ABSTRACT
Presence of Organic Chlorides in bunker fuels have been known to cause serious problems to machinery even at low levels. Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) reported that 200 ships have received the high sulfur fuel oils with high levels of organic chlorides between mid of February to early April of 2022. Out of the 200, about 80 ships reported machinery problems after use of these fuels.
These fuels were found to have the following types of organic chlorides; Tetrachloroethylene, 1,2-Dichloroethane, Chloroform, Carbon Tetrachloride, Trichlorethylene, 1,1,2- Trichloroethane and Chlorobenzene.
The organic chloride contamination crisis during this period was only noted in High Sulfur Fuels (HSFO). Most of the vessels have reported serious damages to Main Engine and Auxiliary Engine fuel pumps (Wear and Seizure), damage to filter candles, and higher levels of sludge generation. In some serious cases, the vessels had to be towed to the port due to extensive damages to ships’ fuel systems.
Organic chlorides in the presence of high temperature tend to convert to Hydrogen Chloride (in the form of gas) which in turn converts to hydrochloric acid in the presence of water. This is the main reason for the corrosion related effects reported when using these contaminated fuels. Hydrochloric acid is a strong acid and can easily eat through the lubrication film between a fuel pump plunger and barrel, also the fuel needle valve and guide. This will result in extensive damages over a very short amount of time.
The focus of this paper is to determine the limit for the presence of organic chlorides in HSFO and VLSFOs in order to avoid machinery problems and failures. Additionally, by simulating the fuel pump condition in the laboratory, we will investigate whether organic chlorides that cause issues in heavy fuel oils would pose similar problems in Very low Sulfur Fuels (VLSFOs).