Marine Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) For Ships – Properties, Challenges and Treatment Methods. The basic requirement for any marine engine is to propel a ship or to generate power onboard by using the energy obtained from burning of fuel oil. HFO or heavy fuel oil is the most widely used type of fuels for commercial vessels.
The fuel oil releases energy to rotate the ship propeller or the alternator by burning fuel inside the combustion chamber of the engine or to generate steam inside the boiler. The amount of heat energy thus released is the specific energy of a fuel and is measured in MJ/kg.
Diesel
Also called diesel oil or histrically heavy oil is a liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a typr of internal combustion engine in which the fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a result of compression ignition chartieristics.
EN590 Ultra-Low Suffur Diesel
Ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD) is diesel fuel with substantially lowered sulfur content. Since 2006, almost all of the petroleum-based diesel fuel available in Europe and North America has been of a ULSD type.
The move to lower sulfur content allows for the application of advanced emissions control technologies that substantially lower the harmful emissions from diesel combustion.Testing by engine manufacturers and regulatory bodies have found the use of emissions control devices in conjunction with ULSD can reduce the exhaust output of ozone precursors and particulate matter to near-zero levels.
In 1993 the European Union began mandating the reduction of diesel sulfur content and implementing modern ULSD specifications in 1999.[ The United States started phasing in ULSD requirements for highway vehicles in 2006, with implementation for off-highway applications, such as locomotive and marine fuel, beginning in 2007.
Fuel oils and diesel fuels may broken down by this number system. Simply put it breaks down the fuel categories by API gravity (weight & viscosity) and BTUs. ASTM and DIN spec unwinterized straight pump diesel is #2.
