Posted to News on 25th Jan 2015, 00:00
Oil blender expands into the gas engine market
One of the country's leading oil blenders is extending its product range to claim a slice of the rapidly emerging global gas engine market. Experts at Morris Lubricants have been working to create highly sophisticated oils to work in engines that use gas extracted from a variety of sources, including wood, sewage, landfill, farm waste, slurries and unwanted harvest.
>Shrewsbury-based Morris Lubricants now has a range of products with MWM and Jenbacher approvals, while trials are ongoing in Guascor and MAN engines.
>"It is vital that the correct oils are used in gas engines to prevent breakdown and downtime," says Morris Lubricants' technical service manager Simon Matthews. "Engines can cost up to £1 million. If a part goes wrong, you've not only got downtime but also very expensive repair bills."
>He adds: "Longer oil life, lower maintenance engines can hold anything from 96 litres to several thousand litres, so you don't want to be changing oil on a regular basis, especially in remote locations. If you use the wrong product with a gas engine, serious damage can occur to vital components. You need to know about the whole process including gas generation to ensure the correct product is in use.
>"Natural gas engines have different requirements to those on landfill or anaerobic digestion. Contaminants commonly found in the gas stream such as Siloxanes (shampoos and conditioners), Halogens (Chlorine, Bromine etc), Hydrogen Sulphide (acidogenesis) are not always filtered before being fed directly into the engine."
>Gas engines are used in a wide range of power generation applications, ranging from hospitals to industry where reliability and continuous operation are paramount.
>Matthews believes that gas power generation will become more common in the years to come. He says: "Everyone is used to using natural gas but the lifespan on that is finite. We have to look at renewable sources. Anything to do with bioremediation and the carbon cycle has to be part of the green equation.
>"This sector has been dominated by multinational companies but now we're picking up the ball and bringing our expertise to the market place."
>Morris Lubricants is a British company that has been manufacturing lubricants in Shrewsbury since 1869. Over 140 years of development has seen the company grow to become one of Europe's leading oil blenders and marketers, with a reputation for quality and service.
