Ensure optimal performance and longevity for your Marine engine with Taro Ultra

Lubrication is the lifeblood of an engine. Today’s lubricating oils for modern diesel engines are designed to provide adequate lubrication under varying temperatures and operating conditions. They keep the engine clean and provide protection against chemical corrosion from acidic combustion products.

In order to achieve this, important properties are “added” to the lubricating oil by means of alkaline additives often referred to as detergents and dispersants.

 

Choosing the right lubricant

An important property of lubricants is their base number. A lubricant’s BN (Base number) measures its potential to neutralize the acidic products formed during combustion. These products are caused by sulphur in the fuel oil. Marine fuel oils contain varying amounts of sulphur, which can range from 0.3 to 4.5% by weight. During fuel combustion, the sulphur is oxidized to SO2 and SO3. Part of these sulphur oxides combine with water during combustion and form sulphurous and sulphuric acids. These acids are extremely corrosive to engine components and need to be neutralized to prevent corrosive wear. Bases are needed to neutralize acids. This means that oil-soluble bases must be present in lubricating oils that are used in internal combustion engines.

The oil-soluble bases, such as calcium sulfonates and calcium phenates stop the particles from coagulating and keep them in suspension. Selecting the correct BN for a diesel engine lubricant depends on many aspects such as engine design, specific application in the engine, and sulphur content of the fuel. The type of fuel applied also plays a major role in this decision.

 

Choosing the Right Lubricant for Your Marine Engine

Choosing the right lubricant for your marine engine is crucial to ensuring optimal performance and longevity. Slow speed engine oils are designed for use in slow speed two-stroke engines found in ships and large industrial machines. These, used for once-through lubrication of cylinders and liners, must have a high BN to manage the acids formed during combustion of the heavy fuel oils burned in these engines. Chevron Marine Lubricants’ Taro® Ultra is a regulation-ready range of new-generation cylinder oils, that provides the reassurance of a global lubrication solution for virtually every fuel eventuality while lowering your fleet’s total cost of ownership. Taro Ultra also offers a tailored solution covering compatible fuel requirements for the majority of ocean-going shipping operators.

 

Why Taro Ultra?

Taro Ultra is a new range of cylinder lubricants that are specially designed to meet the demands and required flexibility for IMO 2020. These have been fully field tested using a wide variety of fuels and are approved by major OEMs.

Taro Ultra 40 is a 40 Base Number (BN) cylinder lubricant that is designed for lubricating the latest generation two-stroke / slow-speed crosshead diesel engines running on low sulphur fuels under all loads and operating conditions. It is blended with highly refined base oils and carefully chosen additives to provide excellent ring and liner wear protection and piston cleanliness in slowspeed crosshead diesel engines.

What Taro Ultra offers is engine protection, ensuring protection against excessive cylinder liner and piston ring wear, thus allowing prolonged service intervals. It also provides engine cleanliness by preventing ring sticking and minimizing deposit formation on the pistons and throughout the combustion chamber exhaust areas. Above all, it provides storage stability by being stable at ambient temperature and during long-term storage and is compatible with diesel cylinder lubricants generally known to the international marine trade.