Industrial equipment supplier BMG has teamed up with global leaders in additives, motor, transmissions and hydraulic oils Liqui Moly to offer cost-saving solutions to the local generator market.

As South Africa continues to face the exasperating challenges of daily loadshedding and unplanned power outages, many companies are investing in alternative sources of power supply to maintain operations.

“Although emergency power generators are a popular choice to keep businesses running, the costs associated with running and maintaining these systems are often overlooked,” states BMG agricultural, automotive and lubrication division business development manager Carlo Beukes.

He adds that generators often operate at low efficiency rates, resulting in “exorbitant” diesel consumption and a significant erosion of company profitability.

There are many reasons generators have a high oil consumption at times, he notes, including the use of incorrect or poor quality oil, which causes deposits to form on the piston and oil scraper rings that then seize.

This means the crankcase chamber can no longer be sealed against the combustion chamber and as a result, fuel contaminates the oil that enters the combustion chamber, where it is also burned.

Liqui Moly lubricants and additives, which have been specially developed to reduce wear and extend maintenance intervals, ensure generators function perfectly and remain operational at all times.

The additional use of additives makes fuels more stable and more ignitable, achieving greater efficiency, particularly with lower fuel quality. In addition, the use of additives reduces pollutant emissions and fuel consumption.

Additives in the fuel can also improve the cetane number, clean the system and keep it clean. This means that less fuel is needed and there are fewer defective parts.

As a result, there is less generator downtime. Liqui Moly additives also protect the entire fuel system from corrosion.

BMG and Liqui Moly specialists have collaborated to offer the local generator market a dependable solution that yields major savings in generator running costs. The costs of diesel and maintenance for generators can amount to up to five times more than the cost of electricity from State-owned power utility Eskom.

For example, an average-sized generator can consume up to 60 ℓ of diesel an hour. Considering that loadshedding cycles sometimes last for up to four hours and occur three times a day, a single generator can easily consume 720 ℓ of diesel a day.

“Over the past three months, we have conducted accurate tests on site at BMG World in Johannesburg. Results show a reduction in diesel consumption, ranging between 11% and 18% across the five generators used in the trial. When you consider the high daily volume of diesel consumed, these cost savings quickly accumulate. And by reducing diesel costs, a company’s earnings are boosted significantly,” says Beukes.

Benefits
Liqui Moly’s Super Diesel Additive – which has been specially formulated for modern engines, fuels and demanding running conditions – contains a mixture of agents with cleaning, dispersing, material-protection and cetane-number increasing properties.

According to the BMG and Liqui Moly team, Super Diesel Additive has many benefits, including optimising engine performance, reducing fuel consumption, and increasing the lubricating properties of the fuel.

Super Diesel Additive, which offers high wear resistance and corrosion protection, has also been formulated to boost the cetane number and to clean the entire injection system, by preventing the build-up of deposits and maintaining clean injection nozzles.

A clean combustion is important because it protects the diesel particulate filter and prevents premature clogging. The Super Diesel Additive also improves cold-start properties, reduces injector failures, ensures smooth operation and reduces the risk of engine failures from oil dilution.

The injection pumps and injectors in ‘state-of-the-art’ engines, with high system pressures and tight-fitting tolerances, are lubricated only by diesel fuel and sulphur-free or contaminated diesel fuels cannot always ensure the required lubrication.

The effective combination of lubrication improvers in Super Diesel Additive optimises lubricating characteristics of the fuel, protecting the sensitive components in the fuel system.

Owing to greater ignition performance, the fuel shows improved combustion behaviour when the engine is cold and pollution from odours in the exhaust are significantly reduced.

Super Diesel Additive contains ingredients to increase the cetane number, facilitating combustion of the fuel and ensuring easy starting, smooth engine operation, better acceleration response and improved fuel economy. Low cetane numbers make it difficult to start the engine and reduce fuel economy.

During operation with standard fuels, deposits that form on the injectors have a negative effect on the function of the injector needle, leading to decreased fuel economy, oil dilution and increased contamination in the entire engine, as well as higher emissions.

Regular use of Super Diesel Additive dissolves existing deposits and prevents new deposits from forming.

additive forms a molecular protective coating on the metallic surfaces in the injection system, to effectively prevent corrosion damage.

Results
These tests at BMG World also included the use of Liqui Moly Cera Tec, where the recommended 6% ratio of Cera Tec was added to the oil.

The immediate results were carefully documented, and analysts observed significant benefits in engine performance – the most important of which was a notable decrease in the operating temperature, by about 7 ⁰C.

In addition, the Scania generator alone exhibited a reduction in diesel consumption, resulting in a decrease from 52 ℓ/h to 44.6 ℓ/h. This translates to fuel savings of nearly 16%.