The trunk piston oils, named Shell Argina and Shell Gadinia, are the result of Shell Marine’s two-year quest in searching new solutions for shipowners facing challenges of technology advances and squeezed costs.
The Shell Argina range includes four grades: the BN20 Shell Argina S2 for residual, blended and distillate fuels; the ‘mainstream’ Shell Argina S3 (BN30) and Shell Argina S4 (BN40); and Shell Argina S5 (BN55).
The Shell Gadinia S3, on the other hand, is a new addition to the existing standard and anti-lacquer Gadinia variants, and has been developed to control oil consumption in modern engines burning distillate fuels.
Shell Gadinia S3 has a comprehensive set of non-engine approvals for a wide range of non-engine shipboard applications, to provide a single long-term lubricant solution for smaller vessels working in the most severe operating conditions.
“The new Shell Argina and Shell Gadinia oils feature excellent BN retention and viscosity control to address the faster oxidation that leads to deposit formation or lubricant contamination, without resorting to unnecessary oil sweetening,” said Marcus Schaerer, Shell Marine global marketing manager.
Exhaustive in-engine trials at Shell’s Marine and Power Innovation Centre in Hamburg confirmed Shell Argina and Shell Gadinia as oils that avoid sludge formation, improve piston and crankcase cleanliness, and thus block deposit formation. Both oil types offer improved detergency over previous Shell Marine products and those from competitors.
“Compared with a high-performing industry reference oil, the new Shell Argina S5 shows a 12.6% improvement in BN retention and a 15-20% improvement in piston undercrown deposit thickness, for example. For operators, this can translate into lower operating costs via longer oil life, less sweetening and reduced maintenance,” said Schaerer.
Schaerer added that with dual-fuel engines taking an increasing share of the medium speed market, in large part due to IMO’s impending global fuel sulphur content cap of 0.5% by 2020, the new trunk piston oils for the medium-speed engine market are also able to meet the operating requirements of these hybrid engines.
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