Five factors determine the lubricating oil feed rate:

• Sulphur content in the fuel oil
• Alkali content in the cylinder lube oil
• Engine history
• Engine load
• Operation environment

Both engines with mechanical lubricators and automatic lubricators can optimize the consumption of Cylinder Oil. Certainly, the optimization is more efficiently applied to Engines with automatic lubricators (Alpha Lubricators, Pulse etc.)
Our program assists our clients successfully to mimimize the Cylinder Oil cost while protecting the engine from abrasive or corrosive wear.
Further to regular CSA, we are offering our clients the possibility to perform, Sweep Test a tool proposed by MAN and Quick Test/Engine Screening, tools proposed by WinGD & Wartsila.
It must be understood that the drip oil is analysed to evaluate the condition inside the combustion chamber. There is a common misunderstanding that the only parameters that play a role is Iron Content and the residual BN. The reality is that they are the most significant parameters.

Analytical Protocols

PARAMETERS	METHODS	PURPOSE
Base Number (BN)	ASTM D 2896	The base number describes the alkalinity of the oil, which is necessary to neutralize the acidic components formed during combustion to prevent the risk of corrosive wear.
Iron (Fe)	ASTM D 5185	Is, beside the base number, the most important indication for any problem in the liner. It can indicate corrosive or abrasive wear. Corrosive wear is due to acid condensation on the liner wall. Abrasive ware is most probably due to liner or ring wear.
Kinematic Viscosity (KV)	ASTM D445	Changes in Kinematic Viscosity can indicate contamination.
Flash Point	ASTM D 3828	change in the Flash point of the oil shows fuel ingress or contamination.
Soot/Insoluble	ASTM E2412/ IP316	The soot or oil-insoluble level in the oil gives an indication on combustion quality.
System Oil Dilution	In-house method	The System oil dilution shows the performance of the stuffing box and helps to make the necessary corrections in the test results for viscosity, BN, Fe and PQ Index.
PQ Index	Manufacturer	The PQ Index identifies ferromagnetic particles in the oil.
		This allows to assess the iron wear level and to categorize it as abrasive or corrosive wear.
Wear elements: Aluminium (Al), Chromium (Cr), Copper (Cu), , Lead (Pb), Tin (Sn)	ASTM D 5185	Wear and contaminant metals are either wear particles in the oil caused by abrasive or corrosive wear on machinery parts or ingress of external contaminants. Elemental spectroscopy analysis by ICP can precisely determine all metals, including wear, contaminant and additive metals from trace level to higher concentrations. For some elements, there are several possible sources. For example, silicon in the oil can be caused by wear (piston crown material), antifoam additives or contamination (dirt or sand). Only by evaluating the complete set of results is it possible to determine the exact sources of the particles.
Contaminant elements: Sodium (Na), Silicon (Si), Molybdenum (Mo), Nickel (Ni), Silver (Ag), Vanadium (V)	ASTM D 5185

Interpretation of results

The drip oil that is collected in the piston underside space, contains not only the Used CLO, but also System Oil that has leaked through the Stuffing Box.
This means, that actually, the results of the analysis of the Drip Oil do not reflect the true condition inside the Cylinder and they have to be corrected according to the extent of the System Oil Dilution.