Lubricants key to decarbonizing shipping

Lawrie Peck, global OEM Technical Manager for Lubrizol, presented a paper titled “Lubricants Enabling Shipping’s Alternative Fuels and Journey to Decarbonization” at the CIMAC Congress in Busan, South Korea. Here is an abstract of the presentation

Like other transportation sectors, the marine sector is facing an immense global challenge to dramatically reduce its GHG emissions and dependency upon fossil fuels.  New environmental, efficiency and chemical regulatory changes are driving the biggest shake-up of marine propulsion technology in 100 years, the development and adoption of sustainable zero-carbon shipping operations again highlights the importance of specifically formulated, enhanced chemistry lubricants to work alongside future fuels and emerging engine designs.

Understanding this technologically challenging and divergent transition, which will rely upon a range of alternate fuel types, engine configurations and operational profiles, is essential in enabling this technological revolution.  So, what does this mean for engine lubricants operating at the interface of these complex technologies?  

Each future fuel and engine development will present new challenges that will be solved by engineering new hardware or lubricant solutions.  Whilst we haven’t got all the answers today, by adopting a development framework and learnings gained from preparing lubricant technology to support the introduction of VLSFO and increased OEM cleanliness requirements, as well as gaining relevant in-service experience of current and emerging alternative fuel solutions, this proven approach provides the foundation that influences and prioritises enhanced lubricant development and testing for use with the anticipated marine future fuels.

This paper highlights the complex challenges that present themselves between the inherent characteristics of future fuels, the engine modifications required to enable those fuels, and their anticipated operational impact on the engine.  We share insights on the formulation, performance and compatibility strategies required from the lubricant to optimise in-service performance and reliability, the need for new bench test methods and lubricant analysis techniques to facilitate the development of new lubricants but also the in-use monitoring once the first engines are in operation. Finally, we explore how new formulation styles, lubrication technologies and additive selection could manage and address these concerns.

In a sea of uncertainty, this lubricant development framework informs us that tomorrow’s lubricants will be tailored to more specific alternate fuel and engine type scenarios. Therefore, whilst the engine lubricants in use today are unlikely to be the engine lubricants selected by ship owner/operators in order to meet IMO’s 2023 and 2050 milestones, lubricants will be available to harness this green revolution across the marine sector.