Total Lubmarine Launches Talusia Optima
Lubricants supplier Total Lubmarine has launched Talusia Optima, a new cylinder lube oil compatible with high sulphur heavy fuel oils and ultra-low sulphur distillate fuels.
According to the manufacturer, the new lube has been developed to simplify the management of vessels trading globally in and out of Emission Control Areas (ECAs), and offers the potential to reduce lube consumption and help extend engine life. Talusia Optima is suitable for use with fuels ranging in sulphur content of between 0 and 3.5 percent.
Talusia Optima has received a no objection letter from major OEM Winterthur Gas & Diesel (WinGD) for the use of the product across its two-stroke engine ranges.
Launching the product at SMM in Hamburg, Total Lubmarine’s Technical Director Jean-Philippe Roman said, “Today is the culmination of years of work in the lab and tests at sea, and I am delighted that Talusia Optima is now on the market and available to our customers. It will make life on board easier for ships’ crews and greatly minimize the risks encountered during fuel changeovers.”
“Tests conducted during sea trials have all shown that Talusia Optima’s resistance to adhesive wear is better than that of conventional BN 100 cylinder lube oils, and piston coating wear rate is improved by 30 percent,” Roman said. “Indeed, the final inspection on board one mega box ship that had used Talusia Optima for 4,300 hours whilst deployed on Asia-Europe liner routes, found that its engine had perfect piston and liner cleanliness.”
He added, “We are confident that Talusia Optima will extend the life of engines it is used in and with well monitored feed rate reduction programs in place, offer potential savings on lube spend.”
Serge Dal Farra, Total Lubmarine’s Global Marketing Manager, said, “As the developers of the industry’s first single oil solution, Talusia Universal, we knew that demand for a single oil solution was strong. No ship operator or engineer wants added complexity and we have brought a lube that is compatible with all fuel types to market to meet our customers’ pressing need for a simple solution.”
“As of today we can supply Talusia Optima to our customers in major ports and offer it to the wider market,” Dal Farra added. “Our research and technical teams have created a truly excellent product that counters and actively anticipates the current and future complexity of shipping operations.”
Talusia Optima has already completed thousands of hours of sea trials on a variety of two-stroke engine powered vessels. Regular drain oil analysis during the trials showed that Talusia Optima’s residual Base Number (BN) was always higher than that of other lubricants and total iron content always lower without any hard ash deposit formation.
Talusia Optima is based on a new type of chemistry known as Ashfree Neutralizing Molecules (ANM). The unique and patented technology provides fast and effective acid neutralization without any undesired mineral deposit build up. High quality mineral components are used in combination with ANM to provide detergency and cleanliness.
WinGD has given approval for the use of Talusia Optima with its Wärtsilä RTA, RT-flex and X engines as well as in Sulzer two-stroke engines.
