Purifier Reporting By:
E/C JOVELLANOS, RANDEL M.
What is the use of a purifier in a
ship?
Purifiers are used to remove contamination from liquids such as fuel
and oils, they are widely incorporated in marine engines. A purifier
can separate two liquids. In the example of fuel one can imagine that
water or any other contaminating liquid needs to be separated from
the fuel. To maintain an efficient combustion in a marine engine good
quality fuel is required. The temperature is kept closer to 97–98°C for
fuel oil to maximize the difference in density between fuel oil and
water.
Types of Purifier
01 03
Centrifugal Purifier Hydroclone Purifier
• Fuel Oil Purifier
• Lube Oil Purifier
02 04 05
Coalescer Purifier Electrostatic Membrane Purifier
Purifiers
This article focuses upon fuel oil purifiers used within a ship’s fuel system i.e. purifiers that remove water and impurities from fuel
oil. A typical fuel oil system for a large commercial vessel (container ship, oil tanker etc.) is shown below. The ‘centrifuges’ could be
either purifiers or clarifiers, depending upon the requirements of the system.
External Part of Purifier
The external appearance of each fuel oil purifier differs considerably,
there are however some common parts present on most purifiers.
INTERNAL PARTS OF
PURIFIER
The internal parts of a purifier can be roughly
split between disposable and non-disposable.
Disposable parts are seals and O-rings; non-
disposable parts are all other parts. The
common internal parts of an auto-desludging
fuel oil purifier are shown below.
PROBLEM
How to avoid this
situation?
There are several important differences between
a purifier and clarifier:
• Purifiers have a gravity disc, clarifiers do
not.
• Purifiers require sealing water, clarifiers
do not.
• Purifiers separate water and impurities,
clarifiers separate impurities only.
