1
New Sulfur Limits for Bunker Fuels: The Challenges and Opportunities for the
Refinery Industry
Maoqi Feng, Chemical Engineering Department, Division of Chemistry and ChemicalEngineering, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX 78238, email:
mfeng@swri.org
.
Abstract
The demand for bunker fuels (heavy fuel oils) is constantly increasing thanks to the boomingshipping industry. Recently, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) approved theregulations for a decrease of sulfur limits of marine bunker fuels from 4.5% globally to 3.5% by2012 and to 0.5% in 2020-2025. For the Emission Control area (ECAs) in the U.S., whichincludes California, the Pacific Coast, and other areas, the sulfur level requirements are morestringent: 1.5% until 2010, 1.0% after 2010, and a further reduction to 0.1% in 2015. The
newregulations have raised concerns for the availability, cost and quality of lower sulfur bunker fuels,and
this brings a lot of challenges for refinery industry. Since shifting to conventional diesel fuelfor the shipping industry is an economic disadvantage, and after-treatment technology such asexhaust scrubbing can only solve part of the problems of meeting emission requirements,desulfurization of bunker fuels is becoming necessity in the refineries. Traditional diesel fueldesulfurization methods including hydrotreating might still be useful, but are less economicallyfeasible than other technologies, e.g., hydrocracking with new catalysts and improved
reactordesign
. This paper will review the technologies for low sulfur bunker fuels production, includinghydrotreating and conversion technology, including coking, hydrocracking, visbreaking,oxidative desulfurization, and ultrasound treatment.
Introduc
tion
On July 21, 2008, the U.S. officially signed the International Maritime Organization (IMO)"Marpol Annex 6" legislation, which requests cleaner marine diesel fuels and lower ocean
-
goingship engine emissions to cut ship pollution. Under the new IMO legislation, the sulfur limit willbe reduced from the current level of 4.5% to 1.5% by 2010, to 1.0% after 2010, and a furtherreduction to 0.1% in 2015 for the Emission Control Areas (ECAs) [1], including California, thePacific Coast, and possibly other areas in the U.S.
Bunker fuel is also known as heavy fuel oil, No. 6 fuel oil, resid, Bunker C, blended fuel oil,residual fuel oil, furnace oil, etc. This fuel type is used to fuel
ships, oil-
fired power plants, andlarge
-
scale heating installations. Bunker fuel is the residuum derived from crude oil after naphtha
-
gasoline, No. 1 fuel oil (a light petroleum distillate, straight
-
run kerosene, consisting primarily of hydrocarbons in the range C9
-
C16), and No. 2 fuel oil (hydrocarbon chain lengths in the C11C20 range) have been removed. No. 6 fuel oil is a heavy residual fuel normally a mixture of atmospheric and vacuum distillation residues cut back with kerosene or gas oil cutter stock toadjust for viscosity.
The vacuum residuum has a boiling point range of 565°C and above.
Bunker
fuel is more complex in composition and impurities than distillate fuels, including polycyclicaromatic hydrocarbons and their alkylated derivatives, and metal
-
containing constituents. Limitedcomprehensive data are available on the composition of bunker fuel oil.
Before being sold as bunker fuel, vacuum resid needs to be diluted to meet various salesspecifications for trace metals, sulfur and/or viscosity. In bunker fuel, sulfur exists as
2
both water
-
soluble contaminants, e.g.
, contaminant
-
metal sulfates, sulfites, and sulfides,
and oil soluble contaminants, such as polysulfides, thiols, mercaptans, etc.
The normal
practice for lowering sulfur content is to reduce the amount of sulfur in fuels that are sold byblending with low sulfur solvents.
New regulations are calling for a staged, step
-
by
-
step decrease in the sulfur content of thisparticular product. In the past, refiners have traditionally used the unregulated marine bunker fuelpool as a way to dispose of bottom
-
of
-t
he
-
barrel refinery streams high in sulfur. The newregulation puts more restriction on refiners. Refineries may need to install processes, e.g. deepcracking and residue hydrocracking, to upgrade high sulfur bunker fuel to be legal to sell or tomore valuable distillates such as gasoline and the middle distillates. This paper reviews theregulations for bunker fuel and its effect on the refining industry.
Bunker Fuel Specifications
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) regulates the specifications of marinefuels in cooperation with marine and petroleum industries to meet the supply worldwide for useonboard ships. There are 19 categories of residual fuels available internationally; only fourcategories or grades are most frequently supplied and used by ships.Industrial names for the four grades are IFO
-
180 (Intermediate Fuel Oil), IFO
-
380, MDO (MarineDiesel Oil) and MGO (Marine Gas Oil), which correspond to the ISO grades RME 25, RMG 35,DMB and DMA, respectively. Industrial nomenclature is based on the fuel viscosity at 50°C. IFO180 indicates that the viscosity of the fuel is 180 cSt at 50°C [2], and IFO 380 fuel has a viscosity
of 380 cSt at 50°C. MDO is a blend of gas oil and heavy oil. MGO is clear and not blended withresidual oil.IFO
-
180 (or RME 25) has about 6 to 7 % gas oil in it, while IFO
-
380 (or RMG 35) has about 3%gas oil. Because of the higher gas oil content, the price of IFO
-
180 is higher than the heavier IFO
-
380 grade. MDO or DMB is a blend of heavy fuel and gas oil and they are cheaper than pureMGO or DMA. Requirements are different for both the grades. In addition to gas oil contentdifference, requirements for 4 out of 11 parameters are different for the two grades. As you cansee from the table, the maxima for
viscosity,
carbon residue
, ash content and
vanadium
aredifferent for the two grades.The ISO specifications for bunker fuels are listed in Tables 1 and 2. Here the fuel types RMA,RMB, RMD, RME, RMF, RMG, RMH, RMK are used for heavy fuels.
Table 1. ISO 8217:2006(F) fuel quality standard for residual marine fuels.
Parameter
Limit
RMA
30
RMB
30
RMD
80
RME
180
RMF
180
RMG
380
RMH
380
RMK
380
RMH
700
RMK
700
Density at 15°C, kg/m
3
Max
960.0
975.0
980.0
991.0
991.0
1010.0
991.0
1010.0
Viscosity at 50°C,
mm
2
/s
Max
30.0
80.0
180.0
380.0
700
Water, volume%
Max
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
Micro Carbon Residue,weight%
Max
10
14
15
20
18
22
22
Sulfur
, weight%
Max
3.5
4.00
4.50
4.50
4.50
Ash, weight%
Max
0.10
0.10
0.10
0.15
0.15
0.15
0.15
3
Vanadium, mg/kg
Max
150
3
50
200
500
300
600
600
Flash point,
°C
Min
60
60
60
60
60
Pour point, Summer, °C
Max
6 24
30
30
30
30
Pour point, Winter, °C
Max
0 24
30
30
30
30
Aluminum + Silicon,mg/kg
Max
80
80
80
80
80
Total Sediment Potential,weight%
Max
0.10
0.10
0.10
0.10
0.10
Zinc, mg/kg
Max
15
Phosphorus, mg/kg
Max
15
Calcium, mg/kg
Max
30
Note: *
-
A sulfur limit of 1.5% m/m will apply in SOx Emission Control Areas designated by theInternational Maritime Organization, when its relevant Protocol comes into force. There may belocal variations. See Reference [2].
Table 2. ISO 8217:2006(F) fuel quality standard for distillate marine fuels
Parameter
Limit
DMX
DMA
DMB
DMC
Test method
Density at 15°C, kg/m
3
Max
-
890.0
900.0
920.0
ISO 3675
Viscosity at 40°C, mm
2
/s
Max
5.5
0
6.00
11.00
14.00
ISO 3104
Viscosity at 40°C, mm
2
/s
Min
1.40
1.50
- -
ISO 3104
Micro Carbon Residue
at 10% Residue, weight%
Max
0.30
0.30
- -
ISO 10370
Micro Carbon Residue, weight%
Max
- -
0.30
2.50
ISO 10370
Water, volume%
Max
- -
0.30
0.30
ISO 3733
Sulfur*, weight%
Max
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.00
ISO 8754 orISO 14595
Total Sediment Existent, weight%
Max
- -
0.10
0.10
ISO 10307
-2
Ash, weight%
Max
0.01
0.01
0.01
0.05
ISO 6245
Vanadium, mg/kg
Max
- - -
100
ISO 14597
Aluminum + Silicon, mg/kg
Max
- - -
25
ISO 10478
Flash point,
°C
Min
43
60
60
60
ISO 2719
Pour point, Summer, °C
Max
- 0 6 6
ISO 3016
Pour point, Winter, °C
Max
- -6 0 0
ISO 3016
Cloud point, °C
Max
-
16
- - -
ISO 3015
Calculated Cetane Index
Min
45
40
35
-
Appearance
Clear & Bright
- -Zinc, mg/kg
Max
- -
15
IP 501
Phosphorus, mg/kg
Max
- -
15
IP 501
Calcium, mg/kg
Max
- -
30
IP 501
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