addition Total says that because TU is


a BN57 lubricant rather than a BN70 oil the control of deposits for low sulphur fuels is considerably better. “Of course we must remind the industry


that we also offer the simplicity of a single BN solution for all fuel types to ship operators removing any complicating factors in operations,” Dal Farra claims. NA


The Naval Architect March 2012


ollowing Castrol’s broadside against universal lubricants, of which there is only one on the


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