Main content | back to top
About Shell Alexia S4
Shell Alexia S4 is cylinder oil reinvented to meet your needs. It is a completely new formulation built on a breakthrough in the understanding of oil stress in low-speed, two-stroke diesel engines and the need for reduced costs and greater operational simplicity.
THE NEED FOR A NEW CYLINDER OIL
The marine industry is adapting to legislation that is increasing operational complexity, and is under continuous pressure to lower its operating costs in the face of rising fuel prices and lower freight and charter rates. Many ship operators are looking to control costs through slow and ultra-slow steaming, reduced cylinder oil feed rates and extended maintenance intervals.
At Shell, we feel and understand the uncertain world our industry faces and we constantly innovate to develop solutions to help our customers weather these uncertain times. In response to the current challenges, we have remove complexity by providing a wide range cylinder oil, Shell Alexia S4.
CYLINDER OIL REINVENTED TO MEET YOUR NEEDS
In low-speed, two-stroke diesel engines, cylinder oil is exposed to thermal, insolubles, acid and humidity stress. These stresses degrade the oil and increase significantly under slow-steaming conditions because of the longer oil residence time in the cylinder. A reduction in engine load from 90% to 30% was found to cause a threefold increase in lubricant residence time.
Shell Alexia S4 is designed to combat all four types of oil stress under the widest range of operating conditions to help reduce costs and simplify operations. It has an SAE 40 viscosity grade that aids oil distribution inside the engine to improve the efficiency of the lubrication system, and a base number (BN) of 60, but can be used at the same feed rate as BN70 cylinder oils.
BENEFITS OF SHELL ALEXIA S4
Operational Simplicity
Shell Alexia S4 simplifies operations:
- It is a wide range cylinder oil that can be used with residual fuel oil from 0.5 to 3.5% sulphur levels, under a wide range of engine loads and climate conditions: polar to tropical. Testing with distillates for up to 1000 hours, have shown good performance.
- One cylinder oil means easier product supply, procurement and forecasting, and the simplest product storage and handling options.
- It avoids the need for a lubricant change when moving in and out of emission control areas.
- The risk of selecting the wrong product is eliminated and crew training is simplified.
- It has better supply security because it can be blended with either Group 1 or Group 2 base oils.
- It is available from about 500 ports worldwide.
- It is fully miscible with all other cylinder oils, which means an easy changeover process.
*Up to 1,000 hours; see your technical manager for more details and suitability of use.
Reduced Costs
Shell Alexia S4 can help reduce costs:
- It helps to mitigate the risk of failure and the costs associated with unplanned breakdowns and maintenance.
- It can be used at the same feed rates as BN70 cylinder oils. Compared with using other BN60 products at engine manufacturers’ BN60 feed rate guidelines, using Shell Alexia S4 could mean a saving of up to14 t/y of lubricant for a MAN-engine-powered very large crude carrier or up to 52 t/y for a Wärtsilä-engine-powered container vessel.
- It offers an opportunity to optimise your lubricant feed rate.
- It is a wide range cylinder oil that eliminates the requirement for a more expensive cylinder oil when using low-sulphur fuel.
- Shell Alexia S4 offers up to 20% better wear protection than Shell Alexia 50 and beats all the other oils in the market that we tested in our laboratory engine under simulated slow-steaming, high acid-stress conditions.
Exceptional cleanliness: After thousands of hours, pistons running with Shell Alexia S4 showed exceptional cleanliness. This example is from a field trial vessel sailing between Europe and the Caribbean, with a MAN 8S60ME-C engine, burning fuel with sulphur contents from 1 to 2.7%. The piston started the trial with 18,670 running hours and was previously lubricated with Shell Alexia 50 (left). After a further 3,700 hours, this time with Shell Alexia S4 which is designed to target all aspects of oil stress, the piston’s condition is still excellent, with almost no wear visible (right). Both images after cleaning.
Check out the animation that shows the benefits of Shell Alexia S4
TECHNOLOGY BEHIND SHELL ALEXIA S4
- Shell Alexia S4 is built on a 20-year heritage in the understanding of oil stress in four- and two-stroke engines.
- Shell is the only oil company with a dedicated range of marine test engines, including the Bolnes two-stroke engine used in the development and testing of new Shell Alexia S4.
- Shell does not just offer an outstanding cylinder oil; but a total lubrication concept that consists of the right product, the right tools and the right people to help customers optimise their operations.
PERFORMANCE DEMONSTRATED ACROSS THE WORLD
Shell Alexia S4 has accumulated over 42,000 hours of service in a rigorous field trial programme to test its performance under tough conditions.
| Engine loads | Residual fuel (up to 3.5% sulphur) | ✔ |
|---|---|---|
| Distillates (up to 1,000 hours) | ✔ | |
| Engines | High load, 95% MCR | ✔ |
| Slow steaming, 15% MCR | ✔ | |
| Vessels | MAN, Wärtsilä and Mitsubishi engines; old and new; large and small |
✔ |
| Containers, bulkers and tankers | ✔ | |
| Climatic conditions | Extreme humidity, Amazon basin | ✔ |
| Dry Air, Suez Canal | ✔ | |
| Antarctic cold and ice | ✔ |