Racor Oil & Gas DPNA M&D Article Sept 2014

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FILTRATION FIXATIONFuel filters keep new diesels working for oil and gas industry; M&D sees the damage caused by dirty fuel

BY CHAD ELMORE

It takes fuel to get fuel and as it has for decades, diesel dominates where hundreds of oil and natural gas drill rigs are positioned over shale plays across North America.

Diesel engines have evolved and the new emissions-compliant, high-pressure common rail (HPCR) power plants have made specing and main-taining proper fuel filtration more im-portant than ever. Now microscopic debris and water levels that are mea-sured on a molecular level can cause significant engine damage. As new engines join fleets with older units, engine specialists and component suppliers are working to get that mes-sage out before machine availability averages are significantly impacted.

We have seen some catastrophic failures, said Suken Patel, fuel injec-tion production manager for Humble, Texas-based M&D Distributors. A common rail system is very differ-

ent from earlier diesels because the velocity of the fuel is a lot higher. Even a 2.0 micron particle, when acceler-ated, creates a deep scar on anything it hits. It erodes metal, digging deep gullies that destroy injectors and can cause fuel to flood the cylinder. In other cases injector nozzles freeze up because of contaminants.

Older systems pumped diesel fuel as it was needed, but now there is fuel already in the rail. When the injector sticks open, fuel flows straight into the cylinder and when the piston comes back for the compression stroke it will have nowhere to go. Liquids cant be compressed. So theyll get a bent rod or a whole lot of other damage.

M&D Distributors is surrounded by the oil and gas industry. Founded in 1943 as Magneto and Diesel Injector Service, the companys main focus was and continues to be die-sel fuel injection. Over the years

it added original equipment turbo-chargers such as Honeywell Turbo Technologies (Garrett) and Cummins Turbo Technologies (Holset), along with engine parts from Federal Mogul and Mahle Clevite. It is an authorized remanufacturing center for several well-known suppliers, including Bosch, and its also become a filtration solu-tion provider working with companies such as the Racor Div. of Parker Hannifin as well as Cummins Filtration.

A family-run company, M&D has 150 employees based at seven loca-tions in Texas and one in Shreveport, La. It also supports 40 fuel injection and turbocharger dealers in those states and Oklahoma.

While the sizes of the particulates that can damage an engine are tiny, other numbers from the oil and gas industry are anything but small. According to the monthly rig count maintained by Baker Hughes, in July

Two of the four Caterpillar 3516 diesel engines required to provide the power for a drill rig destined for central Asia. New high-pressure common rail engines have made installing proper fuel filtration systems more important than ever.

62 DIESEL PROGRESS NORTH AMERICAN EDITION September 2014

In this application, three Racor 79100FHV diesel fuel filter/water separators from the companys Turbine Series are used to help protect each engine.

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there were 1876 rigs actively exploring for or developing oil or natural gas in the U.S., an increase of 110 from the same time last year. Most of the rigs are in Texas, working the Eagle Ford shale basin and the Midland-Odessa area in the western part of the state.

At each well, three or four 69 L diesel engines generate the electricity and hydraulic pressure thats required to drill more than 10,000 ft. down and then out more than 5000 ft. horizontally. Additionally, out on the oil patch hundreds of diesel-engined machines from skid-steer loaders to one ton pickups to Class 8 trucks are used to prepare the site or as personnel carriers, welders, generators, pumps, mobile offices and other applications.

One particular oilfield service company has nearly 100 rigs in place worldwide and is in the process of building a couple dozen rigs on spec to cut delivery times in half. Each of those rigs typically has three Caterpillar 3512 or 3516 diesel engines and a Caterpillar C18 diesel engine for cold starts.

Out on the oilfield, drill rigs use every bit of power the big engines can generate. We have a rig currently drilling at only 16 ft. an hour in real hard stuff, said the firms mainte-nance shop supervisor, who requested that names not be revealed. Theyre very deep. The drills require more power the deeper the bit goes because theres so much weight on it. It really puts a lug on the system.

Were using 1600 hp mud pumps and I have around 3000 hp available to that rig. If they have two 1600 hp pumps, they cant run both at 100% because it will be stroked out quickly.

The oilfield service company adheres to the engine manu-facturers recommendation for rebuilds, but engines may go to the shop earlier to be freshened up before theyre transferred to another rig.

September 2014 DIESEL PROGRESS NORTH AMERICAN EDITION 63

M&D Distributors recently moved into a new 68,000 sq.ft. warehouse and headquarters in Humble, Texas.

continued on page 64

All of the engines come back here to be rebuilt, and everything comes through me, the supervisor said. We make the sure the intervals are up to par.

Every morning theyll send a report from the field for each rig, and if a rig shows 30 minutes of downtime for changing filters, thats fine. But if it shows that again for the next two nights, that will throw a red flag and Ill make a phone call. If it was because they got a bad batch of fuel, when were down to the bottom of the tank we will have it sucked out.

I dont want downtime because that costs $1000 an hour. It gets expensive. But a lot of times the company man will complain because we need to slow the pumps down for 30 minutes to change the filters. Why beat me up? Five filters may be $100 rather than thousands. Those Cat engines are pulling off a 55,000 gal. tank of diesel sitting next to each derrick. We have two big fuel filters at the tank and there will be about 3200 gal. a day flowing through them. As the big tanks sit

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Each remanufactured fuel injector is given a unique serial number that is linked to mea-surements and other information.

As an authorized Bosch fuel injection system repair facility, M&D has several Bosch EPS 815 test benches on which to test various parts to ensure they meet factory specifications.

M&Ds original location is near the Houston Ship Channel in the heart of the citys industrial area, and during its early years the company provided injector and magneto repair service to the ship and rail industries. Today, those service capabilities blend with a warehouse of original equipment and aftermarket parts.

Late last year, the company moved its headquarters from the original (albeit much expanded) location on Navigation Boulevard in Houston to a new 68,000 sq.ft. corporate office and distribution center in suburban Humble. Known internally as the Navigation

location, the original building is still open and continues to get the most walk-in parts business. It is also home to the companys factory-authorized turbocharger reman operation.

We have a good relationship with local engine distributors and every-one is able to get together and talk about issues our customers are having, said Jim Garner, vice presi-dent, Sales and Marketing, M&D Distributors. We dont sell engines and so we are not a competitor to them. We are an asset. That comes into play when we can call them in or they call us in for what we do well: stock, spec, repair and troubleshoot fuel systems and turbos.

We partner with Racor, too. They visit customers regularly and we are available when were needed. We have a technical background on the fuel injection side, and have an awareness of what happens down-stream from the filter if users are not taking care of fuel cleanliness. Weve seen what can happen to the injectors with dirty fuel.

In addition to the oilfield customers, M&D supplies Racor filter products and support to major engine distrib-utors and packagers, marine fleets and service facilities, boat builders, industrial applications, over-the-road truck fleets, diesel repair shops, fleets

out in a dusty field with condensation and heat working on them, contami-nation just builds up.

Refinery-fresh fuel may already contain some water. ASTM Interna-tional considers diesel fuel to be dry if it contains 500 ppm of water or less. In 1000 gal. of diesel fuel the allow able amount of water is a half-gallon. Over time it will accumu-late at the bottom of the fuel tank and create an environment for hydrocar-bon utilizing microorganisms, or HUM bugs. The algae and bacteria produce acids that are not good for injection systems.

Complicating the contamination pre- vention challenge is that Tier 3 and 4 engines look a lot like previous models, especially in a fleet with hundreds of diesel engines. The new engines are beginning to show up in the oil field, and they treat them the same way they did their older electron-ic and mechanical engines and then all of a sudden the engines wont run said Robert Ginsbach, central territory manager for the Racor Div. of Parker Hannifins Filtration Group.

Most fleets would like to standard-ize on a certain type of engine but that is very hard to do. They have equip-ment scattered all over Texas. So filtration is a huge part of what the oil and gas industry lives on, at least on the exploration and production side of it.

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Work inside M&Ds fuel injection repair shop. M&D performs fuel injection service, i ncluding

-

factory-authorized repair, remanufacturing and testing of Bosch high-pressure common rail injectors.

and aviation fueling facilities.M&D truly has the voice of custom-

er, said Dan Walters, global market-ing and sales manager for Racor in Modesto, Calif. That is critical, and they are able to get action from the suppliers and OEMs.

In mining and agriculture, uptime is a request even a demand. But in oil and gas uptime is going to happen with or without you. Uptime is not debatable if you want to be part of this industry. And these guys are part of it, and they have a legacy in Hous-ton. If we dont listen to them our customers may not get the uptime they need.


Filtration is a huge part of what

the oil and gas industry lives on, at least on the exploration and produc

tion side of it.- Robert Ginsbach,

central territory manager, Racor Div. of Parker Hannifins

Filtration Group

M&D performs fuel injection service, including factory-authorized repair, remanufacturing and testing of Bosch high-pressure common rail injector production at its North Shepherd Drive location on Hous-tons north west side. Three Bosch EPS 815 test benches are dedicated to HPCR production and an additional six EPS 815 benches are used for traditional fuel system production and repair. The large number of test benches means that a few can be dedicated to testing certain compo-nents.

The company has also maintained some of its older test equipment for specific, typically low-volume work, including machines that are dedicated to vintage Cummins and Caterpillar fuel systems.

We dont design anything and we dont engineer anything, said Patel, who manages the fuel injector business for M&D. We provide a quality reman product with the back-ing of manufacturers that give us all of the technical knowledge we need, and we only use genuine parts in all of our remanufacturing processes.

At its shop on North Shepherd,injectors are dissembled, cleaned and tolerances are checked. Its at this stage that any damage to thecomponents is found, said Patel. After replacing critical wear items, its

--

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M&D Distributors operates a repair shop at one of its locations in Houston. Jim Garner, vice president of Sales and Marketing for the company, said on-highway trucks and light-duty pickups could also suffer out on the oilfields. From 2000 to 2010 most of these products stayed out on the road, but now with the growth in oil and gas they are winding up on the oilfields, Garner said. Now, every time users open their cap to fill up the truck or the fuel supplier open caps on the tanks it attracts dust and dirt, making filters more important.

reassembled in a clean room and tested. Each injector is given a unique serial number that links the part to each measurement.

Most of the sealing surfaces in injectors are metal to metal, because system pressures are now up to 30,000 psi and youre not going to be able to seal that with a gasket. Patel said. With sealing thats metal to metal the clearances for moving parts are very tight. A 4 micron rock will mess it up.

Today, some end users and manu-facturers install fuel filters that are good for 10 microns and a few use 2 micron filters. A decade or so ago the best available was a 30 micron fuel filter and that was all that was required to protect diesel engines.

Now we think of that as a prefilter, Garner said. In our mind that is whats catching the minnows, cigarette butts and bottle caps floating in the fuel. The fuel systems back then could digest 30 micron contaminants with no problem.

Fuel injection has always been sensitive to contamination, from the abrasives, asphaltenes and other stuff that is naturally found in diesel fuel. But the newer the engine, the more sensitive it is. I think operators and manufacturers are finally realizing that the filtration that is standard on a typical diesel engine package may not be adequate for a lot of requirements, either from a capacity or filtration quality side.

Some of the filters that have been popular for combating the fuel contam-ination problem in M&Ds territory includes the Racor FBO Series (a line that was originally designed for the aviation industry), the Turbine Series of fuel filter/water separators and its RVFS Series of filter vessels which can be used as fuel prefilters, coalescers or separators by changing internal components.

It can take years for an OEM to convince end users to install some sort of prefiltration before their vehicles fuel tank, Walters said. Companies like M&D have a unique role as independent specialists and

can solve filtration problems in a very short amount of time. Racor is always developing new technology for new applications and new equipment, but that needs to have someone pioneer it out in the field. That is the key.

When we step back and look at M&D, they are the front-runner of what it looks like to be a premier distributor. You can see that in how they invest in inventory, but they are also able to go out and find a solution using the latest technology. With as fast-moving as oil and gas is these days the key to our success in this industry is having someone on the ground to win the battles.

There are battles, too. Rebuilt or even brand new injectors may be reinstalled in a system with dirty fuel and will again fail. Fuel injectors are very, very expensive filters, Garner said.

Others simply dont understand why they have to change the way theyve always done it. They will tell us, Man, I have been doing this for 30 years. Who are you to tell me it cant be done this way? Patel said. Sometimes it is hard to explain to certain customers that things have changed and they need to change to keep their equip-ment running.

Current M&D owner Bruce Ingram is shown with his mother outside of the companys original location in Houston, Texas.

http://www.mddistributors.comwww.parker.com/racor

dp

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www.parker.com/racor 1 209 521 7860 [email protected] is a trademark of Racor Division, Parker Hanni n Corporation. 2014

The engines that power oil elds run the very same risk as the engines theyre ultimately helping to power fuel contaminated by water and microscopic particulates. Especially with todays sophisticated, high pressure engines ultra-clean, dry fuel is critical. Racor ltration solutions and patented Aquabloc media are proven to meet this demand at every stage and every ow rate from oil eld to re nery to injector. Racor ltration systems keep the engines that fuel America powering on.

Together, we can keep your engines running, so you can keep America running.

Filtration Group Global Headquarters6035 Parkland BoulevardCleveland, OH 44124-4141phone 216 896 3000fax 216 896 4021www.parker.com/racor

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