2010 年 45 巻 Special 号 p. 1023-1026
Contamination of marine fuel oil with fluid catalyst cracking (FCC) particles, which are used as catalysts in refining crude oil, is a major source of engine problems. FCC particles have high hardness and can enter the space between the plunger and barrel of the fuel oil pump as well as that between the cylinder liner and piston ring, resulting in abrasive wear of these parts. Therefore, the particles are removed by a fuel oil treatment system onboard the vessel in an effort to prevent engine problems. However, FCC particles in marine fuel oil remain a major problem.Methods of testing the separator performance for a specific test oil were established in JIS F6601-1996 and in the European Committee for Standardization (CEN)’s Agreement CWA15375. Moreover, separator manufacturers report separation efficiencies of 80-90% for FCC particles using these test methods. However, the results do not reflect the separation efficiency of the fuel oil treatment system onboard an actual vessel. Therefore, we evaluated the separation efficiency of fuel oil treatment systems for FCC particles onboard actual vessels with an inductively coupled plasma metal analyzer and particle counter.
