Marine diesel oil

Marine Diesel Oil (MDO) is a type of fuel oil and is a blend of gasoil and heavy fuel oil, with more gasoil
than intermediate fuel oil used in the maritime field. Marine Diesel Oil is also called "Distillate Marine
Diesel".[1] MDO is widely used by medium speed and medium/high speed marine diesel engines. It is also
used in the larger low speed and medium speed propulsion engine which normally burn residual fuel.[1]
Those fuels result from a catalytic cracking and visbreaking refinery.[1] Marine diesel oil has been
condemned for its nimiety of sulfur, so many countries and organizations established regulations and laws
on MDO use. Due to its lower price compared to more refined fuel, MDO is favored particularly by
shipping industry. [2]

Contents
Specification
Manufacturing procedure
Use
Regulations and restrictions
References

Specification
ISO 8217 of the International Standards Organization (ISO) is the primary standard of MDO. [2]

Marine fuels range in viscosity from less than one centistoke (cSt) to about 700 cSt at 50°C (122°F).[2] (1
cSt = 1 mm2/s.) And higher viscosity grades are preheated during use to bring their viscosity into the range
suitable for fuel injection (8 to 27 cSt). [2] But MDO does not need to be preheated before using.
According to Chevron, MDO has a sulfur limit varies from 1 to 4.5 percent by mass for different grades
and Sulfur Emission Control Areas (SECAs). [2]

Manufacturing procedure
MDO is made from a catalytic cracking and visbreaking refinery.[3] The catalytic cracking operation breaks
large molecules into small molecules. It happens in high temperature and with appropriate catalyst.[3]
Visbreaking is a process that turn the bottom product of the vacuum unit, which has extremely high
viscosity, into lower viscosity, marketable product.[3] In visbreaking, a relatively mild thermal cracking
operation is performed.[3] And the amount of cracking is limited by the overruling requirement to safeguard
the heavy fuel stability.[3]

Use
The market of MDO is much smaller than on-highway diesel. According to the a 2004 U.S. Diesel Fuel
Sales statistics from U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, Marine shipping only
takes 3.7% of total diesel market.[2] On the other hand, On-highway diesel takes up 59.5% of diesel fuel
sales.[2] This small sales share of MDO is due to the high proportion of petroleum resid that made it can be
used on large marine engines.[2] According to Chevron, petroleum resid, or inorganic salts, in the fuel result
in injector tip deposits that prevent the injector from creating the desired fuel spray pattern.[2] But those
low-speed, large marine diesel engines are appropriate for using fuel containing large amounts of petroleum
resid.[2]

Regulations and restrictions

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) develops regulations for marine shipping. Among those
regulations, MARPOL (the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships) is the
most widely adopted one. [2] MARPOL is the main international convention covering the prevention of
operational or accidental pollution of the marine environment by ships. [2] Inside IMO, there is a committee
called MEPC(Marine Environment Protection Committee). MEPC has meetings periodically and discuss
resolutions to current marine pollution by adding amendments to its official documents.[4]

References
1. "Marine Diesel Fuel Oil" (http://www.etc-cte.ec.gc.ca/databases/Oilproperties/pdf/WEB_Mari
ne_Diesel_Fuel_Oil.pdf) (PDF). Environment Canada Oil Properties Database.
Environment Canada, Emergencies Science and Technology Division. Retrieved 23 April
2015.
2. Chevron. "Diesel Fuels Technical Review" (https://web.archive.org/web/20150411064644/ht
tp://www.chevron.com/documents/pdf/DieselFuelTechReview.pdf) (PDF). Chevron Global
Marketing. Chevron. Archived from the original (http://www.chevron.com/documents/pdf/Dies
elFuelTechReview.pdf) (PDF) on 11 April 2015. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
3. "Everything You Need to Know About Marine Fuels" (https://web.archive.org/web/20150330
002324/http://www.chevronmarineproducts.com/docs/everythingaboutfuels_v0108_lo.pdf)
(PDF). Chevron Global Marine Products. Chevron. Archived from the original (http://www.ch
evronmarineproducts.com/docs/everythingaboutfuels_v0108_lo.pdf) (PDF) on 30 March
2015. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
4. "MEPC Official Documents" (http://www.imo.org/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/
Marine-Environment-Protection-Committee-(MEPC)/Pages/default.aspx). Marine
Environment Protection Committee. IMO. Retrieved 7 May 2015.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marine_diesel_oil&oldid=1007702564"

This page was last edited on 19 February 2021, at 14:01 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0;

additional terms may apply. By
using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.