Abstract
Recently, straight run residual fuels are being replaced by cracked residual fuels due to further processing of straight run residual fuels in order to get more middle distilaties.
Catalytically cracked residual fuel sometimes happens to include catalyst fines which are used in the cracking process, because these cannot be removed completely by a reclaimer. These catalyst fines in fuel are very abrasive ones and wear engine abnormally. It is necessary to remove catalyst fines from fuel before burning for safety operation of a diesel engine. Therefore, the wearing-out tests of 50 hour duration were carried out in a small size diesel engine with heavy fuels processed by a centrifuge or a mixer filter unit in order to investigate the effect of fuel pretreatment on engine wear.
The followings are concluded from the test results:
(1) Engine wear caused by catalyst fines in heavy fuel can be greatly reduced by fuel pretreatment.
(2) A centrifuge is a very effective equipement for reducing wear caused by catalyst fines.
(3) Abnormal engine wear caused by catalyst fines can be avoided by using a centrifuge and a mixer filter unit properly.
