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Cat Fines Test Kit

Parker Kittiwake announces the
easy-to-use Cat Fines Test Kit
Easy-to-use test kit detects catalytic fines to
prevent irreparable damage to fuel pumps,
injectors, piston rings and liners
The test kit
The Parker Kittiwake Cat Fines Test Kit is an innovative
breakthrough in the early detection of catalytic (cat) fines.
In just 15 minutes, the simple onboard test identifies the
presence of abrasive silicon and aluminium cat fines, which
can cause irreversible damage to a vessel’s fuel system if they
become embedded into engine components.
The test is a simple to use chemical bottle test which
determines the level of cat fines present in a representative
sample of fuel oil, allowing the operator to identify the ingress
of abrasive and potentially damaging components in the fuel oil
before it enters the system.
The quality of fuel brought on board is increasingly difficult
to predict. Until now, the detection of cat fines in fuel oil
was only possible by obtaining a fuel sample, which is then
sent for laboratory analysis. The Cat Fines Test Kit provides
accurate results onboard and in a matter of minutes, providing
ship owners with an detailed picture of the level of corrosive
elements present almost instantly, potentially preventing critical
damage before it occurs.
As a means of self-preservation, vessels collect representative
fuel samples during bunkering and then send them off for
laboratory analysis. However, the test results often only become
available once a ship has set sail and is far out to sea, by which
time significant engine damage may already be in progress.
Current industry practice is to use high-end instruments that are
more suited for laboratory use rather than on board the vessel.
Key benefits
• Low cost
• Simple to use
• Onboard usage
• No installation required
• Compact, lightweight and portable
This product is covered by the
following patents:
• US 9759706
• GB 2547960
• WO 2017042558
The Cat Fines Test Kit identifies excessive levels of cat fines
onboard and in real time, allowing the operator to take
preventative action and call for further laboratory testing to
confirm that the fuel is suitable before it is used. It has been
designed to flag up HFO samples that may be contaminated
with dangerous levels of cat fines before the fuel has even been
pumped aboard and is simple to perform, cost effective, and
can be completed within a few minutes.
The Cat Fines Test Kit is capable of identifying those fuel samples
that have a cat fine concentration of > 60 ppm (Al + Si),
and which therefore exceed the limit recommended by ISO
8217:2012. It has been specifically designed to provide the crew
with a clear sail or don’t sail indication with regards to fuel quality.
Cat fines
Cat fines cause damage to fuel injection equipment. The fines
are particles of spent aluminium and silicon catalyst that arise
from the catalytic cracking process in the refinery, and vary both
in size and hardness. If not reduced by suitable treatment, the
abrasive nature of these fines will damage the engine, particularly
fuel pumps, injectors, piston rings and liners, leading to
unexpected damage, costly repairs, and unplanned downtime.
Much of the heavy fuel oil (HFO) burnt in the cylinders of large
2-stroke marine diesel engines is contaminated with cat fines.
These particles, which find their way into the fuel at the oil
refinery, can cause catastrophic abrasive damage to engine
cylinder liners during the combustion process.
This problem has been inadvertently exacerbated by recent
Method
changes to emissions regulations, which can require the use
of alternative fuels, leading to the increased uptake of cat-fine 1. Fill a test tube to the 5 ml
prone, low-sulphur fuel oils. graduation line with water and
close the cap fully.

Cat fines can accumulate in the fuel during storage, and 2. Fill a second test tube to the first
become concentrated before fuel oil separators and (0.5 ml) graduation line 5 ml 5

consequently before entering the engine. The rate of settling with Reagent Alpha. 4

is determined by Stokes’ Law, which takes account of the 3. Place the tubes in opposite 3

particle size, difference in density of the catalyst fine and positions on the centrifuge holder. 2
1
the fuel, and the viscosity of the fuel. It is vital to ensure that 0.5 ml
measurements taken on the level of cat fines in fuel is current
and not retrospective.
4. Completely fill a syringe with HFO
by drawing the plunger back to
Various values are quoted for the density of cat fines, but in the stop very slowly.
reality they may be likened to honeycombed structures. This
is further hindered by the outer shell of water by virtue of the 5. Unscrew the cap from a new Cat
Fines Test Fluid Bottle and add all
close proximity of the density of water to that of the fuel.
of the HFO from the syringe.

The extent of the removal also depends on the height of the

tank (fixed) and the size of the particles (variable). As far as the
centrifuge is concerned, the critical factor is the relationship 6. Replace the cap and shake the
between the actual viscosity of the fuel and that for which the bottle vigorously for 3 minutes.
centrifuge was sized. If there is a difference in viscosity, the 7. Remove the cap from the bottle
residence time of the fuel in the centrifuge will be greater than and use a pipette to extract
the designated value; hence directionally the centrifuge should some of the mixture.
be able to remove fines of a smaller size.

With the introduction of modern centrifuges without gravity

discs the recommendation is now to operate all available in
parallel, which enables the flow through each to be reduced
to the minimum practical level. The fuel is afforded the longest 8. Remove the test tube containing
residence time in the centrifuges and the highest separation 0.5 ml of Reagent Alpha from the
efficiency can be achieved. Combined output should be equal centrifuge.
to the consumption. The temptation of using a higher rate - so 9. Gently lower the pipette into the
the daily service tank overflows back to the settling tank and is test tube until it lies just above
re-circulated should be avoided. the Reagent Alpha.

NOTE: The ISO 8217:2012 limit for acceptable levels of Cat Fines in HFO is 60 ppm.

Cat Fines Test Kit FG-K30566-KW 10. Very slowly add the mixture until
the 5 ml line is reached (refill the
Contents Centrifuge and Power Supply pipette as required).
Reagent Alpha
Sample Preparations (25) 11. Close the cap on the test tube
Pipettes (25) and return it to its position
Syringes (25) opposite the water-filled tube.
Centrifuge Tubes (50) 12. Ensure centrifuge lid is firmly shut.
Safety Goggles and Gloves Spin the tubes for 15 minutes.
(push timer down to start).
Power Supply AC/DC Switching Adaptor
110/240VAC, 50/60Hz,1.4A 13. Use picture below to decide
whether the HFO has significant
Size Carry Case 350 x 560 x 220mm
(> 20 ppm) cat fine contamination.
Centrifuge 190 x 240 x 140mm

Test Time 5 minutes typical - sample preparation

15 minutes centrifuge cycle

Weight 7.80kg

Correlation Go / No-Go – 50ppm Reference

Cat Fines Reagent Kit FG-K30579-KW

Contents Reagent Alpha

Sample Preparations (25)
Pipettes (25)
Syringes (25)
Centrifuge Tubes (50)
CAT FINES POSE
GROWING THREAT
THE ISSUE OF HOW TO DEAL WITH CAT FINES IS BECOMING EVER MORE
URGENT AS THE 2020 GLOBAL SULPHUR CAP APPROACHES

E
ver since catalytic cracking processes were developed
during the oil crisis to squeeze more product from
crude stock, cat fines have been a problem in marine
engines. So the problem is not a new one, and it is not
going away.
Recent reports from ExxonMobil and Fuel Oil Bunkering
Analysis and Advisory Service (FOBAS) have found significant
problems with cat fines in engines and bunker fuel respectively. Given
the damage cat fines can do to engines, this is highly significant.
Cat fines are hard ceramic compounds of aluminium and
silicon used as a catalyst in the crude oil refining process.
They are used to enable a higher yield of distillate fuels to be
extracted from the feedstock, but often get carried over into the
end product used as ships’ fuel. They range from 75 μm down to
1μm. They get embedded in engine components – particularly
cylinder liners and piston rings – and cause abrasive wear.
Cat fine damage mainly occurs in large, low-speed main
engines because the larger fuel injection components allow
sizeable cat fine particles into the cylinders. Cylinder lubricating
oil is minimally applied to the liner surface, and does not wash
cat fines away.
Cat fine damage to medium- and high-speed engines is less
frequently found, as more copious splash lubrication of cylinder
liners can wash away cat fine particles, while the closer tolerance
of components prevents the ingress of larger particles.
Damage caused by cat fines can lead to significant costs, with the
price of replacing just one liner estimated at US$65,000 for parts
alone. This can rapidly escalate to more than US$1M when the
labour and the accompanying expenses of downtime, repair and off-
hire are considered, as well as the likely event that multiple cylinders A cutaway of an MAN liner and piston with damage to the piston rings
are affected.
FOBAS’s findings stemmed from a test undertaken at
Fujairah, a strategic bunkering port. This showed that a number
of bunker samples delivered aluminium and silicon cat fines engine manufacturers in engine design.
at levels ranging from “above 75mg/kg up to nearly double, at Furthermore, the FOBAS analysis goes on to state that
139mg/kg.” Given that the ISO 8217 specifications for marine “Al+Si at 75mg/kg can be difficult to reduce but may be
fuels maintain a 60 mg/kg limit for cat fines, this is bad enough. manageable; however Al+Si at levels up to 139mg/kg would
But when one considers that this ISO threshold is considered prove extremely difficult to bring down to acceptable levels for
to be fairly high and that research has shown that even particles engine entry (<15mg/kg). Carry over of abrasive Al+Si material
of 10μm can contribute to wear, this is alarming news. Equally, at high levels may lead to damage to fuel pumps/injectors and
a significant discrepancy exists between ISO standards for cat cylinder components.”
fine content and the content recommended and anticipated by ExxonMobil’s research involved in-depth data analysis of

Fuels, Lubes & Emissions Technology 2017 www.mpropulsion.com


“There seems to be a direct
correlation between ultra low
sulphur fuel oil demand and
engine damage from cat fines”
more than 400,000 oil samples from ExxonMobil’s MobilGard
Cylinder Condition Monitoring programme. The research
identified a wide range of potentially damaging engine issues
facing vessel operators. It revealed that 43% of vessels have an
issue with cat fines.
This problem is only likely to get worse once the 2020
global sulphur cap comes into effect. An increase in the use of
ultra low sulphur fuel oil (ULSFO) and a potentially greater
variance in local fuel blends mean the cat fine problem has the
potential to become more serious. This is due to their use in
the creation of low-sulphur fuels. As Francisco Malta, director
of VM Industrials (a distributor of Aderco Fuel Treatment
Solutions), put it “There seems to be a direct correlation
between ultra low sulphur fuel oil global demand and engine
damage by cat fines. This is an issue as ULSF demand is only
forecast to continue to rise.”
Purification systems exist to combat cat fines. A fuel-purifier
process tries to identify the cat fines before they make their way
into the fuel line toward the engines, and in theory all the cat
fines should be found and rejected here.
Speaking to Marine Propulsion, ExxonMobil global marketing
manager Iain White indicated that he was surprised by the scale
of the cat fine problem, saying “If you’re running your purifiers
properly, you shouldn’t have a problem with cat fines, so this
data indicates that there are some serious problems with the
skills and expertise of the crew.”
Mr Malta takes issue with this, saying “The reason purifiers
have difficulty identifying the cat fines is because silicon and
aluminium are both highly hydrophilic and when emulsified
in water the purifiers cannot identify them.” Indeed, FOBAS
data suggests that purifiers operate at only 60-65% efficiency
on average.
Once water is present and attached to the cat fines, a purifier
is far less effective: even the smallest content of water in fuel is
enough to trick the purifier.
All fuels contain traces of water, even if very small. With
the ongoing condensation that is naturally present in fuel
storage tanks, water is an unavoidable fact. Although around
96% of water will sink to the bottom of the tank, the other 4%
remains suspended on the storage walls, ceilings and in the fuel.
It is impossible to completely separate the water. According to
Mr Malta “The solution is to de-emulsify all water from the fuel
at storage.”
Clearly, then, the answer to this problem is far from simple,
but increasingly urgent as the 2020 deadline looms ever closer.
In its 2016 position paper discussing the issue, Catalytic Fines
and Engine Damage, the International Union of Maritime
Insurers recommended a number of changes that would help
www.mpropulsion.com
reduce damage from cat fines. These included:
• Mandatory sampling and testing of fuel before use.
• Improved fuel handling on board.
• Improving the quality of bunkers.
• Alteration of the ISO standard so as to lower the quantity of
cat fines in fuel.
• Charter/bunkering contracts should specify fuel less than 60 ppm.
• Regular cleaning of filters, and frequent drainage of tanks.
• Cleaning the settling and service tanks during drydock.
• Checking the filter centrifuge capacity on specifications for
new ships.
Another approach is to make use of the hydrophilic nature of
cat fines to offer a solution for reducing risk. Using a surfactant-
based fuel treatment solution that facilitates water separation
will ensure that a significant portion of the cat fines captured by
water molecules in the fuel tanks can be drained off along with
the water.
Allowing thorough settling of the fuel will further reduce
the quantity of cat fines, especially large particles. In addition,
the right fuel-treatment solution will isolate contaminants,
disperse agglomerations that lead to sludge and stabilise as well
as homogenise the fuel. The net effect is that the fuel enters the
line cleaner for more efficient combustion, with a lower cat fine
count, enabling the separator to eject remaining cat fines and
contaminants more effectively.
One solution, of course, is to identify the problem before the
fuel enters the system. For this purpose, Parker Kittiwake offers a
cat fines test kit. This uses a pre-mixed chemical bottle test that
identifies the presence of cat fines in a representative sample of
fuel oil. Engineers become able to spot these abrasive particles
in the fuel oil before it enters the system – either during the
bunkering of new fuel or from the settling tank when it has been
stirred up during bad weather.
Whatever the chosen route to minimising the risk from cat
fines, it seems certain they will be with us for years to come
yet and that the best guarantees of protection against them are
vigilance and precaution. FLET
Cat fines test kits, such as this one from Parker Kittiwake, are available
Fuels, Lubes & Emissions Technology 2017
Now part of the Parker family, genuine Kittiwake products are
only available from Parker Kittiwake.
Cylinder Monitoring
Ferrous Wear Meter
The Ferrous Wear Meter (FWM) quantifies metallic wear in an oil samples NEW!
taken from cylinder scrapedown oil. The FWM offers a simple, easy to use
instrument that offers Parker Kittiwakes quality, accuracy and reliability.
This unit is ideal for testing and analysing used cylinder scrapedown oil samples on - board. for
metallic wear, indicating high cylider liner wear. The FWM is constructed using a sophisticated
magnetometer adapted for field applications. A 5 ml test tube filed with the sample is placed
directly in the hole in the instrument and its metallic content, in PPM, is displayed on the screen in
less than 2 seconds. Use in collaboration with the Cold Corrosion Test Kit (below) to obtain total
iron measurements from your ships cylinder oil. Part Number - FG-K30258-KW

Cold Corrosion Test Kit

NEW! The oil used to lubricate the cylinders of large 2-stroke marine diesel
engines has to contend with high temperatures and acidic products
formed during the combustion of sulphur-rich bunker oils.
Paker Kittiwakes Cold Corrosion Test Kit is a quick, simple to use chemical test that provides
an accurate measure of the parts per million (PPM) value of Fe2+ and Fe3+ compounds in
used scrape down oil. Rather than simply giving a figure for the total iron (including metallic
compounds), which other tests provide, knowing the specific PPM of corroded iron allows
informed decisions to be made in adjustments to feed rates and the Base Number (BN) of the
oil used. Part Number - FG-K19763-KW
AS
DIGI Water & BN Test Kit RECOMMENDED
BY MAN DIESEL
At the heart of Parker Kittiwakes on-board oil test solution range is the
& TURBO
DIGI Test Cell, providing simple, accurate results for Water in Oil and Base
Number.
Parker Kittiwakes oil test kit range provides a complete set of economically priced equipment with a
level of accuracy suited to routine analysis. With an easy to read digital display providing instructions
and results, a five year (5000 tests) battery life and built in memory for recording previous test results,
the Parker Kittiwake DIGI Cell has become a favoured test method worldwide for on-board testing.
Test cells are available for either Water in Oil or Base Number (BN). Alternatively, a DIGI Combined
Test Cell is available that performs both test measurements in a single cell.
Part Number: FG-K1-008-KW
LinerSCAN
The world’s first real-time alarm system for engine liner wear. Parker
Kittiwakes LinerSCAN marks a new era in asset protection, providing
early warning against critical engine damage.
Parker Kittiwakes LinerSCAN is designed to remove the uncertainty of cylinder liner damage
resulting from low fuel quality, slow steaming, low sulphur levels, lower oil feed rates and cylinder
oil formulation changes. Trials have shown that LinerSCAN highlights the first signs of damage
earlier than other systems and enables safe reduction of lubricant feed rate. LinerSCAN is a fully
automated system and will help save money by optimising the lubricant feed rate, reducing your
maintenance loads and by helping you prevent unnecessary engine damage.
Part Number - FG-K17400-KW
© 2017 Parker Hannifin Corporation FDKB644UK - Cat Fines Test Kit Issue 2

Parker Kittiwake
Hydraulic Filter Division Europe
3 - 6 Thorgate Road Littlehampton
West Sussex BN17 7LU United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1903 731470
Email: kittiwakesales@parker.com
Web: www.kittiwake.com
Web: www.parker.com