Fuel Oil
Furnace Oil
Industrial heavy fuel for boilers, kilns and furnaces — high calorific value at the lowest delivered cost per megajoule.
Furnace oil is the term used across South Asia, the Middle East and Africa for residual fuel burned in stationary industrial plant. It is essentially the same family of product as marine fuel oil, specified for combustion in boilers, kilns and furnaces rather than in engines.
For any process that needs large quantities of heat, furnace oil delivers it more cheaply per megajoule than diesel, LPG or electricity in most markets.
Industries that run on it
- Textile mills — process steam for dyeing, finishing and drying
- Cement plants — kiln firing and raw mill drying
- Ceramic, brick and glass works — continuous kiln operation
- Steel re-rolling mills and reheating furnaces
- Chemical and fertilizer plants — process heat and steam generation
- Food processing, paper mills and sugar refineries
- Captive power generation on industrial sites
Getting clean combustion
Three things decide whether furnace oil burns cleanly: temperature, atomisation and air control. The fuel must reach the burner at the viscosity the tip was designed for, usually 15 to 25 cSt, which means preheating to somewhere between 90 and 120 °C depending on grade.
Atomisation breaks the fuel into a fine spray so it can mix with combustion air. A worn or fouled burner tip produces coarse droplets, incomplete combustion, soot deposits and wasted fuel. Excess air should be trimmed to the minimum that still gives complete combustion — typically 10 to 20 per cent — since every extra percentage point carries heat up the stack.
Storage and system design
- Heated, insulated bulk tanks with steam or electric coils
- Trace-heated and insulated transfer lines throughout
- Duplex strainers upstream of pumps to catch coarse solids
- Inline final heater immediately before the burner
- Tank bottom drain point and a routine water-draining schedule
- Bunded tank farm with spill containment to environmental requirement
Efficiency worth chasing
Small operational improvements compound on a fuel this size. Recovering flue gas heat to preheat combustion air or feedwater, insulating every hot surface in the system, keeping boiler tubes free of soot, and trimming excess air with an oxygen analyser will together typically take five to fifteen per cent off consumption. We are happy to review a site's fuel system as part of a supply discussion.
Typical specification
| Kinematic viscosity @ 50 °C | 125 – 180 cSt typical |
|---|---|
| Density @ 15 °C | 0.92 – 0.99 kg/l |
| Gross calorific value | 42 – 44 MJ/kg |
| Sulphur content | To contract and local permit |
| Flash point | 66 °C minimum |
| Pour point | 20 – 30 °C |
| Water & sediment | 1.0% v/v maximum |
| Ash content | 0.10% m/m maximum |
Values are indicative and given for guidance. Contract specification is agreed in writing and certified per batch on the certificate of analysis issued with each shipment.
