Viswa Lab Fuel Oil Analysis
Testing bunker fuels is a necessity and not a luxury. Every well-run shipping company should test fuels routinely. This is as important as insuring your car against accidents. Even though, fuel related machinery problems are caused by only a small percentage of all the fuels supplied, the importance of regular fuel testing should not be underestimated. It is not only about fuel related problems but also about a more serious issue, namely the safety of lives onboard, where there can be no compromise.
Yes, there was a time when there were no residual fuels. All heavy fuel oils were straight run products. Today, all kinds of secondary refining processes are employed to extract the maximum quantity of lighter fractions, which provide greater price benefit to the refinery operator. The consequence of this is a residual fuel that is continuously deteriorating in quality. This is not the only problem.
New regulations have been enforced to cut down the NOX & SOX emissions and even CO2emissions. These new regulations compel the refineries to make changes in their refining processes, which result in residual fuels that cause problems that are even more serious to the fuel user.
Fuel oil analysis protects ship operators by forewarning them about fuel-related troubles, and independently documents' fuel quality for insurance purposes. Moreover, this aspect is checked during oil major vetting inspections.
Furthermore participation in a fuel testing program is proof that operators in marine industry is following industry's best practices advocated by the Tanker Manager Self-assessment (TMSA) programme.
Fuel Oil Analysis comprises of a series of tests to determine the quality of the marine fuel supplied. Viswa Lab tests samples by both the ISO 8217:2005 and ISO 8217:2010 standards.
The analyses conducted determine the characteristics of the fuel. More comprehensive testing, in addition to the tests recommended by the standard, may be required based on the initial findings and any problems faced by the vessel. Please refer to our section on Forensic Analysis of Problem Fuels for further information.
Viswa Lab Singapore and Viswa Lab Houston have successfully been accredited with ISO 17025, the highest level of lab accreditation that any lab can aspire.