Abstract

Present communication deals with evaluation of various additives, formulations and chemicals that are either commercially available or synthesized in authors’ laboratory for cracked residual fuel oil. The objective of this study is to assess the suitability of these additives and chemical components with regard to sediment and deposit inhibiting characteristics and study the effect of the additives on actual fuel combustion so that suitable type of additives can be identified for cracked residual fuel oil. The additives tested were found to cause considerable reduction in total sediments almost 10 times and in un-filterable residue by 2.5 times. Low air pressure (LAP) burner test in an actual furnace showed significant improvement in terms of combustion efficiency (15.4%), fuel economy (26.7%) and particulates in flue gases (40%). It was concluded that the quality of cracked furnace oil can be improved to an acceptable performance level by the help of proper additive.

Key words: Combustion-efficiency, cracked residue, fuel-economy, furnace-oil, fuel-quality.