(Translated from original letter)

COOSUR – Aceites Coosur  S.A.               E23220 VILCHES – Jaen – (Spain)

21 May 2002

 

rb bertomeu S.A.

C/ Templers, 7

25002 Lleida

SPAIN

 

Dear Sirs,

The   present   letter   is   to   confirm   that we have regularly been using the heavy fuel  oil  additive  supplied  by  your  company, “rb bertomeu” beco F1/ASF in our co-generation plant, which is located in Vilches in the province of Jaén, and that the plant had been running for a long period before we started using this particular additive. The plant consists of two WARTSILA 12 V 46 B-Type engines, which run on fuel oil, with a power output of 10.5 MWe each.

If we make a comparison between the data corresponding to the period before using the additive and the current period (using the additive), we can observe that the regular use of the additive for heavy fuel oil “rb bertomeu” beco F1/ASF provides a series of improvements in the operation of our plant, of which the most important are highlighted as follows:

 

1.      The scheduled operational life is fulfilled for pumps and injectors of the fuel oil, without the increase in fuel consumption expected due to wear of these components, estimated at 2-3% by the engine manufacturers in the last phase of their operational life. This increase in fuel consumption - which is a gradual process from the installation of new pumps and injectors until their replacement as scheduled under the TBO – has not occurred with the use of the additive “rb bertomeu” beco F1/ASF: thus we calculate that, thanks to this, we have obtained an average saving on fuel oil of between 0.9% and 1.2% over the full TBO.

2.      The volume of sludge produced by fuel oil has decreased by 67%, while the need for cleaning the fuel oil filtration unit has been considerably reduced, as with the fuel line as a whole.

3.      The absence of corrosion on valves and turbos.

4.      A reduction in incrustation on valves and turbos. The latter permits us to clean the turbos less frequently, thereby increasing the time between cleaning (TBO of cleaning turbos) from 4,000 hours previously to the current 8,000 hours.

5.      Problems in combustion are prevented, with values normally below 3 on the Bacharach Index of opalescence, and CO content below 40mg/Nm3 in gases to the atmosphere (lower than 90mg/Nm3 for gases when O2 is 5%).

 

We authorise the circulation of this letter as a reference for any purpose.

Warm regards,

 

Signed : Josu Ortuoste,

Co-generation [power] Plant Manager,

Head Engineer for the Merchant Navy.