Back to search

MAROFF-2-Maritim virksomhet og offsh-2

Greener maritime activities: implementing the use of water based Environmentally Acceptable Lubricants in the ship industry

Alternative title: Grønnere maritime aktiviteter: innføre bruk av vann-baserte miljøakseptable smøremidler i skipsindustrien

Awarded: NOK 9.0 mill.

Project Manager:

Project Number:

309934

Project Period:

2020 - 2024

Organisation:

Maritime transportation is increasing worldwide, leading to annual lubricant release into the ports of about 32 to 61 million liters. Lubricants reaching the sea waters can be catastrophic to local marine wildlife and aquatic plants, and harmful chemical substances can enter the food chain affecting human health. Therefore, the aim of this project is to set up greener maritime activities in Norway by substituting all detrimental and harmful mineral oils in all Brunvoll thrusters´ oil-to-sea interfaces with novel water-based Environmentally Acceptable Lubricants (EAL). The planned innovation in the project includes a new concept for the thrusters produced by Brunvoll since the new water-based EAL will replace the standard lubricant in all oil-to-sea interfaces and the use of optimized coatings in water lubricated contacts. This new concept needs development of new products and materials that can meet the new requirements. Therefore, world leaders in the whole production value chain have joined the GELY project for contributing to more environmentally friendly maritime activities, including: -Seal Engineering for producing new seal materials and designs that are compatible with the new water-based EAL -FollaTech in cooperation with Seram Coatings for developing new coating materials including SiC coatings for waterbased lubricated parts -Brunvoll for designing new thrusters that allow the use of the new proposed systems (EAL-seal-coating) The anticipated potential for the use of project findings include development of long-lasting thruster systems with a new seal type specially designed to operate with novel type of water-based EALs and ceramic coatings. This holistic approach for solving complex challenge will lead to a thruster design, that reduces maritime pollution and consequently bringing Norway into a leading position in the greener transition in the ship industry. Per December 2021 the consortium has received the first batch of a waterbased lubricant that qualifies as an EAL, and the lab-testing is ongoing.

Maritime transportation is increasing worldwide leading to annual lubricant release into the ports of about 32 to 61 million litres. Norwegian ports account for more than 1.6 million litres ranking Norway as the 12th world nation with the highest lubricant input to the sea. Lubricants reaching the sea waters can be catastrophic to local marine wildlife and aquatic plants and harmful chemical substances can enter the food chain affecting human health. Therefore, the aim of this project is to set up greener maritime activities in Norway by substituting all detrimental and harmful mineral oils in all Brunvol thrusters’ oil-to-sea interfaces with novel water-based Environmentally Acceptable Lubricants (EAL). The planned innovation in the project includes a new concept for the thrusters produced by Brunvoll since the new EAL will replace the standard lubricant in all oil-to-sea interfaces and the use of optimized coatings (e.g. SiC) in water lubricated contacts. This new concept needs the development of new products and materials that can meet the new requirements, including: -new EAL formulations based on the use of water as the main ingredient that will improve the technical performance of existing mineral oils and existing EAL alternatives in the market, -new seal materials and designs that are compatible with the new water-based EAL, -new coating materials including SiC coatings for water-based lubricated parts, -new designed thrusters that allow the use of the new proposed systems (EAL-seal-coating). The anticipated potential for the use of project findings include development of long-lasting thruster systems with a new seal type specially designed to operate with novel type of water-based EALs and ceramic coatings. This holistic approach for solving complex challenge will lead to a thruster design, that reduces maritime pollution and consequently bringing Norway into a leading position in the greener transition in the ship industry.

Funding scheme:

MAROFF-2-Maritim virksomhet og offsh-2