Maritime Fuel Oil Filtration Systems

Our filtration solutions protect your ship‘s engine

BOLL & KIRCH offers a reliable protection from damages caused by “cat fines”. In order to avoid excessive wear of critical engine components, it is recommended to enhance the fuel system filtration before the engine is damaged by those deleterious “cat fines”. As a proven expert for filtration on marine engines, BOLL & KIRCH equips the largest proportion of all engines with filter components. With the expertise and know-how of our 30 years of expertise, we are optimally positioned to provide advice and service for the maritime industry worldwide. Our global network and comprehensive service always offer smooth ship operation.

BOLL & KIRCH offers individual fine filter solutions for supply or booster systems either for existing systems or for newbuilding layout.

Cat fine removal in Supply Systems

The auto filter is installed before the pumps of the booster system, still in the cold circuit of the fuel system. Here the operating temperature is still around 100°C and the operating pressure is 5 to 10 bar.

Since the flow rate at this point corresponds approximately to the consumption of the engine, the filter can be designed smaller than in the booster system. In addition, contamination is filtered out before the booster system.

Cat fine removal in Booster Systems

The auto filter is installed after the pressure pumps and after the heating system. Here the temperature is 140-160°C and the operating pressure is 12 to 16 bar. The flow rate is 2 to 3 times higher than in the cold circuit, which requires a high filter surface and therefore a larger auto filter. However, the auto filter provides optimum protection just before the engine.

Cat fine removal before Service Tank

Here the auto filter is installed downstream of the purifier before the service tank. A major advantage of this installation is that the number of backflushes of the filter can give a direct indication about the fuel oil quality or the purifier efficiency before the fuel oil is stored in the service tank. Thus, both components can best be adjusted to each other.

As usual a part of the fuel oil is recirculated in the settling tank, a multiple passage of the fuel oil through purifier and filter is achieved. This will have a positive effect on the separation efficiency of the purifier and the filter. Such an installation can be realized for newbuildings as well as for retrofits.

As the cat fines are discharged in such an early stage, the accumulation of cat fines in the service tank can be prevented. For retrofits the advantage is that no changes on an existing supply and booster system must be made. In case the operation pressure upstream of the auto filter position is less than 1.5bar the auto filter needs to be pressured by an additional pump in order to let the auto filter operate properly.