Marine fuel specifications

Siegmund, C. W. (1997). Marine Fuels Specifications, Testing, Purchase, and Use. ASTM Technical Professional Training Course Notes. West Conshocken, PA ASTM. 

American Society for Testing and Materials. 1996. Marine Fuels Specifications, testing, purchase and use. 19-21 May, New Orleans. 

Bunker-fuel specifications for merchant vessels are described by ASTM D 2069, Standard Specification for Marine Fuels. Deep draft vessels carry residual (e.g., No. 6 fuel oil) or distillate-residual blend for main propulsion, plus distillate for start-up, shutdown, maneuvering, deck engines, and diesel generators. Main-propulsion fuel is identified principally by its viscosity in centistokes at 373 K. Obsolete designations include those based on Redwood No. 1 seconds at 100°F (311 K) (e.g., "MD 1500 ) and the designations "Bunker A for No. 5 fuel oil and "Bunker B and "Bunker C for No. 6 fuel oil in the lower-and upper-viscosity ranges, respectively. 

Automobile and marine fuel handling is covered in NFPA 30A. This section addresses specific operations in which static electricity has caused fires and injury. Relevance to the CPI includes employee safety programs and company-owned gasoline fueling depots. 

Bunker-juel specifications for merchant vessels were described by ASTM D 2069, Standard Specification for Marine Fuels, which was withdrawn in 2003. Specifications under ASTM D-396 or foreign specifications may be substituted as appropriate. 

ISO 8217 (1987) Petroleum Products - Euels (Class E) - Specifications of Marine Fuels, First edition,19ST-04-15. 

Besides these products, gas turbine fuel, fiiel oil (heating oil), and some marine fuels are also classified as middle distillates because they have a wide boiling range that overlaps the lighter fuels. These products have similar properties but different specifications as appropriate for their intended use. 

The visbreaking process thermally cracks atmospheric or vacuum residues. Conversion is limited by specifications for marine or Industrial fuel-oil stability and by the formation of coke deposits in equipment such as heaters and exchangers. 

Domestic fuel oils are those used primarily in the home and include kerosene, stove oil, and furnace fuel oil. Diesel fuel oils are also distillate fuel oils, but residual oils have been successhjlly used to power marine diesel engines, and mixtures of distillates and residuals have been used on locomotive diesels. Heavy fuel oils include a variety of oils, ranging from distillates to residual oils, that must be heated to 260°C or higher before they can be used. In general, heavy fuel oil consists of residual oil blended with distillate to suit specific needs. Heavy fuel oil includes various industrial oils and, when used to fuel ships, is called bunker oil. 

The heavy end distillates and residues are blended into fuel oils that respond to different specification grades [113]. A summary of the market specifications is provided in Table 9. Grades 1 and 2 are distillate grades, while higher grades are mainly residuals, the former are applied in domestic uses (outdoor stoves and heating oil, respectively) and the latter for industrial (marine, bunker and power, respectively). Fuel oil No. 4 is a blend of domestic and industrial fuel oils meant for small industries uses. 

The current trend throughout the refining industry is to produce more fuel products from each barrel of petroleum and to process those products in different ways to meet product specifications for use in various (automobile, diesel, aircraft, and marine) engines. Overall, the demand for liquid fuels has expanded rapidly and demand has developed for gas oils and fuels for domestic central heating and fuel oil for power generation, as well as for hght distillates and other inputs, derived from crude oil, for the petrochemical industries. 

The results from a study employing a human cell line showed that neither 5 nor 50 ppm petroleum-derived JP-5 (PD-JP5) interfered with Snyder-Theilen feline sarcoma virus (ST-FeSV)-directed transformation of human foreskin fibroblastic cells (Blakeslee et al. 1983). Higher concentrations ( 100 ppm) were cytotoxic. It was reported that marine diesel fuel failed to inhibit transformation in this assay, but data were not shown. The study authors consider this in vitro assay to be a useful predictor of carcinogenesis since several known carcinogens have been shown to suppress transformation in cells infected with the ST-FeSV virus by blocking a specific virus gene function (i.e., transformation) noncarcinogens do not inhibit virus-induced cell transformation in this test system. 

Residual oils, FCC clarified oils and other heavy petroleum fractions used to blend marine bunker fuels may contain catalyst fines and other metals. When delivered with fuel, these metals may score pistons and piston liners to the extent that engine performance is seriously impacted. For this reason, an aluminum plus silicon specification of 25 mg/kg has been established for DMC fuels and a specification of 80 mg/kg has been established for marine residual fuels. 

Presently, certain marine residual oils have sulfur specifications ranging as high as 5.0 wt%. Concentrations from 1.0 to 2.0 wt% are more typical. Fuel sulfur can lead to deposits and eventual corrosion problems within transportation, storage and burner systems. 

A full account of the problems considered in collecting, storing, and processing marine samples for transuranic analysis is given in the above-mentioned review (4). The specific methods discussed here were foimd effective at least for the transuranic analyses of seawater and sediments contaminated by global fallout, nuclear fuel reprocessing wastes, or nuclear power plant operation waste. In these cases, a preliminary acid treatment of the sample in the presence of suitable yield monitors seems to solubilize the transuranic elements and achieves isotopic equilibration between the yield monitor and sample. The yield monitors used were either Pu or sep qj. 238,239,240,24ip whereas Am was used for Am, 2 Cm, and by inference, Cf. In addition, it was convenient to use 50 mg of a lanthanide (neodymium) as a carrier for americium to purify the separated americium fraction. 

The broad definition of fuels for land and marine diesel engines and for nonaviation gas turbines covers many possible combinations of volatility, ignition quality, viscosity, gravity, stability, and other properties. Various specifications are used to characterize these fuels (ASTM D-975, ASTM D-2880). 

Corrosion inhibitors The conditions that influence the onset of corrosion are the entrainment of atmospheric oxygen, moisture from the combustion of fuel, and stop-start running coupled with temperature cycling. In the marine diesel engine, the problem is exacerbated by contamination with fortuitous saline. Corrosion inhibitors are added specifically to cope with this electrochemical process. These additives operate by creating a physical barrier, in the form of a dense hydrophobic, monolayer of chemisorbed surfactant molecules, which prevent access of the water and oxygen to the metal surface. 

BS MA 100 (1982) British Standards Institution Specification for Petroleum Fuels for Marine Engines and Boilers BS MA 100 1982. K2514. 

Many marine vessels, power plants, commercial buildings and industrial facilities use residual fuels or combinations of residual and distillate fuels for heating and processing. The two most critical specifications of residual fuels are viscosity and low sulfur content for environmental control. 

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