Catalyst fines or cat fines (Al and Si compounds) are hard abrasive particles that are used to assist in catalytic cracking technology during intensive refining and blending processes of heavy fuel oil. It can happen that these particles remain in the bunker fuel. Due to their scouring action, cat fines are regarded as potential risk for ship engines.

The test kit "MT CAT FINES CHECK" has been designed for easy, quick and accurate determination of cat fines concentrations in heavy fuel oil.  Regular verification of cat fines amounts is recommended before and after on-board handling and treatment measures in fuel oil treatment unit as well as prior to using the fuel oil for engine operation. All types of bunker fuel can be tested including VLSFO, ULSFO and HSFO.

The test kit is specifically useful for regular on-board pre-consumption fuel oil analysis. Effective management of fuel oil quality on board includes checking cat fines concentrations before purification in separators and directly after the fuel oil treatment in separators as it is the crucial role of the separators to reduce cat fines content to the lowest extent possible (recommended maximum of 15 mg/kg (ppm)) before the engine inlet. Therefore, this “double-check” strategy helps to regularly estimate the cleaning efficiency of the separators.

The fuel oil samples prepared with relevant reagents and then centrifuged are ready for immediate quantitative evaluation of cat fines concentration. The amounts of cat fines detected in the samples are assessed visually in accordance with the below comparison chart included in the test kit "MT CAT FINES CHECK".

As the test kit is simple to use and no special training is required, the ship’s operators can easily employ it for cat fines verification on board a vessel with regard to the concerns that various types and/or grades of VLSFOs can potentially raise. Regular on-board monitoring of cat fines concentrations can substantially reduce the risk of experiencing engine wear and tear problems related to cat fines and their possible abnormal levels in new formulations of VLSFOs.