[Makko]

I'll second that, ES!

Going way back, we started to get reports of problems with Diesel plants throughout Latin America: Panama, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Colombia et al. The fuel pumps were wearing out very quickly and MAN B&W couldn't produce them fast enough. Just one plant, in Honduras, was the largest Diesel plant in the world when built, with 14x 16 cyl. engines, heat recovery and a steam turbine for an extra dozen MW. What was puzzling there were the deposits inside the pumps, on the injector nozzles an sticking piston rings.

With the first claim (Honduras), while I suspected microbial contamination, testing did not find this. The fuel preparation was good, quality certificates in order, so on and forth. All the plants received fuel from a major fuel broker based in Switzerland. Hmmm....Having joined the dots, the breakthrough came with one plant that collected and sent samples to Houston for independent testing. The testing facility kept witness samples of all the fuel that they tested. The plant was therefore able to get analyses of fuel samples prior to the problems starting and afterwards.

It resulted that the fuel was being "cut" with styrenes, industrial waste which costs money to dispose of safely. The fuel was being supplied from the USA, the worst culprit near New Orleans.

The problem was so serious that the plants were resorting to combing scrapheaps for any half-good pumps as MAN B&W couldn't produce them fast enough! Just in Honduras, the needed 224 fuel pumps, injectors and many pistons/rings/liners.

A very interesting case and challenging as an adjustment.

Rgds.
Dave