Blending

Inspectorate has years of experience in blending petroleum products to meet client specifications, thereby adding significant value to their business. Gasoline and fuel oil blending require specialists with an intimate knowledge of petroleum chemistry, ship loading systems, terminal tankage, pumps and pipelines. A variety of blending components are normally hand blended in our laboratories in different ratios in order to determine the amount, and nature of the various components required to meet the finished blend quality required. hen blending is carried out in ships! tanks, Inspectorate specialists! knowledge of ship loading systems facilitates a variety of components being blended in a controlled and planned manner. "his operation requires highly skilled operatives, given the complexity of shipboard systems and the fact that most vessels are not built to perform such blending operations on a regular basis. e staff inspectors with speciali#ed blending knowledge who can assist the vessel officers and crew in performing such operations in a timely and cost$ effective manner. "oday Inspectorate carries out blending operations on behalf of the world!s ma%or oil companies and independent traders on a daily basis around the world. &ur inspectors are backed up by our global network of state of the art petroleum laboratories, operating to international standards, state of the art equipment, and sub%ect to internal and external audits.

From Crude Oil The oil refining process starts with a fractional distillation column.
The problem with crude oil is that it contains hundreds of different types of hydrocarbons all mixed together. You have to separate the different types of hydrocarbons to have anything useful. Fortunately there is an easy way to separate things, and this is what oil refining is all about. Different hydrocarbon chain lengths all have progressively higher boiling points, so they can all be separated by distillation. This is what happens in an oil refinery - in one part of the process, crude oil is heated and the different chains are pulled out by their vaporization temperatures. ach different chain length has a different property that ma!es it useful in a different way.
Quiz Corner Test your knowledge of oil and oil production with our Oil Shale Quiz.

To understand the diversity contained in crude oil, and to understand why refining crude oil is so important in our society, loo! through the following list of products that come from crude oil"

Petroleum gas - used for heating, cooking, making plastics small alkanes ( to ! car"on atoms#

commonly known "y the names methane, ethane, propane, "utane "oiling range $ less than %! degrees &ahrenheit ' !% degrees Celsius often li(uified under pressure to create )*+ (li(uified petroleum gas#

Naphtha or Ligroin - intermediate that will "e further processed to make gasoline

mi, of - to . car"on atom alkanes "oiling range $ !% to / / degrees &ahrenheit ' 0% to %% degrees Celsius

Gasoline - motor fuel

li(uid mi, of alkanes and cycloalkanes (- to / car"on atoms# "oiling range $ %! to !% degrees &ahrenheit ' !% to /%- degrees Celsius

Kerosene - fuel for 1et engines and tractors2 starting material for making other products

li(uid mi, of alkanes ( % to 3 car"ons# and aromatics "oiling range $ 4-% to 0 5 degrees &ahrenheit ' 5- to 4/- degrees Celsius

Gas oil or Diesel distillate - used for diesel fuel and heating oil2 starting material for making other products

li(uid alkanes containing / or more car"on atoms "oiling range $ !3/ to 00/ degrees &ahrenheit ' /-% to 4-% degrees Celsius

Lubricating oil - used for motor oil, grease, other lu"ricants

li(uid long chain (/% to -% car"on atoms# alkanes, cycloalkanes, aromatics

"oiling range $ -5/ to 5%% degrees &ahrenheit ' 4%% to 45% degrees Celsius

ea!" gas or Fuel oil - used for industrial fuel2 starting material for making other products

li(uid long chain (/% to 5% car"on atoms# alkanes, cycloalkanes, aromatics "oiling range $ 5%% to Celsius / degrees &ahrenheit ' 45% to 0%% degrees

#esiduals - coke, asphalt, tar, wa,es2 starting material for making other products

solid multiple-ringed compounds with 5% or more car"on atoms "oiling range $ greater than Celsius / degrees &ahrenheit ' 0%% degrees

You may have noticed that all of these products have different sizes and boiling ranges. #hemists ta!e advantage of these properties when refining oil. $oo! at the next section to find out the details of this fascinating process. What Is Diesel Fuel
Eighteen-wheelers, heavy work trucks, and a few types of cars all have something in common: they all run on diesel fuel. Diesel fuel is heavier than gasoline but lighter than lube oil. It is a blend of petroleum compounds called middle distillates and might contain additional additives. Other types of middle distillates include kerosene and o. ! "eating Oil. #nlike gasoline, which is ignited in the engine by the spark plugs, diesel fuel operates under compression. In a diesel engine, diesel fuel is in$ected into a into the compressed, high-temperature air in the combustion chamber and ignites spontaneously. %he air is compressed by a piston that travels up the cylinder. &hen the piston reaches the top of the cylinder, diesel fuel is in$ected into the cylinder. %he friction of the compression causes the fuel to ignite. 'll diesel fuel has a cetane number. %his is the measure of the ease in which diesel fuel is ignited in your engine. %he cetane number of diesel describes the fuel(s ability to smoothly start-up, warm-up period, and even combustion. Every type of diesel engine has a minimum cetane re)uirement. "owever, if the cetane number os higher than what is recommended, it does not necessarily improve the performance and efficiency of the diesel engine. *ost

manufacturers of diesel engines recommend diesel fuels with a cetane number of at least +, and most fuels meet or e-ceed this re)uirement.. Diesel fuels vary depending on the distillery facility. %his depends on the latitude and weather of the facility. #nlike gasoline, diesel fuel does not react well with cold. "eavier diesel fuels will thicken and congeal in cold weather which is why diesel engines are often left running when it cold. Otherwise the engine may not start. Diesel fuel is not as volatile as gasoline, kerosene, or other types of fuels. Depending on the method of distilling, diesel fuel will have a flash point .the point of combustion/ of anywhere from 0!,-degrees to 01,-degrees. It does not burn as clean as gas, though, which is why diesel pumps and engines are often dirtier than their gasoline counterparts. %his is also why you see smoke coming from the stacks of an eighteen-wheeler every time it changes gears. %here is a cleaner burning form of diesel fuel which is called biodiesel. 2iodiesel is produced from vegetable oil or animal fat. It works due to the reaction of alcohol with fatty-acids to produce a monoalkyl ester. %he technology is still in the early stages but a blend of biodiesel and petroleum fuel can be used in diesel engines without any harm or modifications to the engine.

What Is Fuel Oil

3uel oil is classified as any li)uid fuel that is burned in a furnace or broiler to generate heat or is used in an engine to provide power. In a broad term, fuel oil is referred to as the heaviest form of commercial fuel. 3uel oils are created by distilling crude oil and removing different fractions to make the different types of fuel. It is comprised of a mi-ture of petroleum distillate hydrocarbons. 3uel oil is made of long hydrocarbon chains, particularly alkanes, cycloalkanes and aromatics. 3uel oil is divided into two main types which are then broken down into si- different categories or grade numbers. %he two types are distillate oils and residual oils. Distillate oils are refined from crude oil. 4esidual oils are less common because they are so thick, they have to be heated with special e)uipment before use and they contain a high amount of pollutants such as sulfur. %he grades go from grade o. 0 through o. 1. depending on their boiling point composition and purpose. o.0 through 5 are distillate oils and o. + through 6 are residual oils. %he higher the grade of fuel oils, the cheaper they are. 3or instance, o. 1 grade cannot be used in vehicles and small engines but it is the cheapest fuel available. %he grades for fuel oils are as follows:

o. 0: 7imilar to kerosene and is the fraction that boils off right after gasoline. o. !: %his is diesel fuel that trucks and some cars run on. It is also referred to as road diesel. o. 5: is a distillate fuel oil and is rarely used. o. +: %his fuel oil is often a blend of distillate and residual fuel oils but is sometimes $ust a heavy distillate. It can be classified as diesel, distillate or residual fuel oil. o. 6: ' residual fuel oil which is heavier than the distillate oil. %his is is a mi-ture of .about 86-9,:/ with o. !. #sed in boilers, trains, and large ships. o. 1

o. 1: ' residual fuel oil also called 2unker ;. %his is the remains of the crude oil after gasoline and the distillate fuel oils are e-tracted through distillation. #sed in boilers, trains, and large ships.

$un%er Fuel Oil $lending

' <iskoot Inline bunker fuel oil blender can save between =0 and =6 a tonne by minimising the distillate give away. 2lending of bunker fuel oils at a low cost and on specification is re)uired by many, if not all, suppliers. 4ising costs and fluctuations in feedstock )uality make bunker fuel oil blending difficult with many suppliers producing higher spec products than needed.

<iskoot bunker fuel oil blenders use a controller with uni)ue control algorithms that respond instantly to changes in process conditions or feedstock )uality. %he heavy fuel oil and cutter stock are continuously measured and ad$usted during the batch to ensure optimum )uality and minimum give-away. <iskoot bunker fuel oil blending systems are designed to ensure consistent )uality throughout the batch even during tank changes, feedstock starvation, loss of power or the unlikely failure of a system component. %he final product is mi-ed in the

blender header where a viscosity analyser can be installed. %he viscometer generates a control signal, which can be used to continually optimise the blended product by ad$usting the component ratio during the batch. %his ensures that the blended product is produced at the lowest cost and remains as specified at all times.

<iskoot bunke r blenders are simple to use. %he desired recipe and volume or mass is selected from the controller and the blend started. Once initiated> the blending process is automatic and produces the final product with no intervention, only informing an operator if an alarm condition occurs.

%he control system produces all billing, loading and transaction documents .in volume or mass/ including trend reports for ma$or parameters .such as viscosity/ in case of dispute.

2unker fuel oil blenders can be skid mounted .for installation on a barge, $etty or shore/, mounted in a container offering a portable, safe working environment or self-contained on a trailer allowing one blender to be used at multiple locations.

Refinery Product Blending Systems

6d7anced process control generally re(uires near real-time stream (uality

information. The e,ceptional a7aila"ility of the 89: analyzer ena"les this information to "e supplied relia"ly for process control, while the technology ensures accuracy and repeata"ility. ;ecause this analyzer can "e applied to numerous component (uality measurements, a single analyzer can often alle7iate the need for multiple analyzers to satisfy an 6*C or optimization application. %s an example, &nvensys' (lend )ptimization and *upervisory *ystem +()**, provides management of the component and product tan!s, blend header, online and laboratory analytical systems, and planning-scheduling activities. ()** produces blended products with a high degree of precision to meet specifications while minimizing .uality giveaway. This maximizes the use of the lowest cost components in the blend, increasing the flexibility of the tan! farm operation, and minimizing the fre.uency of reblends. % flexible ob/ective function permits component cost, inventory constraints, or product specification to direct The *86 89: analyzer can pro7ide products such as ;OSS with near real-time component stream and "lended product chemical (uality information. This information ena"les multi7aria"le analyzer-directed control including< &eedforward control for component (uality 7ariations &eed"ack control for product (uality 7ariations Quality integration of product and component tanks *ro1ected product (ualities at the "lend header % refinery gasoline blending system upgrade pro/ect including blend optimization can provide benefits amounting to 01.23 to 01.41-bbl gasoline. &ncluding the cost of engineering studies, new field e.uipment, and new instrumentation in a tan! farm automation and blend optimization pro/ect, the paybac! period is typically less than 25 months. This is true for gasoline, diesel, and fuel oil blending operations.

Fuel oil is a fraction o"tained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. ;roadly speaking, fuel oil is any li(uid petroleum product that is "urned in a furnace or "oiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, e,cept oils ha7ing a flash point of appro,imately !% =C ( %! =&# and oils "urned in cotton or wool-wick "urners. >n this sense, diesel is a type of fuel oil. &uel oil is made of long hydrocar"on chains, particularly alkanes, cycloalkanes and aromatics. The term fuel oil is also used in a stricter sense to refer only to the hea7iest commercial fuel that can "e o"tained from crude oil, hea7ier than gasoline

and naphtha.

Fuel oil is classified into six classes, numbered 2 through 6, according to its boiling point, composition and purpose. The boiling point, ranging from 273 to 611 8#, and carbon chain length, 9 to 71 atoms, of the fuel increases with fuel oil number. :iscosity also increases with number, and the heaviest oil has to be heated to get it to flow. ;rice usually decreases as the fuel number increases. No. 1 fuel oil, No. 2 fuel oil and No. 3 fuel oil are variously referred to as distillate fuel oils, diesel fuel oils, light fuel oils, gasoil or /ust distillate. For example, <o. = fuel oil, <o. = distillate and <o. = diesel fuel oil are almost the same thing +diesel is different in that it also has a cetane number limit which describes the ignition .uality of the fuel,. Distillate fuel oils are distilled from crude oil. >as oil refers to the process of distillation. The oil is heated, becomes a gas and then condenses.

Number 1 is similar to !erosene and is the fraction that boils off right after gasoline. Number 2 is the diesel fuel that truc!s and some cars run on, leading to the name ?road diesel?. &t is the same thing as heating oil. Number 3 is a distillate fuel oil and is rarely used. Number 4 fuel oil is usually a blend of distillate and residual fuel oils, such as <o. = and 6@ however, sometimes it is /ust a heavy distillate. <o. A may be classified as diesel, distillate or residual fuel oil. Number 5 fuel oil and Number 6 fuel oil are called residual fuel oils +R !, or hea"y fuel oils. Bore <umber 6 oil is produced compared to <umber 3 oil, the terms heavy fuel oil and residual fuel oil are sometimes used as names for <umber 6. <umber 3 and 6 are what remains of the crude oil after gasoline and the distillate fuel oils are extracted through distillation. <umber 3 fuel oil is a mixture of 73-51 C <umber 6 oil and =3-=1C of <umber = oil. <umber 6 oil may also contain a small amount of <o. = to get it to meet specifications. Desidual fuel oils are sometimes called light when they have been mixed with distillate fuel oil, while distillate fuel oils are called hea"y when they have been mixed with residual fuel oil. #ea"y gas oil, for example, is a distillate that contains residual fuel oil. The ready availability of grades of fuel oil is often due to the success of catalytic crac!ing of fuel to release more valuable fractions and leave heavy residue.

$edit% Bun&er fuel

*mall molecules li!e those in propane gas, naptha, gasoline for cars, and /et fuel have relatively low boiling points, and they are removed at the start of the fractional distillation process. Eeavier petroleum products li!e diesel and lubricating oil precipitate out more slowly, and bun!er oil is literally the bottom of the barrel@ the only thing more dense than bun!er fuel is the residue which is mixed with tar for paving roads and sealing roofs Bun&er fuel is technically any type of fuel oil used aboard ships. &t gets its name from the containers on ships and in ports that it is stored in@ in the days of steam they were coal bun!ers but now they are bun!er fuel tan!s. The %ustralian #ustoms and the %ustralian Tax )ffice define a bun!er fuel as the fuel that powers the engine of a ship or aircraft. (un!er % is <o. = fuel oil, bun!er ( is <o. A or <o. 3 and bun!er # is <o. 6. *ince <o. 6 is the most common, ?bun!er fuel? is often used as a synonym for <o. 6. <o. 3 fuel oil is also called na"y s'ecial fuel oil or /ust na"y s'ecial@ <o. 3 or 6 are also called furnace fuel oil + !,@ the high viscosity re.uires heating, usually by a recirculated low pressure steam system, before the oil can be pumped from a bun!er tan!. &n the context of shipping, the labeling of bun!ers as previously described is rarely used in modern practice. Further information on bun!er fuel.

(ses

6 fuel station in ?igui County on the @angtze :i7er

)il has many uses@ it heats homes and businesses and fuels truc!s, ships and some cars. % small amount of electricity is produced by diesel, but it is more polluting and more expensive than natural gas. &t is often used as a bac!up fuel for pea!ing power plants in case the supply of natural gas is interrupted or as the main fuel for small electrical generators. &n urope the use of diesel is generally restricted to cars +about A1C,, *F:s +about 91C,, and truc!s and buses +virtually all,. The mar!et for home heating using fuel oil, called heating oil, has decreased due to the widespread penetration of natural gas. Eowever, it is very common in some areas, such as the <ortheastern Fnited *tates. Desidual fuel oil is less useful because it is so viscous that it has to be heated with a special heating system before use and it contains relatively high amounts of pollutants, particularly sulfur, which forms sulfur dioxide upon combustion. Eowever, its undesirable properties ma!e it very cheap. &n fact, it is the cheapest li.uid fuel available. *ince it re.uires heating before use, residual fuel oil cannot be used in road vehicles, boats or small ships, as the heating e.uipment ta!es up valuable space and ma!es the vehicle heavier. Eeating the oil is also a delicate procedure, which is inappropriate to do on small, fast moving vehicles. Eowever, power plants and large ships are able to use residual fuel oil. Desidual fuel oil was used more fre.uently in the past. &t powered boilers, railroad steam locomotives and steamships. $ocomotives now use diesel@ steamships are not as common as they were previously due to their higher operating costs +most $<> carriers use steam plants, as ?boil-off? gas emitted from the cargo can be used as a fuel source,@ and most boilers now use heating oil or natural gas. Eowever, some industrial boilers still use it and so do a few old buildings, mostly in <ew Yor! #ityGcitation neededH. Desidual fuel's use in electricity generation has also decreased. &n 2974, residual fuel oil produced 26.5C of the electricity in the Fnited *tates. (y 2954, it had fallen to 6.=C, and as of =113, electricity production from all forms of petroleum, including diesel and residual fuel, is only 4C of total production. The decline is the result of price competition with natural gas and environmental restrictions on emissions. For power plants, the costs of heating the oil, extra pollution control and additional maintenance re.uired after burning it often outweigh the low cost of the fuel. (urning fuel oil, particularly residual fuel oil, also produces much dar!er smo!e than natural gas, which affects the perception of the plant by the community. Eeavy fuel oils continue to be used in the boiler ?lighting up? facility in many coal-fired power plants. %lthough on an enormous scale, this use is analogous to lighting !indling to start a fire@

without performing this simple function it is difficult to begin the large-scale combustion process. The chief drawbac! to residual fuel oil is its high initial viscosity, particularly in the case of <o. 6 oil, which re.uires a correctly engineered system for storage, pumping, and burning. Though it is still usually lighter than water +with a specific gravity usually ranging from 1.93 to 2.14, it is much heavier and more viscous than <o. = oil, !erosene, or gasoline. <o. 6 oil must, in fact, be stored at around 211 A +47.5 B, heated to 231 A +63.6 B,I=31 A +2=2.2 B, before it can be easily pumped, and in cooler temperatures it can congeal into a tarry semisolid. The flash point of most blends of <o. 6 oil is, incidentally, about 231 A +63.6 B,. %ttempting to pump highviscosity oil at low temperatures was a fre.uent cause of damage to fuel lines, furnaces, and related e.uipment which were often designed with lighter fuels in mind. +For comparison, (*=569 #lass > Eeavy Fuel )il behaves in similar fashion, re.uiring storage at 21A A +A1 B,, pumping at around 2== A +31 B, and finalising for burning at around 29A A +91 B, - =A5 A +2=1 B,., Bost of the facilities which historically burned <o. 6 or other residual oils were industrial plants and similar facilities constructed in the early or mid =1th century, or which had switched from coal to oil fuel during the same time period. &n either case, residual oil was seen as a good prospect because it was cheap and readily available, even though it provided less energy per volume-unit than lighter fuels. Bost of these facilities have subse.uently been closed and demolished, or have replaced their fuel supplies with a simpler one such as gas or <o. = oil. The high sulfur content of <o. 6 oilJup to 4C by weight in some extreme casesJhad a corrosive effect on many heating systems +which were usually designed without ade.uate corrosion protection in mind,, shortening their lifespans and increasing the polluting effects. This was particularly the case in furnaces that were regularly shut down and allowed to go cold@ the internal condensation produced sulfuric acid. nvironmental cleanups at such facilities are fre.uently complicated by the use of asbestos insulation on the fuel feed lines. <o. 6 oil is very persistent, and does not degrade rapidly. &ts viscosity and stic!iness also ma!e remediation of underground contamination very difficult, since it reduces the effectiveness of methods such as air-stripping. Khen released into water, such as a river or ocean, residual oil tends to brea! up into patches or tarballsJmixtures of oil and particulate matter such as silt and floating organic matter- rather than form a single slic!. %n average of about 3-21C of the material will evaporate within hours of the release, primarily the lighter hydrocarbon fractions. The remainder will then often sin! to the bottom of the water column.