Heated oils

Corresponding to ASTM D 86 (NF M 07-002), this method applies to gasolines, kerosenes, heating oils, and similar petroleum products. 

Hydrotreating the LCO increases its cetane number to around 40 (Table 5.16), but this technique needs large amounts of hydrogen for rather mediocre results, the aromatics being converted into naphthenes which are still not easily auto-ignited. That is why LCO is sent to the domestic heating oil pool. 

As their name implies, these products are used essentially for jet aircraft they can also be used in stationary turbines, which are themselves adaptable to a large variety of fuels such as natural gas, LPG, diesel fuel, and heating oil. 

This category comprises conventional LPG (commercial propane and butane), home-heating oil and heavy fuels. All these materials are used to produce thermal energy in equipment whose size varies widely from small heaters or gas stoves to refinery furnaces. Without describing the requirements in detail for each combustion system, we will give the main specifications for each of the different petroleum fuels. 

We will give here just the main distinguishing characteristics of home heating oil with respect to diesel fuel. 

It is mainly in cold behavior that the specifications differ between bome-heating oil and diesel fuel. In winter diesel fuel must have cloud points of -5 to -8°C, CFPPs from -15 to -18°C and pour points from -18 to 21°C according to whether the type of product is conventional or for severe cold. For home-heating oil the specifications are the same for all seasons. The required values are -l-2°C, -4°C and -9°C, which do not present particular problems in refining. 

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. 

The winter period corresponds, of course, to the moment in the year where the diesel fuel and home-heating oil characteristics are noticeably different. Table 5.18 gives a typical example of tbe recorded differences heating oil appears more dense and viscous than diesel fuel, while its initial and final boiling points are higher. 

Following 1 October 1996, diesel fuel should be desulfurized to a level of 0.05% while the maximum sulfur content of home-heating oils will stay provisionally at 0.2 %. 

The high C/H ratio for heavy fuels and their high levels of contaminants such as sulfur, water, and sediment, tend to reduce their NHV which can reach as low as 40,000 kJ/kg by comparison to the 42,500 kJ/kg for a conventional home-heating oil. This characteristic is not found in the specifications, but it is a main factor in price negotiations for fuels in terms of cost per ton. Therefore it is subject to frequent verification. 

For the refiner, the main problem is to meet the specifications for kinematic viscosity and sulfur content. Dilution by light streams such as home-heating oil and LCO, and selection of feedstocks coming from low-sulfur crude oils give him a measure of flexibility that will nevertheless lead gradually to future restrictions, most notably the new more severe antipollution rules imposing lower limits on sulfur and nitrogen contents. 

Influence of the Chemical Composition of Motor Fuels and Heating Oils on the Environment... 

Specifications and test methods for home-heating oil (in France, FOD) (see AFNOR information document M 15-008). 

The flowscheme of the typical refinery during the period 1950-1970 was essentially focused on the production of gasoline, diesel oil, domestic heating oil and industrial fuel-oil. Except for heavy naphtha, the product streams underwent no deep conversion. 

Polystyrene has a high heating value, 46,000 kj/kg compared to heating oil, 44,000 kj/kg (46). Thus, incineration for its energy value is another possible appHcation for recovered polystyrene. 

Heavy oil, ie, grade nos. 4, 5, and 6, and residual fuel oils light oils, ie, no. 2 heating oil, kerosene, and jet fuel and petroleum coke are deflvered at... 

Low Temperature Carbonization. Low temperature carbonization, when the process does not exceed 700°C, was mainly developed as a process to supply town gas for lighting purposes as well as to provide a smokeless (devolatilized) soHd fuel for domestic consumption (30). However, the process by-products (tars) were also found to be valuable insofar as they served as feedstocks (qv) for an emerging chemical industry and were also converted to gasolines, heating oils, and lubricants (see Gasoline and OTHER motor fuels Lubrication and lubricants) (31). 

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