We shouldn’t start with separators without knowing why do they even exist onboard? What made the ship owners and builders install an extra machinery onboard which would lead to extra job for engineers onboard and some extra alarms for the duty engineer? Let’s find out.
Business Viability
Commercial shipping is a business where the entity/organization doing business helps other businesses transfer goods from one location to other. For any organization to sustain in a long run, it must make profits. Now, for making profits their revenue (Money earned) must be more than operating cost (Money Spent)-Simple maths. Oo, here’s the catch. They can’t just keep on increasing the cost they charge their customers due to tough competition. Instead, they have to keep the cost for consumers as low as possible to do business. At the same time, they have to make some profit. Seems like a shipping companies got a problem? Why don’t you help them? Imagine you have a shipping company, what would you do now? (THINK)
We know, your answer is- Lower the operating cost (You are smart!). Following comprises the major area of operating cost of any ship- Crewing, Provisions, Bunkers (FO and LO), Stores, Spares, etc. Okay, so guess which one wins the top place in the Operating Costs list?
Well, the answer is Bunkers, especially Fuel Oil (FO). Isn’t it logical to control the money spent on bunkers? Yes, it is.
So, here’s the thing with bunkers.
| Bunker A | Bunker B | |
| Quality | High | Low |
| Combustibility | High | Low |
| Treatment before use | No | Yes |
| Price | High | Low |
Inference: Bunker A is a clean and combustible fuel with a higher price whereas Bunker B is a low priced, dirty and difficult to burn type fuel.
With the emerging advancements, it is possible to treat the Bunker B for using. Treatment here means purification. The above statement changes the equation. Now, any ship owner will choose Bunker B with a sigh of relief.
The treatment above was nothing other than passing it through a separator. Now, you know why this machine even exists onboard. Let’s also have a look at the Fuel Oil Composition.
Some References for Fuel Oil Composition
Link to Chevron Pocketbook for FO
Link to a paper by Bureau Veritas
So, now you know why do we have FO Separators. But, what about LO Separators?
Okay, we got your back. Following LO’s needs to passes through separator during operation- ME System Oil, AE LO, and Stern Tube LO. If you think you need extra help, read this module on engine lubrication. LO carries away the wear-down metal particles, unburnt carbon, some combustion products(in case of AE), and sometimes water in form of contamination. These actions lead to need of use of separators for LO.
Again, Let’s have a look at the LO Composition.