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Carbon buildup on pistons of industrial natural gas engines.

D deltamacsMember
Hi,

For quit some time I've been dealing with problems related to carbon buildup on the first and second topland and in the first 2 ring grooves in natural gas engines used for electric power generation. The carbon creates the usual problem such as bore polishing and ring riding with its consequential problems. In a later stage the increased lubrication oil usage creates knocking and forces us to renew the whole unit due to liner and ring wear.
We have been trying different lub. oils of different major suppliers but with no results.

I'm starting to dought the engine design as I don't see this as an oil problem anymore. My question is 2 fold;
-Can anybody tell me more about maximun allowable piston temperatures. At what temperatures will the oil start burn and form this hard carbon buildup.
-As far as I know oil for natural gas engines is not designed to deal with a lot of carbon as diesel oils are as the combustion process creates little to none. How difficult would it be to develop a dope package to deal with this carbon. (that's apart from the willingness of an oil company to mix a cutom batch, let's asy I can get them that far, or am willing to pay for it.)

Thanks in advance.
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R rttechMember
Hi

we are fortunate enough to be monitoring gas engines on landfill and natural gas,
What we found with piston top carbon, whether the fuel be gas, diesel or petrol was that the piston top carbon was actually a matrix of fine silica crystals interlocked with the piston top carbon so as the piston is normally working the silica is being held against the bore polishing the crosshatch away allowing more oil slippage into the combustion area providing an ongoing source of carbon.
Check all air cleaners and filters for very fine dirt entry, the fuel was providing fine silica type crystals on natural gas engines in one instance, scrap the carbon off and break it up and check it under an industrial microscope and the crystals size will be apparent.
If you cant find some one to check send it to us and we’ll check it at no cost and send you back the images, no report, or if I can figure out how to attach to the message boards I could pop the images up here


Regards


Rob S
M miguelazevedoMember
quote:
Originally posted by Deltamacs:
Hi,

For quit some time I've been dealing with problems related to carbon buildup on the first and second topland and in the first 2 ring grooves in natural gas engines used for electric power generation. The carbon creates the usual problem such as bore polishing and ring riding with its consequential problems. In a later stage the increased lubrication oil usage creates knocking and forces us to renew the whole unit due to liner and ring wear.
We have been trying different lub. oils of different major suppliers but with no results.

I'm starting to dought the engine design as I don't see this as an oil problem anymore. My question is 2 fold;
-Can anybody tell me more about maximun allowable piston temperatures. At what temperatures will the oil start burn and form this hard carbon buildup.
-As far as I know oil for natural gas engines is not designed to deal with a lot of carbon as diesel oils are as the combustion process creates little to none. How difficult would it be to develop a dope package to deal with this carbon. (that's apart from the willingness of an oil company to mix a cutom batch, let's asy I can get them that far, or am willing to pay for it.)

Thanks in advance.
Smile
M miguelazevedoMember
Smile Carbon Buil Up (CBUP) with NG engines:
1 - Big mistake is to use Diesel-spec oil (CJ4).
Chenistry of NG plays havoc with C-type oils leading to gumming and varnish. Slow oxidation of these leads to CBUP. Use only properly NG formulated oils or gasoline-spec ("S"-type / SM).
2 - Piston temperatures in affected areas have to be either below or above 240-270 C temp.range. Talk to Federal Mogul Corp. Heavy Duty piston guys (Plymouth - MI- USA).
3 - The culprit for CBUP is the ammount and type of VI improvers used today. VI package can be as much as 25% of all oil volume and, as all know, plastics do not burn well.
Cheers,
Miguel
I ivandavisMember
hi,
I don't have much experience or knowledge in this field.But We know the exact industry who is doing this type of.Industrial Gas Co. (IGC) provides industrial gases like carbon dioxide gas, http://industrialgasco.com/products.html argon gas, http://industrialgasco.com/products.html ammonia gas, http://industrialgasco.com/products.html oxygen gas in Orissa, India.We believe in supplying quality products meeting international standards.
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