As the demand for distillate products increases, petroleum refiners find it increasingly expansive to meet the traditional specifications for jet and diesel fuels. Because those costs eventually show up in the price of fuel, the railroad industry has a diesel fuel research program to identify broadened specification fuels that cost less than standard fuels and which do not adversely affect engine performance or maintenance cost. Laboratory tests concentrated on cetane number, distillation range, and viscosity. The tests included 72 hours at idle speed, engine performance, and 500-hour endurance tests. Long-term field tests have verified the laboratory findings that cetane number can be reduced to 32 and the 90 percent distillation point increased to 700 F. Several railraods now have over three years of experience with braodened specification fuels in normal operations with no reported problems. With formal tests, some railroads have also relaxed their winter specifications for pour and cloud points.
Broadened diesel fuel specifications for rail applications
Breitspezifische Dieselkraftstoffe fuer die Anwendung bei Eisenbahnen
ASME-Papers ; Jan ; 1-7
1988
7 Seiten, 5 Bilder, 6 Tabellen, 5 Quellen
Conference paper
English
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