ONBOARD Magazine summer 2021
The magazine is published quarterly and is the only publication aimed purely at the superyacht professional on the Mediterranean. Produced here on the Côte d’Azur, ONBOARD is a B2B industry magazine with a consumer feel. Designed to be entertaining and informative in equal balance, ONBOARD is packed with varied articles on superyacht paint & coatings, crew training, essential refit services, crew uniforms, shipyards, the very best superyacht chase boats, product launches and features from leading industry experts on relevant superyacht matters. If you need to get your products and services in front of the right crew and industry buyers, then talk to us.
The magazine is published quarterly and is the only publication aimed purely at the superyacht professional on the Mediterranean. Produced here on the Côte d’Azur, ONBOARD is a B2B industry magazine with a consumer feel. Designed to be entertaining and informative in equal balance, ONBOARD is packed with varied articles on superyacht paint & coatings, crew training, essential refit services, crew uniforms, shipyards, the very best superyacht chase boats, product launches and features from leading industry experts on relevant superyacht matters.
If you need to get your products and services in front of the right crew and industry buyers, then talk to us.
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ADVERTORIAL
DIESEL
CARE
Managing Director of Fuelcare
Oliver Rumford-Warr,
examines microbiological
contamination of superyacht
fuels; the cause, effect and
latest preventative innovations
As many readers are aware, there
is an increasing legislative trend
towards higher biologically-sourced
energy in superyacht fuel supply, as well as
a near-global environmental commitment
to reducing sulphur content through the
IMO 2020 protocol. Biodiesel blends and
reductions in sulphur bring a raft of side
effects to the storage, combustion and
ignition of superyacht diesel, one of the
most prevalent issues being microbial
growth - colloquially known as ‘the diesel
bug’. Fungi and bacteria can grow rapidly in
both biologically-derived and refined mineral
fuels under the right conditions – most
importantly the presence of water in fuels.
Unchecked, the diesel bug causes a range
of issues including microbiologically induced
corrosion, filter blinding and fuel spoilage;
the ultimate risk being engine shutdown.
Microbial spoilage is synonymous with
the presence of water, a suitable growth
Unchecked, the diesel bug causes a range of issues including
microbiologically induced corrosion, filter blinding and fuel
spoilage; the ultimate risk being engine shutdown
medium for microbes, and an ever-present
requirement for FAME (Biodiesel) to be
blended with mineral hydrocarbon fuels.
FAME is hygroscopic – it has the capacity to
absorb water, held in suspension as microdroplets.
Water being the key ingredient to
microbial spoilage, thus providing a catalyst
to the reproduction of microbial organisms
present in storage systems; hence the
higher the FAME content in biofuels, the
higher the likelihood of microbial spoilage.
As often occurs during fuel transfer or
changing environmental conditions, water
causes fuel instability and can become
separated from FAME. It will then form
a water bottom in a fuel tank; a problem
commonly found in all fuel storage systems.
Microbial spoilage primarily achieves growth
in the fuel-water interface where both water
is present as well as nutrients from the fuel
phase that provides hydrocarbons on which
to metabolise. Combined, these provide
excellent environs for microbial reproduction.
For FAME-derived blends of between 2
and 20% (sometimes referred to as B2
and B20) in particular, microbial spoilage
has been shown to be a major issue in
storage systems. Both producers and end
users of biofuel blends should be aware of
these issues, particularly when blends of
between B2 and B20 have been placed in
storage systems for the long term i.e.
winter storage.
In every instance of contamination, prevention
is better than cure, and this maxim also
holds true in superyacht fuels. Treating
an existing microbial problem can be 10x
costlier than prevention. Good housekeeping
such as regular draining of fuel tank water
bottoms are key to preventing microbial
spoilage becoming an issue. In large or
inaccessible tanks on superyachts, effective
housekeeping is not always possible - in
these situations microbial spoilage can be
quickly and efficiently treated with biocide
treatments such as Fuelcare’s FuelClear
MB15, or administered automatically as
a preventative regimen using Fuelcare’s
FuelClear Injection Systems. This method
is recognised by engineers globally as the
most effective technique and is used in
other industries such as aviation.
Biocides, supplied by Fuelcare and distributed
by Freedom Maritime in the Mediterranean,
can now be dosed automatically into fuel
storage facilities with innovative FuelClear
biocide injection systems. Dosing the fuel
biocide is performed automatically and marks
a vast improvement on manual ‘slug’ dosing.
The FuelClear dosing installation can be
placed at any point downstream of the
bunkering points – offering peace of mind for
consistent and high-quality fuels. Fitment
and commission can be performed in as little
as 6 hours with no interruption to running
or vessel maintenance. Such systems have
now been retrofitted to existing vessels
as well as installed on various new build
superyachts at yards such as Feadship,
Italian Sea Group and Freires.
For more details visit www.fuelcare.com
ONBOARD | SUMMER 2021 | 71
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