[Rhodes22-list] What's The Difference Between #1, #2, #3, ... ,
#6 Fuel Oil?
Rob Lowe
rlowe at vt.edu
Wed Dec 10 13:25:40 EST 2003
I think this has been said before, but Roger, I love it when you talk
technical to me. - Rob
----- Original Message -----
From: "Roger Pihlaja" <cen09402 at centurytel.net>
To: <kroposki at innova.net>; "The Rhodes 22 mail list"
<rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 9:14 AM
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] What's The Difference Between #1, #2, #3, ... ,#6
Fuel Oil?
> Hi Everybody,
>
> The 1st thing you need to know is that crude oil is a very complex mixture
> of literally thousands of different organic, inorganic, and
organo-metallic
> compounds & the specific composition varies greatly between crude oils
from
> different fields. One of the first processing steps in an oil refinery is
> to send the crude oil thru a distillation tower. In the distillation
tower,
> the components in the crude oil mixture are separated into fractions by
> their boiling point ranges. The components with the lowest boiling points
> come out the top of the distillation tower as vapor. These would include
> compounds like methane, ethane, ethylene, propane, and butane. These so
> called "light components" are sent to another distillation tower which
> operates at cryogenic temperature for further separation. Going down the
> crude oil distillation tower, fractions with greater & greater boiling
point
> ranges are removed as liquid side streams. From the top of the tower
down,
> these fractions are: gasoline or naphtha, JP-4, kerosene or #1 fuel oil,
#2
> fuel oil, #4 fuel oil, #5 light, #5 heavy, & #6 fuel oil. #3 fuel oil is
> not an official API crude oil fraction designation because it would have
to
> be removed from the distillation tower very near the feed port. Removal
of
> this #3 fuel oil side stream in the vicinity of the feed port would tend
to
> upset the operation of the distillation tower. Believe me, achieving
stable
> on-spec operation of a distillation tower with 9 or 10 product streams & a
> variable feed stock is one of the most difficult process control problems
in
> all of chemical engineering, even without screwing up the column operation
> by removing a side stream near the feed port! Sometimes refineries will
cut
> a deal with a local business & sell them a product called #3 fuel oil with
a
> boiling point range intermediate between #2 fuel oil & #4 fuel oil. But,
> it's always made by blending #2 fuel oil & #4 fuel oil. Remember, all
these
> products are not pure compounds. They are complex mixtures that meet a
> boiling point range specification.
>
> OK, so what happens if you feed a diesel engine a fuel oil that's too
light?
> The fuel injection system in a diesel engine has a number of very
precisely
> machined, highly polished components that meter & atomize the fuel. These
> pieces/parts depend upon the lubricating qualities of the fuel oil to
> lubricate & cool them as they operate. A fuel oil that's too light will
not
> have the oil film strength (basically viscosity) to prevent metal-to-metal
> contact in the fuel injection system. The fuel injection system will
> self-destruct in short order. In addition, a fuel oil that's too light
will
> have a boiling point range outside of the design range of the fuel
injection
> system. Remember, the fuel injection system is located right next to a
hot
> engine. If the light fuel oil starts vaporizing inside the injection pump
> &/or injectors, the system will stop working. There will be instant
> catastrophic metal-to-metal contact & the system will seize up. Finally,
> smooth operation of the diesel engine depends upon the atomized droplets
of
> fuel in the combustion chamber behaving in a predictable manner.
Basically,
> what's supposed to happen is that in the microseconds immediately
following
> fuel injection, the light components of the diesel oil mixture start
boiling
> out of each droplet. These light components mix as a vapor with the air
in
> the combustion chamber, eventually forming a mixture with a composition
> within the flammable range. Somewhere in this vapor space, the flammable
> mixture lights off due to the adiabatic heat of compression (remember it's
a
> diesel - no spark plugs). The flame front rapidly consumes all the fuel
> present as a vapor & ends up burning at the surface of the remaining
> droplets of fuel. These droplets of fuel progressively boil up their
> remaining lightest components & the remaining droplet gets enriched in
heavy
> boiling components. Under heavy load, there isn't enough time available
> during the 4-cycle engine's power stroke to completely combust the
heaviest
> components. These heavy components get ejected with the exhaust gases &
we
> see them as diesel smoke & soot. If there are too much light boiling
> components in the diesel fuel; then, too much of the droplet vaporizes
> in-between fuel injection & ignition. Two things can happen. Ignition
can
> actually occur while the fuel injectors are still atomizing fuel. The
fuel
> injectors were not designed to have a high temperature flame impinging on
> them while they are in operation atomizing fuel & they can be damaged.
The
> other thing that can happen is that a relatively large amount of light
> boiling components end up in the vapor space prior to ignition. When this
> big fuel charge lights off, combustion is too rapid & the
> pressure/temperature in the combustion chamber exceeds design limits.
This
> can cause problems like blown head gaskets, holes in pistons, burnt valve
> seats, etc. It's sort of like having the spark timing set incorrectly on
a
> gasoline engine &/or using a fuel with too low an octane number for the
> spark ignited engine's compression ratio. In fact, diesel fuels actually
> have a "cetane number", which is the opposite of an "octane number". A
high
> cetane number means the fuel will preignite very readily. Diesel fuels
have
> a low octane number and a high cetane number. The optimum injection
timing
> in a diesel engine strongly depends upon the lag time between fuel
> atomization & initial light off & this lag time is mostly controlled by
the
> boiling point range of the diesel fuel.
>
> So what happens if you feed a diesel engine a fuel oil that's too heavy?
> The viscosity of the fuel oil goes up along with the boiling point range.
A
> heavy fuel oil may be too viscous for the fuel system to pump from the
fuel
> tank to fuel injection metering system, especially at low temperatures.
In
> addition, all fuel oils have a specification called the "cloud point".
> Basically that's the temperature at which the fuel oil becomes visibly
> cloudy or scatters transmitted light. Physically, what's happening is
that
> the heaviest boiling components in the fuel oil have solidified into
micron
> sized particles of a waxy material. Remember all those very precise,
highly
> polished pieces/parts in the fuel injection system? The diesel engine's
> fuel system has a system of very fine mesh filters & oil/water separators
> designed to filter out abrasive particles & water in order to protect
those
> parts. These waxy particles will clog up the fuel filters in a diesel
> engine very quickly. Winter diesel fuel additives increase the solubility
> of these waxy materials so they stay dissolved. The higher viscosity fuel
> oil may not atomize properly in the fuel injectors, resulting in the
> atomized droplets being too big in the combustion chamber. Bigger
droplets
> result in less surface area for the light boiling components to evaporate
> from. In addition, the heavy fuel oil has relatively less of the lighter
> boiling components in it to begin with. So, there are less of the low
> boiling components present to vaporize off the droplets & those that are
> there vaporize more slowly because of the bigger droplets to mix with the
> air in the combustion chamber to light the fire. In other words,
especially
> at low temperature, the engine may not even run on this fuel. That's why
> diesel engines have glow plugs (combustion chamber preheaters) for winter
> operation. Even if the diesel engine does run on this fuel, a much larger
%
> of the combustion will be of the slower, less efficient variety wherein
> burning occurs at the surface of the droplets. I would expect the engine
> would be down on power & the exhaust would be very smoky & sooty.
>
> So, although diesel engines can theoretically burn a wide range of fuels;
in
> reality, they are pretty finicky about what they will reliably run on.
>
> There, that's probably much more than you ever wanted to know re fuel oil
> specifications & how diesel engines work. Hopefully, I answered your
> question.
>
> Roger Pihlaja
> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kroposki" <kroposki at innova.net>
> To: "'The Rhodes 22 mail list'" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2003 9:31 AM
> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Michael's Diesel #1 and #2
>
>
> > Dan, Rik and Rummy,
> > Dan thank you for the latest on Ford's diesels, and for your
> > inputs on diesel fuel and additives.
> > Maybe we can get Roger to explain the chemical differences
> > during the Christmas holidays, if he gets them.
> > As for #3, it was used in big locomotive engines during the
> > transition from coal to diesel. It was used to generate steam.
> > Ed K
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
> > [mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of Michael Meltzer
> > Sent: Monday, December 08, 2003 11:28 PM
> > To: The Rhodes 22 mail list
> > Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] RE: Michael's Diesel #1 and #2
> >
> > thanks, I will watch it and take it easly on the centen booster, BTW
> > mine might be a early one 3/2003(did not know it until I picked
> > it up), is their anything I should watch out for or bitch to the dealer
> > about?(reflash the chip)
> >
> > MJM
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Dan Bodnar" <dsbodnar at earthlink.net>
> > To: "'The Rhodes 22 mail list'" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> > Sent: Monday, December 08, 2003 11:23 PM
> > Subject: RE: [Rhodes22-list] RE: Michael's Diesel #1 and #2
> >
> >
> > > Michael,
> > > I've had several of the old 7.3L Diesels in E350 Vans. The last one I
> > owned
> > > was in 2001 and it had glow plugs and a fuel heater and I'm fairly
> > certain
> > > that the new 6.0L still has the fuel heater. I'm in the Metro Detroit
> > area
> > > and we rarely have nights much colder than -10 degrees. I learned
> > that I
> > > did not need to plug it in unless it was going to be colder than 10
> > below
> > > 'cause the diesel started fine. I did plug it in when I knew it would
> > be
> > > colder than 10 below at night just to be safe. But, having forgotten
> > to do
> > > it a few times, taught me that they would start using just the
> > recommended
> > > start procedure.
> > >
> > > Anyway, fresh winter grade fuel, or some Premium diesel (which I think
> > is
> > > really #1) and your diesel should do fine. Also make sure that the
> > water
> > > separator really does get drained with every oil change. I never had a
> > > diesel not start. They were a little smoky sometimes when it was zero
> > or
> > > colder, but they always started. I only used a diesel fuel
> > conditioner on
> > > one trip into Michigan's Upper Peninsula where I knew I was going to
> > have
> > > 20+ below-zero weather. I don't remember the gel point of diesel
> > either,
> > > but I'm pretty sure it is lower than 15 below... now that I think
> > about it,
> > > if the numbers aren't in the diesel supplement to your owner's manual,
> > then
> > > the gel point is printed on the back of some of the bottles of fuel
> > > conditioner. Oh, and with the new 6.0L electronically controlled
> > diesel, if
> > > you decide to use a fuel conditioner, "more is NOT better". Raising
> > the
> > > flash point of the fuel too far will play havoc with proper
> > combustion.
> > > We had some initial growing pains with the new 6.0L Diesel, but the
> > reports
> > > I'm seeing lately say that the late 2003 and 2004 units are top
> > drawer.
> > >
> > > Dan Bodnar
> > > SV QOL
> > >
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
> > > [mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of Michael
> > Meltzer
> > > Sent: Monday, December 08, 2003 9:46 PM
> > > To: sanderico at earthlink.net; The Rhodes 22 mail list
> > > Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] RE: Michael's Diesel #1 and #2
> > >
> > > That nice to know, under a little knowage is dangerous I heard that
> > use
> > > Kerosene can be use up to 20% in the winter, also almost
> > > anything can go into a disel engine, like bio-disel, made from used
> > frechfry
> > > oil :-)
> > >
> > > MJM
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "Rik Sandberg" <sanderico at earthlink.net>
> > > To: <kroposki at innova.net>; "The Rhodes 22 mail list"
> > > <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> > > Sent: Monday, December 08, 2003 9:54 PM
> > > Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] RE: Michael's Diesel #1 and #2
> > >
> > >
> > > > Ed,
> > > >
> > > > #1 fuel oil and kerosene are not the same thing. Kerosene is more
> > > "refined"
> > > > than #1 oil. #3 fuel oil is an even heavier oil than #2. I think
> > they use
> > > it
> > > > for firing funaces (like asphalt plants) and things, industrial
> > stuff more
> > > > down south than up around here. It's heavy enough that you have to
> > warm it
> > > up
> > > > before it will light easily. Not an expert on this though :-)
> > > >
> > > > I did run across a guy from down south a few years ago that claimed
> > to be
> > > > using #3 oil in the truck he was driving. It was about -20 F that
> > night
> > > and I
> > > > stopped to help him as his truck was froze up (fuel gelled) on the
> > side of
> > > > I-94. Poor bastard was out in that shit in nothing but a light
> > jacket and
> > > a
> > > > t-shirt. He was, to say the least, happy to see me. I would imagine
> > that
> > > they
> > > > had to drain whatever fuel was in that truck and start over with all
> > new,
> > > > lighter fuel before that truck would ever go anywhere again before
> > spring.
> > > I
> > > > think he learned that some of the things you can get away with down
> > south,
> > > > won't get you very far up here when it gets cold. Up here, we've got
> > real
> > > > honest to God.......COLD!!!!!
> > > >
> > > > Rik
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On 12/08/2003 08:16 pm, you wrote:
> > > > > KEROSENE! What is # 3 used for? and yes there is a #3. Hey guys
> > help
> > > > > Rummy.
> > > > >
> > > > > Ed K
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Subject: Re: Michael's Diesel #1 and #2
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > I've always just known it as #1.
> > > > >
> > > > > __________________________________________________
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