Pratt & Whitney has reached an agreement with Germany’s Nayak Aircraft Services that expands the EcoPower engine wash service network in Europe. 

The EcoPower service, offered through the Pratt & Whitney Global Service Partners network, uses a closed-loop system with pure, atomized water to wash aircraft engines, avoiding potential contaminant runoff.  The system is more effective and much faster than traditional engine washing processes.
 
Under a five-year pact, Nayak becomes  service provider for Pratt & Whitney's successful EcoPower engine wash service.  Nayak will perform washes in Cologne, Germany, and other airports in the region.

"This agreement gives operators that fly into Europe a new, advanced option for engine wash services," said Joanne Hastings, director, Pratt & Whitney Line Maintenance Services.  "We are excited to demonstrate how our patented system and processes keep engines on wing for up to 18 months longer for customers, and helps them to operate in a much more efficient and environmentally friendly manner."

Nayak Aircraft Services is one of the largest airline-independent providers of aircraft maintenance in Europe.  Nayak provides services for more than 60 airlines at more than 25 European airports and is growing, with a network of stations in Germany, Austria, The Netherlands, Italy, France, Finland, Poland, Spain and Ireland. 

Nayak holds a number of aircraft licenses, which enables them to perform both line and base maintenance on almost all types of regional and single aisle aircraft.

“We are confident that both parties will deliver an excellent product to our customers," said Alfred Wengler, director, Line Maintenance International for Nayak.

As airlines search for new ways to cut operating costs during economic hard times, a growing number of air carriers are finding that cleaner engines can save millions of dollars annually. With fuel now the largest component of operating costs, engine washing is viewed as a viable way to help the bottom line.

Sixty U.S and foreign air carriers have hired Pratt & Whitney, the engine making unit of United Technologies, to wash their turbine powered engines utilizing a new process that simultaneously collect and purifies effluents thus avoiding hazardous runoff.

Development of Pratt & Whitney’s engine washing system, dubbed EcoPower, began in 2004 when the firm created a focused business unit charged with creating “environmentally friendly technologies” for customers, said Anupam Bhargava, general manager of the EcoPower program.

“Engine washing is not a new concept, but logistical, safety and environmental problems with engine washing ‘on the wing’ prevented it from becoming a ‘best practice’ in the industry. Our goal was to make it a best practice so airlines could have a program that saves fuel, reduces emissions and extends an engine’s time on the wing,” he told Aviation Today’s Daily Brief.

As of late 2008, Pratt & Whitney completed nearly 4,000 washes for more than 60 customers in ten countries. And half of the engines serviced to date have not been Pratt & Whitney products. Each wash costs an average of ‘several thousand” dollars with the final price dependent on the engine’s size and quantity discounts for large customers.

Other engine makers are working to offer similar products, but so far Pratt & Whitney has a jump on the competition with its proprietary system, for which the firm holds patents on various features of the EcoPower engine wash services.

The EcoPower engine wash service employs a closed-loop system utilizing pure, heated atomized water to wash aircraft engines. Nozzles precisely direct the hot water bath into the core of the engine while it turns at low speed. 

EcoPower’s hardware is mounted on a truck/trailer combination, allowing it to used at the gate on any turbofan/turboprop engine regardless of manufacturer. Airports that had banned engine washing allow Pratt & Whitney to clean engines idle aircraft on the tarmac during overnight stays at airports.

Caked-on grime is removed from turbine fan blades and the engine core simultaneously, with the EcoPower system filtering and collecting the toxic effluent for proper disposal. The filtering is efficient with the water reused for the next engine wash. Washing takes about 90 minutes and multiple rinses are required to get the runoff registering acceptable levels. Without removal of the oily crust, the engine becomes less efficient, runs at a hotter temperature, increasing wear and fuel burn.

Bhargava says removing the grime reduces fuel consumption and stretches out engine overhauls. “Cleaning the surface of the fan blades restores compressor efficiency therefore restoring the health of the engine, improving exhaust gas temperature margins by as much as 15 degrees Celsius, saving up to 1.2 percent fuel burn while extending time on wing at least 12 months,” says the P&W program manager.

He contends that if every airline in the world washed its engines, the industry would save 1 billion pounds of fuel annually while cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 3.2 billion pounds. Bhargava says that would be “a real upside from both environmental and economic perspectives.”

Southwest Airlines and United Airlines are believers and Pratt & Whitney’s biggest clients. Pratt & Whitney is under contract to power wash 250 of Southwest’s CFM-56 powered Boeing 737 twinjets.  The air carrier estimates $20 million in fuel savings annually.

United is washing its entire fleet of at least twice a year, which amounts to about 3,000 washes annually. It computes its fuel savings differently, estimating that it saves three million gallons of fuel each year for its entire fleet of engine-washed jetliners. United’s aircraft are powered by PW2000, PW4000 and IAE V2500 turbofans.

Other EcoPower customers include Air India, Martinair, Northwest Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic Airways. Pratt & Whitney scored a coup in November 2008 when the USAF hired the company to wash the 800 F117 engines that power the Boeing C-17 heavy airlifter.

The engine washes are conducted at locations in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, the Middle East and Australia. Pratt & Whitney has 11 service centers worldwide. The center in Miami, for example, handles aircraft throughout Florida while the station located at Kennedy International services New York area airports and Philadelphia International. The firm hopes to extend EcoPower service to other USAF and foreign military aircraft. “We can clean engines on anything from tanker to tactical aircraft,” said Bhargava.

Bhargava says fleet utilization is optimized by washing engines during down time at airports versus at scheduled maintenance. Heavy maintenance work need not be disrupted by engine washes and performing the task at the gate allows an engine to be washed when it most needs it.

“Our goal was to minimize the impact on airlines, create a simple and convenient process. This allows an air carrier to carry out a regularly scheduled engine wash program,” he said. “EcoPower lowers an airline’s total operating cost while also lowering its impact on the environment.”

Stated Bhargava: “Through the EcoPower program, Pratt & Whitney has launched a business that brings our capabilities, our 80 years of experience with engines, to the tarmac. We are now servicing engines at airline locations, providing on-wing engine support.”

Ramon Lopez also serves as editor-in-chief of Air Safety Week; he has been covering air safety for more than three decades (rlopez@accessintel.com).

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