Distillate burner fuels

TABLE VI. - Range of properties of distillate burner fuels produced in the United States during 1974... 

The exacting Hst of specification requirements for aviation gas turbine fuels and the constraints imposed by deUvering clean fuel safely from refinery to aircraft are the factors that affect the economics. Compared with other distillates such as diesel and burner fuels, kerosene jet fuels are narrow-cut specialized products, and usually command a premium price over other distillates. The prices charged for jet fuels tend to escalate with the basic price of cmde, a factor which seriously underrnined airline profits during the Persian Gulf war as cmde prices increased sharply. 

Residual fuel oil is generally known as the bottom product from atmospheric distillation units. Fuel oils produced from cracking units are unstable. When used as fuels, they produce smoke and deposits that may block the burner orifices. 

Table VI shows the range of properties of grades 1, 2, and 4 burner fuel oils marketed in the United States in 1974 (9). Most of these fuels were also marketed as diesel fuels (JJ,9). The shale-oil types C-B and T-T diesel fuels would, respectively, fit with the grades 1 and 2 burner fuels. The shale-oil S-M diesel fuel would also fit with the grade 2 burner fuels. The shale-oil fuel oil fraction had a distillation range resembling the grade 2 fuels, but its viscosity was intermediate between those of the grade 2 and grade 4 fuels.

Primary Name Fuel oil No. 2 Common Synonyms Diesel fuel Gas oil or diesel fuel or heating oil, light [UN 1202] No. 2 Home heating oils API No. 2 fuel oil EINECS 270-671-4 Fuel oil No.2 Home heating oil No. 2 No. 2 burner fuel Distillate fuel oils, light Fuel No. 2 Fuel oil (No. 1, 2, 4, 5 or 6) [NA1993]. 

Jet fuel, kerosine (range oil). No. 1 fuel oil. No. 2 fuel oil, and diesel fuel are all popular distillate products coming from 400°F to 600°F fractions of crude oil. One grade of jet fuel uses the heavy naphtha fraction, but the kerosine fraction supplies the more popular heavier grade of jet fuel, with smaller amounts sold as burner fuel (range oil) or No. 1 heating oil. 

Coal oil and sperm oil were the common burner fuels when the Drake discovery well was drilled in 1859. It has been estimated that 60 coal distillation plants operated between 1852 and 1859. Perhaps the first real petroleum refinery was that of William Bamsdall and William A. Abbott, built at Titusville, Pa., in 1860 at a cost of about 15,000, although records indicate that petroleum was distilled in Russia in 1735. ... 

For other physical properties, the specification differences between diesel fuel and home-heating oil are minimal. Note only that there is no minimum distillation end point for heating oil, undoubtedly because tbe problem of particulate emissions is much less critical in domestic burners than in an engine. 

Fuel specifications from different sources may differ in test limits on sulfur, density, etc., but the same general categories are recognized worldwide kerosene-type vaporizing fuel, distillate (or gas ou ) for atomizing burners, and more viscous blends and residuals for commerce and heavy industry. Typical specifications are as follows. 

CTF 50 and 400 indicate approximate preheat temperature, F, for atomization of fuel in burners (terminology used in British Standard B.S. 1469). Properties depend on distillation range, as shown, and to a lesser extent on coal source. 

The NO t constituent in the exhaust of machines firing natural gas is some 150 to 160 ppm, and for distillate fuels typically 260 ppm. In order to reduce these levels to the targets quoted above, catalytic filters can be used, but the systems currently available are expensive. As an alternative, certain manufacturers are developing low-NO burners but these limit the user to natural gas firing. 

Defined as a distillate for general-purpose heating in which the burners do not require the fuel to be vaporized before completely burning. 

Fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace for the generation of heat, or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash point below 100°F and oil burned in cotton or wool burners. The oil may be a distillated fraction of petroleum, a residuum from refinery operations, a crude petroleum, or a blend of two or more of these. 

Light Low-pour-point heavy distillate fuel for use in pressure-atomizing type burners... 

Nos. 1 and 2 distillate fuels cut from catalytic gas oils are lower in both gravity and aniline point than corresponding virgin stock fuels. But the catalytic fuels have been used satisfactorily in atomizing pressure-type oil burners. 

Under the 1948 commercial standard CS 12-48, fuel oil No. 1 is defined as intended for vaporizing pot-type burners and other burners requiring this grade, whereas No. 2 is defined as for general purpose domestic heating for use in burners not requiring No. 1. The No. 1 fuel is therefore specified to have a low 10% point in the ASTM distillation to ensure quick starting, and a low end point and low carbon residue to ensure clean vaporization. 

As for similar additives for jet and gas-turbine fuels, the literature is sparse on those distillate fuel-oil additives reported to have definite beneficial influence on actual combustion and is confined largely to claims that certain stability improvers also reduce carbon deposits in preheaters and on burner tips. However, a recent report indicates that ferrocene has recently been groomed for a job as combustion catalyst in home heaters (15). As mentioned previously, this substance is reported to have excellent properties for prevention of carbon formation (2). 

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