During a visit to Tokyo in January 2007, Juniper discovered that the International Agreement on Climate Change, ‘The Kyoto Protocol’, which became legally binding on February 16th 2005, was the primary reason behind ANA’s (All Nippon Airways) Engine Water Wash Initiative.
This International Protocol was ratified in 1997 based on the principles set out in a framework convention signed in 1992 with each country signing the protocol agreeing to its own specific target.
Japan’s target is to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions to 5% below the 1990 levels by 2008-2012.
It is a proven fact that water washing restores engine efficiency resulting in EGT margin recovery and reduced fuel consumption (SFC), which in turn, equates to lower repair bills when the engine is finally removed for servicing, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions through the life of the engine.
ANAs contribution to its country’s effort to comply with the Protocol is to set a Target of carrying out compressor washing on 1500 engines during the year of 2007.
Following on from ANAs visit to the Juniper factories (Web site story, Summer 2006 news letter), ANA have now purchased nine Juniper rigs – six 2 x 25 Gallon Rigs (JMP/CFM56/D/4777/C200) and three 2 x 50 Gallon Rigs (JMP/LUFT/D/4972/C200) – with most of these rigs being installed in purpose built Water Wash Vehicles and despatched to their facilities throughout Japan. Each vehicle is fully equipped and totally self contained making any engine wash an easy task.
Having distributed the vehicles to all their major hubs (Fukuoka, Kansai, Chubu, Tokyo Haneda, Narita and Naha), hot water engine washing can be carried out all year round.
Specifically, if the weather is unsuitable for washing in the north because of low temperatures, they will plan to wash in the south where the weather is warmer, thus maximising the use of their investment.
The Juniper Rigs were purchased on behalf of ANA by its trading partner All Nippon Airways Trading Co.,Ltd. After the visit to the Haneda Airport Facilities Juniper entered into an agreement with All Nippon Airways Trading Co.,Ltd. and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was agreed at their headquarters establishing All Nippon Airways Trading Co.,Ltd. as Juniper’s exclusive agent in Japan. All existing Juniper customers will be excluded from this arrangement.
Any Airline or MRO in Japan wishing to purchase a water wash vehicle can contact Juniper, who will make the necessary arrangement with its newly appointed agent.
During the week in Japan there were courtesy visits to T&E (a trading company who have placed an order with Juniper for a Rig to be used in an Engine Test Cell), Skymark Airlines and JAL.
Skymark were considering laying a special electrical cable (200 volts, 3 phase 50 cycles) from their offices to a convenient location outside their building to provide a suitable connection for our 2 x 25 Gallon Rig (JMP/CFM56/D/4777/C200); so our latest electrical system using Aircraft Ground Power (115/200 volts, 3 phase, 400 Hertz) taken from an Aircraft Ground Power Unit set on bypass, was the ideal solution for them and cleared the way to them placing an order. Tooling for their CFM56-7 and CF6-80C2 engines was ordered with the rig.
The first job for Skymark’s new rig is to remove the remains of grasshoppers ingested in a CFM56-7 engine last year. The engine was removed at the time and it is planned to reinstall it in May this year.
On the return journey to the UK one week was spent with our Chinese Agents, Beijing Power Ring Tech & Trade Ltd., visiting existing and potential new customers in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hainan Island, Shanghai and Harbin, completing the tour in Beijing. The visit was an ideal opportunity to furnish our agents with additional valuable information on Juniper’s full product range to assist them in their sales activities.
