Alfa Laval FOPX 613 on MGO

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krasi64
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Alfa Laval FOPX 613 on MGO

Post by krasi64 »

Hi there to all,

we are facing some problem lately with one of our HFO separators FOPX-613 when we came now in Europe and had to switch to MGO in ports.

On MGO with viscosity 3 cSt at 40 degC after first 10 min. cycle the separator starts a continuosly cycle of non-stop discharge, refill for the next cycle and again discharge... and this continuosly.

Any idea what is going on, we checked every part of the separator, every parameter of the ECP control unit and everything looks just fine.

Thank you.

Krasimir Angelov
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D Winsor
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Re: Alfa Laval FOPX 613 on MGO

Post by D Winsor »

Have you tried running the purifier manually? This will give you an idea if the problem is in the purifier or on the program of the EPC
It is believed that the problem you are experiencing is in the setup of the purifier itself and both the purifier and EPC setup may require major modification to operate on MGO. The purifier was originally setup for heavy fuel, most likely IF380, which has a much higher viscosity and requires the oil to be heated before being processed.
If you contact Alpha Laval they will be able to advise you on what components in the bowel and EPC, which could include the disc stack, all seals, other internal components and EPC program modifications, that will have to be changed in order to allow the purifier to operate correctly on MGO. However once the modifications are completed the purifier will have to be dedicated for use on MGO only because it will not function correctly on Heavy Fuel.
Troubleshooting 101 "Don't over think it - K.I.S.S. it"
krasi64
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Re: Alfa Laval FOPX 613 on MGO

Post by krasi64 »

Hi Winsor,

Thanks for your post.

Yeah, this is the strange fact we have here - in the Alfa Laval Manual we have on board for FOPX-613 is written that the separator can run with all types of fuel: from distilate types with viscosity 1.5-5 cSt to heavy fuels up to max. 700 cSt at 15 degC. Which seems a little weird to me as I still remember the old good days when we used to replace the gravity disks almost every time the new bunker being received (well, some 20 years ago it was:)))... And no any changes or replacement mentioned to be done...

Do you know whom I can write to help us on the problem? Thanks so much!
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D Winsor
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Re: Alfa Laval FOPX 613 on MGO

Post by D Winsor »

Suggest you go to the Alpha Laval Web Site and go through their contact list for a rep in a port near to your trading pattern
Troubleshooting 101 "Don't over think it - K.I.S.S. it"
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