CCAI

IGNITION QUALITY OF RESIDUAL FUEL OILS
Francisco Arvelo Valencia

1
, Isidro Padrn Armas
2
ABSTRACT
The relevance of residual fuel oil aromaticity for its ignition performance in
diesel engines has been demonstrated previously and led to the concept of calcu-
lating aromaticity from known specification properties. Thus the Calculated
Carbon Aromaticity Index (CCAI) can be calculated from density and viscosity,
and provides a useful tool to rank the ignition quality of different residual fuel
oils: the lower the number, the better the ignition characteristics.
Potential improvements to the CCAI concept have been investigated. The
CCAI represents the aromaticity of the entire fuel. However, at low load engine
operations ignition occurs at relatively low temperatures, when only part of the
injected fuel may have evaporated. Under these conditions the high molecular
weight, highly aromatic (asphaltene) components in all probability are not all
vaporised. Thus the aromaticity of the (lighter) part of the fuel might be differ-
ent from the bulk and possibly more relevant to ignition quality. A programme
to investigate the relationship between ignition delay and the aromaticity of the
fuel vapour under certain engine conditions has been carried out.
The relationship between ignition delay and CCAI was demonstrated to be
valid at all engine conditions employed and comparable to the one found previ-
ously. No improvement could be realised by taking into account the micro car-
bon residue (MCR) content as a measure for the heavy fraction of the fuel, nor
any other of the available fuel parameters. The results of Pyrolysis Combustion
Mass Spectrometric Element (PCME) analysis of the fuels, providing detailed
compositional information of the vapour at different temperatures, indeed con-
firm that the aromaticity of the lighter fuel fractions does not dominate the aro-
JOURNAL OF MARITIME RESEARCH 77
1
Dr. en Marina Civil, ETS de Nutica y maquinas y Radiotelegrafia Naval ([email protected]).
2
Profesor ETS de Nutica y Maquinas y radiotelegrafa Naval ([email protected]).
Journal of Maritime Research, Vol. II. No. 3, pp. 77-96, 2005
Copyright 2005. SEECMAR
Printed in Santander (Spain). All rights reserved
ISSN: 1697-4840
art. 5.qxp 19/02/2007 21:03 Pgina 77
maticity of the fuel vapour and therewith does not dominate the ignition per-
formance of the fuel. However, in view of the still rather limited predictive power
of the CCAI, other, not yet identified fuel parameters must play a role.
Key word: Carbon Aromaticity index, ignition, residual fuel oil
INTRODUCTION
In the absence of an indicator for ignition quality of residual fuels, like the
Cetane Index for distillate fuels, extensive research by Zeelenberg et al.1,2 resulted
in the concept of the Calculated Carbon Aromaticity Index (CCAI). Since its intro-
duction in the early eighties an increase in the use of CCAI has been observed in the
industry. Experience with the concept learns that it is a useful tool for ranking fuels
roughly on ignition quality, but also that the CCAI is not a very accurate measure.
Apparently fuel parameters other than carbon aromaticity play a role. Possible
improvements of the CCAI have been sought in the quality of the light end compo-
nents of fuels, assumed to ignite first.
THE SHELL CCAI CONCEPT
Ignition difficulties when using distillate fuels are almost unheard of. For
many years the ignition quality of these fuels, such as gas oil, has been characterised
primarily by a parameter known as Cetane Number, although to a lesser extent other
methods such as Cetane Index or Diesel Index have been used also. Current interna-
tional specifications for marine distillate fuels, such as the ISO 8217: 1996 and BS
MA100: 1996, include a minimum limit for Cetane Number. Regrettably there is no
similar widely recognised procedure for characterising the ignition quality of resid-
ual fuel oil. For a number of reasons the methods used for determining ignition
quality of distillate fuels cannot be applied to residual fuel oils. Therefore in the early
eighties Shell Research embarked upon a programme with the objective of gaining
an understanding of the factors controlling the ignition performance of residual fuel
oils, and to identify means of quantifying ignition quality.
Both the physical and chemical properties of residual fuel oil were found to
have an influence on ignition performance. Physical properties are viscosity and
temperature. Atomisation quality is greatly affected by fuel viscosity. Too high a vis-
cosity at injection increases fuel droplet size, which hinders fuel/air mixing in the
cylinder and extends ignition delay and combustion. Many engine designs now
incorporate fuel management systems capable of operating at temperatures which
allow a wide range of residual fuels to be burned without difficulty.
The relevance of the chemical composition of residual fuel oil on ignition was
also demonstrated. This led to the recognition that ignition performance relates to
fuel aromaticity. Since aromaticity is a difficult parameter to measure in the absence
Volume II. Number 3. year 2005 78
art. 5.qxp 19/02/2007 21:03 Pgina 78
of specialist laboratory equipment, Shell developed the concept of calculating resid-
ual fuel aromaticity. The resulting Calculated Carbon Aromaticity Index (CCAI)
can be calculated on the basis of specification properties viscosity and density. It is
this parameter which has gained favour as the most practical and meaningful
method for characterising ignition quality of residual fuel oils.
CCAI can be calculated from the following formula:
Where: D = density at 15C, kg/m
Vk = kinematic viscosity (mm/s) at temperature TC
It must be stressed that CCAI is a unit-less number allowing ranking the
ignition qualities of different residual fuel oils: the lower the number, the better the
ignition characteristics. CCAI does not give an absolute measure of ignition perform-
ance since this is much more dependent upon engine design and operating conditions.
For this reason no attempt has been made to include limiting values in international
standards, since a value which may be problematical to one engine operated under
adverse conditions may perform quite satisfactory in many other instances. Modern
medium speed engines will tolerate CCAI values up to 870 to 875, and even values up
to 890 and beyond are acceptable to some engine types. Medium speed diesel engines
are sensitive to fuels having poor ignition characteristics, while low speed cross head
engines may be more tolerant of higher CCAI values. The limits for viscosity and den-
sity in international marine fuel specifications in themselves provide a control of
ignition quality for the
main residual fuel oil
grades. For example, a
380 mm/s (@ 50C)
fuel oil at maximum
specification density of
991 kg/m has a CCAI
of 852, whilst a 180
mm/s (@ 50C) fuel
oil with the same den-
sity has a CCAI of
861. Ignition charac-
teristics improve with
increasing viscosity
and decreasing densi-
FRANCISCO ARVELO VALENCIA, ISIDRO PADRN ARMAS
Figure 1: Correlation Ignition delay - CCAI
art. 5.qxp 19/02/2007 21:03 Pgina 79
ty. Ignition difficulties can become more acute at lower fuel viscosity (e.g. < 100
mm/s @ 50C) if there is not a significant corresponding reduction in density. This is
one of the reasons for the lower density limits applying to the low viscosity grades in
the international specifications.
The correlation between ignition delay and CCAI is not ideal (see Figure 1
for typical results obtained in a research engine). The scatter of data points around
the regression line is rather large. At lower engine outputs this scatter is even larger.
This is not necessarily due to experimental errors since cases have been reported
where from two fuels with similar analyses one gave ignition problems at low engine
output, but the second ran as normal. It is recognised that fuels may appear on the
market whose poor ignition performance is not predicted by their CCAI value, but
also that fuels which perform satisfactorily should not be rejected on basis of their
too high CCAI value.
Thus the CCAI is based on bulk fuel properties only and does not require
detailed chemical information of the fuel. The use of CCAI has been evaluated3,4 and
it has been concluded that this parameter gives a rough estimate of the ignition per-
formance of heavy fuels at best. In contrast, CCAI has been found to correlate very
well with the ignition performance of distillate fuels. The latter could suggest that the
ignition quality of residual fuels is more closely related to the quality of the distillate
part of the fuel rather than to the bulk properties. This has lead to further research
attempting to improve the CCAI correlation by including vapour composition.
INFLUENCE OF VAPOUR AROMATICITY
A critical element of the CCAI concept is the assumption that at the moment
of ignition of the vapour, almost all of the injected fuel has vaporised, i.e. that the
aromaticity of the vapour is identical to that of the bulk . Particularly at low temper-
atures, at engine start-up conditions and low load operation, this is not necessarily
the case. The high molecular weight fraction of the fuel will not vaporise at all or
only with great difficulty. Therefore the aromaticity of the bulk as indicated by the
CCAI is not representative for the aromaticity of the igniting vapour4,5. Theoreti-
cally the following situations could exist:
At low ignition temperatures, the vapour composition may be primarily that
of the distillate diluents and contains hardly any heavy residue of the fuel. If
the diluent has a parafinnic character the ignition performance will be better
than predicted by the CCAI and worse for an highly aromatic diluen.
At somewhat higher temperatures, the residue will also begin to vaporise
and take part in the ignition process. Because the aromaticity is mainly con-
tained in the high molecular weight part of the residue, the contribution to
the nature of vapour is mainly parafinnic. The ignition performance will
therefore be more or less the same for a fuel with a parafinnic diluent or
might even improve in case of an aromatic diluent.
art. 5.qxp 19/02/2007 21:03 Pgina 80
At high temperatures almost all of the residue evaporates and contributes to
the nature of the vapour phase. In this case the aromaticity of the vapour will
be similar to that of the bulk and the ignition performance may be as pre-
dicted by the CCAI.
The Calculated Vapour Aromaticity Index (CVAI)
Work to better predict ignition quality by taking the aromaticity of the
vapour phase into account was initiated by J.C. van der Werff, J.S.E.A.M. Naber and
F.M. Wortel (unpublished work). A crucial element in the estimate of the vapour
aromaticity, is the selection of a parameter for the amount of non-vaporisable aro-
matic carbon of the fuel. For pragmatic reasons the micro carbon residue (MCR)
content has been chosen for this purpose. MCR is determined at 500C close to the
experimental conditions in the engine. Also MCR (or Conradson carbon residue,
CCR) is an existing fuel specification. To obtain a measure for vapour aromaticity,
the CCAI was corrected for MCR for which the following equation was derived
(Appendix I):
Correlation with ignition delay in test rig
The validity of this CVAI has been evaluated on a series of test fuels blended
from short residues or thermally cracked residues with either kerosene or light cat-
alytically cracked cycle oil (LCCCO). The choice of these components was to create
so-called gap-fuels with a
distinct difference between
the aromaticity of the dis-
tillate and residual fraction.
The ignition tests were per-
formed in a fuel ignition
test rig, consisting of an
electrically heated, cylin-
drical combustion chamber
of approximately 4 litre in
which compressed air at a
pressure of maximum 50
bar is heated to a tempera-
ture of maximum 600C.
Figure 2: Pressure increase in the combustion chamber after
injection of fuel.
art. 5.qxp 19/02/2007 21:04 Pgina 81
At the test conditions
one single amount of fuel
is injected with a volume
of maximum 0.15 ml.
The moments of injec-
tion and ignition are
derived from the fuel
pressure or needle lift and
cylinder pressure or light
emission signal, respec-
tively. A typical curve of
the pressure development
in the combustion cham-
ber is shown in Figure 2.
The ignition delay of
the test fuels was meas-
ured at three different
temperature and air pres-
sure conditions: 450C
and 45 bar, 490C and 50
bar, and 525C and 50
bar. Each fuel was meas-
ured 10 times at each con-
dition.
The results show that
the high CCAI (>850)
fuels with LCCCO as
cutter, give considerable
variation in results. On the other hand, the low CCAI fuels with kerosene as cutter give
much less variation. This was particularly valid at 450 C. This may be interpreted to be
the result of incomplete residue vaporisation at this relatively low temperature, although
it is not at all clear why this is not observed similarly with the high CCAI fuels.
525 C 490 C 450 C
CCAI c = 0 0.92 0.81 0.85
CCAI c = 0.5 0.93 0.79 0.90
CCAI c = 1.0 0.88 0.70 0.93
CCAI c = 1.2 0.84 0.64 0.92
Table 1: R2-values for linear regression of test-rig ignition delays versus CCAI and CVAI (Fuel 1-21).
Figure 3: Relation between test-rig ignition delay and CCAI and
CVAIc = 1. Temperature 490C / Pressure 50 Bar
art. 5.qxp 19/02/2007 21:04 Pgina 82
The CVAI does not
give a better correlation
with ignition delay than
CCAI. The regression
coefficients decrease with
increasing c-value (Table
1), i.e. increasing effect of
correction for MCR, for
the tests at 525C and
490C. Only for the tests
at 450C the regression
coefficient tends to improve
a little.
Correlation with ignition delay in test engine
To investigate the correlation of CVAI under realistic conditions an extended
series of fuels was tested in an AVL-Caterpillar 1Y540 single cylinder 4-stroke high
speed diesel engine.
The engine is fully instrumented for ignition parameter measurements, i.e.
with pressure transducers in both combustion chamber and high-pressure fuel line
approximately 10cm in front of the injector housing, injector needle lift sensor and
shaft encoder for main axis angular position (degrees crank angle, CA). The engine
was run at well controlled conditions with respect to speed, load, air inlet tempera-
ture and pressure, cooling water and lubricating oil temperatures and pressures.
The fuel was supplied from a heated 60 litre container placed on a balance,
allowing continuous monitoring of fuel consumption at the desired fuel temperature
for a 12-15 mm
2
/s injection viscosity. For each ignition measurement, combustion
pressure, fuel line pressure and needle lift data were recorded by an AVL Indiskop
647 instrument, transferred to an IBM compatible PC and analysed with dedicated
software for ignition delay and combustion hardness.
Bore, mm 137
Stroke, mm 168
Volume at TDC, ltr 0.19
Compression ratio 13.8
Speed, min
-1
1000
Load, Nm 100 - 300
Power output, kW 10.5 - 31.5
Charge air pressure, bar 0.9 - 2.2
Charge air temperature, C 30 - 60
Static injection timing, CA BTDC 31
Table 3: Typical adiabatic compressed air temperatures and pressures calculated for the
AVL Caterpillar 1Y540 engine.
At moment of At Top Dead
injection Centre
Test Mode C Bar C Bar
I 411 21.0 487 31.2
II 423 27.8 499 41.6
III 456 39.3 537 58.9
IV 479 50.9 562 76.2
Table 2: Technical details and operating conditions of the AVL-Caterpil-
lar 1Y540 engine used for ignition delay measurements.
art. 5.qxp 19/02/2007 21:04 Pgina 83
Test modes
The test sequence was
designed to have in a sin-
gle engine test both low
and high ignition tem-
peratures, thus allowing
demonstration of both
the CVAI and CCAI
ignition prediction con-
cepts. This was attempt-
ed with a sequence of 4
modes (I,II,III and IV)
by stepwise raising
engine load (100 to 300
Nm) and inlet air tem-
perature (30 to 60C) and
pressure (0.9 to 2.2 bar),
while maintaining engine
speed (1000 rpm) and
cooling water and lubri-
cating oil temperatures
(80C) and pressures
constant.
The cold engine
was started on gasoil and
then operated in approxi-
mately 5 minutes towards
20% power output with
1000 rpm speed (1400
rpm nominal) and 100
Nm load (360 Nm nomi-
nal) using naturally aspi-
rated (0.9 bar) inlet air at a temperature of 30C. Then the gasoil was quickly switched
for the test fuel to start Mode I. For Mode II the air compressor and in line heater were
activated giving inlet air with temperature of 35C and pressure of 1.2 bar. For Mode
III these parameters were raised to 50C and 1.7 bar, respectively, allowing the power
output to be raised to 40% with a load of 200 Nm. For Mode IV the inlet air temper-
ature and pressure were raised further to 60C and 2.2 bar, respectively, at engine load
of 300Nm representing 60% power output. After Mode IV the engine was turned off
and allowed to cool. Mode IV closely resembles the conditions on the MaK engine
used previously by Zeelenberg1
Figura 4: AVL-Cat engine test conditions. Variation of load and air
temperature/pressure
Figure 5: Viscosity/CCAI of ignition test fuels.
art. 5.qxp 19/02/2007 21:04 Pgina 84
Ignition parameters
Start of injection was set to occur at 31CA BTDC (static). Injector opening
was derived from both the needle lift signal and the fuel line pressure reaching 260
bar, as for every test the spring tension of the cleaned injector was adjusted to open at
this pressure. This injector opening generally occurred at approximately 19CA
BTDC (dynamic). Start of ignition/combustion was derived from the combustion
pressure trace, obtained from the cylinder pressure by mathematical correction for the
compression pressure. The CA scale was converted into a time scale assuming the
speed of rotation to be constant. This was independently verified to be the case within
the accuracy of the measurement. Ignition delay is defined as the time period in mil-
liseconds (ms) between start of injection and onset of ignition and combustion.
The combustion hardness, or the rate of pressure rise at incipient combustion
(dP/dt in kbar/s), is much less often quoted as ignition parameter. This is because it
is not as well defined and easily determined as the ignition delay, and, maybe more
importantly, previously a satisfactory correlation was established with CCAI. Thus,
high combustion hardness was associated with high ignition delays and CCAI (R2
= 0.4 - 0.6). In this investigation the combustion hardness was computed from the
smoothed combustion pressure/time trace in two ways (a and b), viz. from the slope
of the straight lines created by the 0 and 5 Bar (dP/dt-a) and the 5 and 10 Bar
(dP/dt-b) combustion pressure points, respectively.
Test variability
Ignition parameters were recorded after 5 min (test-1) and after 25 min
(test-2) into every test mode, and each measurement was repeated 10 times.
One of the commercial fuels (RFO-Tank 11) was tested throughout the
investigation as a reference fuel to assess test variability. The resulting 13 separate
tests showed satisfacto-
ry overall repeatability
of ignition delay (SD
8%), although single
results (max., min) can
deviate quite substan-
tially. Much greater
variation exists in the
combustion hardness
data, however, particu-
larly when defined over
5-10 kbar/s combus-
tion pressure rise (SD
19%).
JOURNAL OF MARITIME RESEARCH
85
Figure 6: Relation between ignition delay and CCAI
art. 5.qxp 19/02/2007 21:05 Pgina 85
The results from the first (test-1)
and second series (test-2) of measure-
ments in every test mode were always
closely identical. This clearly suggests
that following a change in engine
operating conditions (thermal) equi-
librium is quickly re-established.
Test fuels
In the test program a total of 39
different fuels were used. They are 22
heavy fuels specially blended from a
selection of residue and diluent com-
ponents, four commercial RFOs and 2
special high density fuels, and 8 light
and 3 heavy fuel blending compo-
nents. In Figure 5 the total variation in
CCAI and viscosity (Vk50) values is
illustrated, highlighting the wide
CCAI range of 757 - 959 at viscosities
between 1.1 and 26000 mm
2
/s.
Ignition delay results
From the plots between ignition
delay and CCAI for all test modes in
Figure 6 it is clear that the relation-
ships and also their slopes are very sim-
ilar. Only the ignition delays become
smaller upon going from Mode I to IV.
Correlation coefficients (R2-
value) for linear regression are between
0.68 (Mode IV) and 0.76 (Mode I) as
is shown in Table 4. These values are
closely identical to the 0.77 (at inlet air
temperature 60C) and 0.71 (at inlet air temperature 45C) found previously by
Zeelenberg in the MaK engine (1).
With the present results no improvement of the correlation between ignition
delay and CCAI could be realised by taking into account the MCR content nor
other bulk fuel parameters sulphur (S) and flash point (FP) as is summarised in
Table 4.
Table 4: Summary of linear regression analysis attempts
between ignition delay and several fuel parameters.
Test Mode Parameter R
2
I CCAI 0.76
CCAI, MCR 0.76
CCAI, S 0.78
CCAI, MCR, S 0.79
CCAI, MCR, FP 0.76
CCAI, MCR, S, FP 0.80
II CCAI 0.67
CCAI, MCR 0.70
CCAI, MCR, S 0.71
CCAI, MCR, FP 0.75
III CCAI 0.74
CCAI, MCR 0.74
CCAI, MCR, S 0.74
CCAI, MCR, FP 0.75
IV CCAI 0.68
CCAI, MCR 0.72
CCAI, S 0.76
CCAI, MCR, S 0.76
CCAI, MCR, FP 0.72
Test Mode dP/dt-a dP/dt-b
I 0.65 0.02
II 0.66 0.29
III 0.21 0.10
IV 0.04 0.38
Table 5: Linear Regression analysis between
combustion hardness and CCAI. (R2-value).
art. 5.qxp 19/02/2007 21:05 Pgina 86
Clearly the ignition delays correlate best with CCAI alone and because this
correlation is also hardly affected by the engine output, it must be concluded that the
CCAI best represents the ignition performance of the fuel vapour. This may be
either because all of the injected fuel is vaporised and contributes to the vapour aro-
maticity (i.e. CCAI = CVAI), or, alternatively, if not all of the fuel is vaporised the
vapour aromaticity is proportional to the aromaticity of the bulk (i.e. CCAI =
CVAI). This appears irrespective of the engine conditions employed.
Combustion hardness
The rate of pressure rise or combustion hardness data for the first (dP/dt-a)
and second parts (dP/dt-b) of the combustion pressure show poor correlations with
CCAI (Table 5).
In fact, only for dP/dt-a in Modes I and II and for dP/dt-b in Mode IV linear
correlation coefficients are observed that may be comparable to the 0.61 (at inlet air
temperature 60C) and 0.45 (at inlet air temperature 45C) found by Zeelenberg.
Strangely enough, in these modes dP/dt-a decreases with CCAI, while dP/dt-b
increases with CCAI. The
latter result may well be in
agreement with the positive
correlation found by Zeelen-
berg.
Vapour composition analysis
To obtain further insight
in the volatility of heavy fuels
and their vapour composi-
tion, the fuels were analysed
with Pyrolysis Combustion
Mass Spectrometric Ele-
mental analysis (PCME),
which gives the volatility of
the fuel by means of a True
Boiling Point (TBP-PCME)
temperature and also the ele-
mental composition of the
emitted vapour (Appendix
II). From these data both the
vapour carbon aromaticity
index (VCAI, not to be con-
fused with the CVAI which
is calculated from CCAI and
Figure 7: Relation between combustion hardness and CCAI as
observed in Mode IV
art. 5.qxp 19/02/2007 21:05 Pgina 87
MCR) and the aliphatic
and aromatic carbon yields
of the vapour were calculat-
ed for various arbitrary
TBP-PCME temperature
limits.
From the results it is
concluded that strong corre-
lations exist between CCAI
values and the calculated
vapour parameters VCAI,
aliphatic carbon yield and
aromatic carbon yield for
TBP-PCME temperatures
above 500C. Not surprisingly, therefore, that also in plots of ignition delay against
these parameters for the different TBP-PCME temperature limits the best linear cor-
relations exist with data from temperatures above this arbitrary limit of 500C. How-
ever, correlation coefficients are found less good (Figure 8) than for ignition
delay/CCAI relationships. This may have been caused by errors in the determination
of VCAI.
CONCLUSIONS
Previous work on the ignition performance of heavy fuels in diesel engines
has shown that at medium load (MaK) engine operation the CCAI best describes
ignition performance. The CCAI is based upon fuel density and viscosity, and accu-
rately represents the aromaticity of the bulk of the fuel. It can be used to rank fuels
on ignition performance but does not offer a direct measure of ignition quality.
In the assumption that the aromaticity of the vapour from a fuel is not the
same as that of the bulk of the fuel, the CVAI was derived by correction of the
CCAI with the MCR content, assumed to represent the aromatic carbon of the bulk
which cannot be evaporated.
Results presented in this paper show that ignition delay still correlates best
with CCAI at all engine conditions employed, and these correlations were compara-
ble to that found previously by Zeelenberg (R2-value 0.7). No improvement could
be realised by either CVAI, taking into account the MCR content or the other avail-
able fuel parameters: sulphur content and flash point.
This conclusion is also supported by PCME studies. Thus, both ignition
delay and CCAI correlate best with the aromaticity and also with the aliphatic car-
bon yield of the cumulated vapour formed up to (and above) a temperature of 500C
in this analysis.
Figure 8: Relation between ignition delay and VCAI for Mode III
(TBP-PCME up to 650C)
art. 5.qxp 19/02/2007 21:05 Pgina 88
Although bulk aromaticity may be the paramount fuel parameter determin-
ing its ignition performance, also other fuel parameters must play a role to explain
the non-ideal correlation between CCAI and ignition delay. At this point it is worth
mentioning that results from further tests indicate that one of these additional
parameters may be contained in the processing nature of the blend components in
the fuel.
The introduction of CCAI in the early 1980s made available a tool by which
engine manufacturers could specify an acceptable range of ignition values for fuels to
be used in their engines. The current work confirms CCAI as still the best available
parameter to indicate ignition quality. But it cannot be used as an absolute measure
of quality because of its limited accuracy.
REFERENCES
1. A.P. Zeelenberg, H.J. Fijn van Draat and H.L. Barker, The ignition performance of fuel
oils in marine diesel engines, 15th CIMAC conference, Paris, 1983, Paper D13.2.
2. H.C.A. Brandt and A.P. Zeelenberg, Quality of residual fuels in relation to fuel constitu-
tion, 10th Anniversary of the Dutch National CIMAC Committee, Amsterdam,
November 1988.
3. K. Groth and A. Hesse, Contribution to the determination of ignition quality of heavy
fuel, 16th CIMAC conference, Oslo, 1983, paper D120.
4. R.S.G. Beart, Thesis, State University of Gent (Belgium), 1988.
5. R.S.G. Baert, The ignition quality of heavy residual fuel oils for marine bunkers, MER,
Feb. 1986.
6. ISO 8217 (1996 Petroleum Products Fuel clase F (specifications of marine fuels) Cdigo
ISM (2000) Chapter 10
7. D. Stapersma and H. Knolui (1998) Practical research for navy 22 nd Cimac International
Conference on combustion Enginers, Copenhagen
8. Symposium of Bunker (1999) Las Palmas de Gran Canarias, 16 y 17 de Noviembre
art. 5.qxp 19/02/2007 21:06 Pgina 89
APPENDIX
Calculation of the aromatic carbon content of fuel vapour (CVAI)
In order to correct the CCAI for the aromatic carbon in the residue which
cannot be vaporised the following procedure was defined:
Calculation of the aromatic carbon content from theCCAI of the bulk of
the fuel from the empirically established equation:
Calculation of the vaporisable aromatic carbon content by correction for the
amount of non-vaporisable aromatic carbon with MCR:
A gram of residue contains on average 0.85 g carbon. Consequently, the mass
of aromatic carbon per gram residue is given by:
Per gram of residue, the mass of vaporisable aromatic carbon is given by:
Where MCR is the MCR content in g/g residue (%MCR/100), where it is
assumed that Micro Carbon Residue consists of pure aromatic carbon.
Per gram of residue, the total mass of carbon in the vapour can be expressed as:
The mass percentage of aromatic carbon in the vapour is then given by:
,or
,or
art. 5.qxp 19/02/2007 21:06 Pgina 90
However, depending on the test temperature, the full MCR correction may be over
or under estimating the crackability of the larger aromatic structures into smaller
components which will end up in the vapour phase. Therefore a correction factor c
instead of 1.18 is used which can be optimised to obtain the best correlation, which
results the equation.
For c=0 all the MCR is evaporated and CVAI and CCAI are identical.
Calculation of CVAI from the inverse equation in the first step:
This sequence of calculations can be reformulated into the following overall
formula:
art. 5.qxp 18/02/2007 14:13 Pgina 91
CALIDAD DE IGNICIN DE LOS ACEITES
COMBUSTIBLES RESIDUALES
RESUMEN
Con anterioridad ya se ha demostrado la importancia de la aromaticidad del
aceite combustible residual con respecto a su actuacin y ha dado lugar al con-
cepto de clculo de aromaticidad a partir de propiedades conocidas de las especi-
ficaciones. De este modo, el ndice de Aromaticidad Carbnica Calculada (Cal-
culated Carbon Aromaticity Index, CCAI) se puede calcular a partir de la densi-
dad y viscosidad, y proporciona una herramienta til para clasificar la calidad de
ignicin de diferentes aceites combustibles residuales: cuanto ms bajo sea el
nmero, mejor sern las caractersticas de ignicin.
Se han investigado las mejoras potenciales al concepto de CCAI. El CCAI rep-
resenta la aromaticidad de todo el combustible. Sin embargo, en operaciones de
baja carga del motor se da la ignicin con temperaturas relativamente bajas,
cuando slo parte del combustible inyectado se puede haber evaporado. Bajo
estas condiciones el alto peso molecular, los componentes altamente aromticos
(asfaltenos) con toda probabilidad no se han evaporado del todo. As, la aromati-
cidad de la parte del combustible (ms ligera) podra ser diferente del grueso y
posiblemente ms relevante para la calidad de la ignicin. Se ha llevado a cabo un
programa para investigar la relacin entre el retraso en la ignicin y la aromatici-
dad del vapor del combustible bajo ciertas condiciones.
Se ha demostrado la validez de la relacin entre el retraso de la ignicin y el
CCAI en todas las condiciones de motor empleadas y comparables a la ya descu-
bierta. Ninguna mejora se podra realizar teniendo en cuenta el contenido del
residuo micro-carbnico (micro carbon residue, MCR) como medida para la
fraccin pesada del combustible, ni para cualquier otro de los parmetros de
combustible disponibles. Los resultados del anlisis de los combustibles medi-
ante Elementos Espectromtricos de Combustin de Masa por Pirlisis (Pyrol-
ysis Combustion Mass Spectrometric Element, PCME), proporcionando infor-
macin detallada de la composicin del vapor a diferentes temperaturas, confir-
ma de hecho que la aromaticidad de las fracciones de combustible ms ligeros no
domina la aromaticidad del vapor del combustible y por consiguiente no domina
el resultado de la ignicin del combustible. Sin embargo, a la vista del potencial
predictivo todava limitado del CCAI, otros parmetros de combustible, an no
identificados podran desempear un papel.
Palabras Clave: ndice de Aromaticidad Carbnica, ignicin, aceite com-
bustible residual
art. 5.qxp 19/02/2007 21:06 Pgina 92
CONCLUSIONES:
Los trabajos precedentes sobre el resultado de la ignicin de combustibles
pesados en motores diesel han mostrado que el CCAI describe mejor el resultado de
la ignicin con el motor funcionando a media carga (MaK). El CCAI se basa en la
densidad y viscosidad del combustible, y representa adecuadamente la aromaticidad
del grueso del combustible. Se puede utilizar para clasificar los combustibles segn
su ignicin pero no ofrece una medida de la calidad de ignicin.
Asumiendo que la aromaticidad del vapor de un combustible no es la misma
que la del grueso del combustible, el CVAI se deriv por correccin del CCAI con el
contenido del MCR, que se supone representa el carbono aromtico del grueso que
no se puede evaporar.
Los resultados que se presentan en este artculo muestran que el retraso de la
ignicin se corresponde todava mejor con CCAI en todas las condiciones del motor
empleadas, y estas correlaciones fueron comparables a las descubiertas anteriormente
por Zeelenberg (R
2
-valor 0 0.7). No se pudo apreciar ninguna mejora CVAI,
teniendo en cuenta el contenido de MCR ni con los dems parmetros de com-
bustibles disponibles: contenido de azufre y punto de combustin.
Esta conclusin tambin est apoyada por los estudios de PCME. As, tanto
el retraso en la ignicin como la CCAI se corresponden mejor con la aromaticidad y
tambin con el residuo del carbono aliftico del vapor acumulado que se forma a
temperaturas de (y por encima de) 500C en este anlisis.
Si bien el grueso de la aromaticidad puede ser el principal parmetro que
determine el resultado de la ignicin, tambin otros parmetros del combustible
pueden desempear un papel para explicar la correlacin no-ideal entre el CCAI y el
retraso de ignicin. En este punto vale la pena mencionar que los resultados de prue-
bas ulteriores indican que uno de estos parmetros adicionales puede estar contenido
en la naturaleza del tratamiento de la mezcla de componentes del combustible.
La introduccin del CCAI a principios de la dcada de 1980 hizo posible una
herramienta con la que los fabricantes de motores podan especificar una tasa de val-
ores de ignicin aceptables para los combustibles a utilizar en sus motores. El pre-
sente trabajo confirma CCAI como todava el mejor parmetro disponible para
indicar la calidad de ignicin. Pero no se puede utilizar como una medida de calidad
absoluta debido a su limitada exactitud.
Calidad de encendido
Los parmetros experimentales relacionado con la calidad de encendido de
CCAI de CII desarrollados, proporcionan un mtodo experimental para la clasifi-
cacin de combustibles residuales
La calidad del combustible suministrado a la embarcacin puede afectar a la
navegabilidad, as como el subsiguiente tratamiento del combustible a bordo. En un
mundo dnde es comn la inconstante calidad del combustible, hay una necesidad
art. 5.qxp 19/02/2007 21:07 Pgina 93
por establecer medidas ms adecuadas que regulen la efectividad del tratamiento del
combustible a bordo.
Metodologa:
La metodologa utilizada en el presente artculo ha consistido en la consulta
de diversas bibliografa, para poder entender correctamente la evolucin y estado
actual del tema tratado, se ha utilizado adems de la bibliografa ordinaria la infor-
macin disponible en la red, en portales de organismo internacionales solvente. La
bibliografa ha sido tanto nacional como internacional.
Finalmente complementamos el articulo con la con la informacin ms
reciente en cuanto a la legislacin correspondiente a dicho tema por parte del organ-
ismo correspondiente, la OMI.
Despus de esta eleccin metodolgica, se efecto la revisin de los textos,
figuras y tablas. Para entender esta tarea, utilizando como herramienta fundamental
los textos ya seleccionados y a nuestra disposicin.
La calidad de los productos comienza a forjarse en la etapa de diseo, sigu-
iendo los mximos estndares de calidad a nivel internacional y teniendo en cuenta
las mayores exigencias a las que sern sometidos al momento de ser utilizados.
Posteriorrmente, se elaboran a travs de tecnologa de ltima generacin pre-
sente en cada una de las refineras que posee la Compaa. Por ltimo, en la etapa de
distribucin, almacenaje y comercializacin, se lleva a cabo un estricto seguimiento
que comprende monitoreos continuos de calidad y certificacin.
Este sistema de gestin integral de la calidad asegura al cliente la utilizacin
del productos con calidad de origen, permitiendo su trazabilidad desde el mercado a
la refinera a travs del nmero de Certificado de Calidad.
Fuel Testing
Residual Fuel, Fuel Oil Testing Analysis Fuel Oil Test Methods
API Gravity / Density / Relative Density (Elevated temp) D287 / D1298 / D4052
Ash Content Test D482
Flash Point Test (PMCC) D 93B
Pour Point Test D 97
Sediment Content D473
Sulfur Content Analysis D4294
Viscosity - Kinematic at 40 & 100C (100 & 210F if necessary). D445
Water Content D95
S & W (Centrifuge) D1796
Number 2 Fuel Oil Basic Testing Analysis
API Gravity / Density / Relative Density D287 / D1298 / D 4052
Appearance or Haze D4176 / Colonial
Cetane Index (Calculation Only) D976
Cetane Index (Calculation Only) D4737A or B
Cloud Point D2500/D5771/D5773
Color D1500
Copper Corrosion D130
art. 5.qxp 19/02/2007 21:07 Pgina 94
Distillation D86
Flash Point D93A
Pour Point D97/D5950/D5949
Sulfur Content D4294
Sulfur Content (WDXRF) D2622
Sulfur Content by Oxidative Microcoulometry D3120
Sulfur Content by UV Fluorescence D5453
S & W (Centrifuge) if required . D1796 / D2709
Metals Analysis- Al, Si Ashing & Fusion D5184 / IP377, AAS/AES
Metals Analysis- Al, Si, V, Ni, Fe, Na Ashing & Fusion IP470, AAS/AES
Metals Analysis- Ni, V, Na Solvent Dilution D5863B, AAS/AES
Metals Analysis - Ni, V, Fe Digestion & Ashing D5863A, AAS/AES
Metals, (Graphite furnace for three elements) AAS/AES
Metals Testing- Ni, V, Fe Solvent Dilution ICP D5708A
Metals Testing- Ni, V, Fe Digestion & Ashing ICP D5708B
Metals Testing, Each additional outside scope of procedure Various
Microscopic Characterization of Particulates (wear debris)
Molecular Weight (Includes necessary tests) D2502
NACE Corrosion Test TM0172
Nitrogen Content Kjeldahl D3228
Nitrogen Content, Nitrogen Speciation D4629, D5762 Chemiluminescence
Nitrogen - Bases UOP269 / UOP313
Oxidation Stability (Accelerated) D2274, D6468 (Octel F21)
Oxidation Stability (Oxygen Overpressure) D5304.
Particulate Contamination D6217/IP 415
pH Value D1293
Polypropylene in Fuels, Qualitative. BPMarine A.
Polypropylene in Fuels, Quantitative by FTIR BPMarine B
Pour Point (Amsterdam Procedure) Shell Method
Refractive Index D1218
Salt Content D3230 / D6470 / IP77
Sediment in Lube Oils D2273
Sediment by Hot Filtration D4870 / IP375
Sediment - Potential (Accelerated) IP390 + IP375
Simulated Distillation D2887 Sim Dis
Simulated Distillation High Temperature Sim Dis
Storage Stability of Diesel D4625
Stability Testing, Fuel Oil Peptization Value P-value and P0/Frmax
Sulfur / Sulphur (Bomb Method) D129
Sulfur Dioxide Emissions (Calculation Only)
Sulfur / Sulphur Speciation
Toluene or Xylene Equivalence
Ultimate Analysis (C.H.N. with O by difference.) D5291
Unsulfonated Residue in Diesel D483
Viscosity (Saybolt) in Diesel D445 & D2161
Viscosity - Kinematic at 40 & 100C (100 & 210F if necessary) D445
Viscosity - Kinematic at other temps D445
Viscosity Index (Including tests) D445 & D2270
Water Content (Volumetric Karl Fischer) E203
Water Content (Coulometric Karl Fischer) D6304
Wax Appearance in Distillates D3117
Wax Content UOP46
Water Separability (Demulsification) D1401 / FTM3201
art. 5.qxp 19/02/2007 21:07 Pgina 95
E TA PAS DE CONTROL DE CALIDAD
Elaboracin
Cada refinera cuenta con un laboratorio altamente equipado donde se evala
la calidad de todos los productos intermedios que salen de cada planta de proceso y
fundamentalmente se efecta la evaluacin de la calidad de los productos finales.
Los laboratorios fijos y mviles de Servicio Tcnico de Productos controlan la
calidad de los combustibles y asisten tcnicamente al cliente.
Distribucin, almacenaje y comercializacin
En esta segunda etapa, el combustible es transportado a travs del sistema de
distribucin de la Compaa y almacenado en las distintas Terminales de Despacho.
En esta instancia, el Departamento de Servicio Tcnico de Productos efecta una
nueva evaluacin de calidad dando lugar a la certificacin del combustible y habili-
tando su despacho.
Inspecciones peridicas
La ltima etapa la constituyen las inspecciones peridicas que realiza Servicio
Tcnico en las distintas Terminales y dems puntos de distribucin. Las mismas
comprende la evaluacin de la calidad del combustible y la verificacin de las condi-
ciones de almacenaje, de modo de asegurar en el tiempo la ausencia de ciertos ele-
mentos que podran alterar las propiedades del combustible (agua, partculas, etc.)
La estructura de Servicio Tcnico consta una serie de laboratorios distribui-
dos geogrficamente a lo largo y ancho del pas con cobertura sobre todo el territo-
rio nacional. Estn equipados con tecnologa de ltima generacin y operados por
personal altamente calificado, que adems de realizar los controles de calidad men-
cionados anteriormente cumplen la funcin de asistir tcnicamente al Cliente.
art. 5.qxp 19/02/2007 21:07 Pgina 96

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IGNITION QUALITY OF RESIDUAL FUEL OILS

Francisco Arvelo Valencia

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