Modern Fuel Systems Symposium
Exchanges Of Experiences—Problems And Solutions—Prove Use Of
Heavy Fuels In Medium-Speed Diesel Engines Is Increasing And Economical
Two years ago Alfa-Laval, Inc.
of Fort Lee, N.J. sponsored a sym-
posium on modern fuel systems.
This symposium was so successful
that a second symposium on the
same subject was held recently in
St. Louis, Mo. This year's sympo-
sium was sponsored by both Alfa-
Laval and Diesel Progress. It
brought together engine builders,
oil companies, shipyards, vessel
owners and manufacturers of fuel-
treatment additives.
The program was oriented to the
needs of inland and coastal water-
ways operators. The topics covered
included basic fuel chemistry, fuel
purification, additives, fuel blend-
ing, heavy-fuel burning, engine
design and operating experience.
The following excerpts from the
papers presented (in order of pre-
sentation) indicate the wide range
of thoughts presented, including
present and future problems with
suggested solutions:
Cletus H. Jones, Belcher Oil
Company of Miami Fla., presented
comments on "The Quality and
Availability of Blended Marine
Fuels in 1983." He stated that his
definition of quality is "if the prod-
uct does the job it was intended to
do, that's quality. It may not smell
good or look good—the laboratory
analysis may indicate major defi-
ciencies, but if it passes the per-
formance test in the engine, it is a
quality product."
He went on to state: purchasing
blended marine fuels has an ele-
ment of art to it. First of all, in-
sisting on the lowest possible price
at all times assures you of one
thing—if there is a problem fuel in
the market place, you will get
your share of the headaches.
Another simple rule is to avoid
confusing a fuel-supply specifica-
tion with an engine specification.
The fuel coming over the rail, in
most instances, is not the fuel in-
jected into the combustion cham-
ber. One is a treated fuel, the
other is not. I realize this is basic
stuff, but it amazes me how often
sophisticated operators buy an ex-
pensive grade of blended fuel be-
cause, I suspect, they either don't
know or don't trust their onboard
treatment procedures.
In summary, the current high-
speed diesel operator contemplat-
ing installation of medium-speed
residual-burning diesel engines will
have to make some judgement
calls on blended-fuel quality and
availability. Unlike No. 2 diesel,
the specifications for blended fuels
are vague and there is a lot of in-
formation missing. Progress on
testing and the exchange of infor-
mation is improving, but we still
have a way to go.
Alternately, there are operators
worldwide successfully using this
type of equipment despite the
aforementioned shortcomings.
Practically speaking, medium-speed
engines are in general use every-
where except the U.S. inland
waterways.
Finally, let us keep in mind that
the diesel engine originally was
conceived to run using pulverized
coal as fuel. It is a wonderfully
adaptive and forgiving piece of
equipment. Certainly in today's
(continued on page 12)
EFFICIENCY
DECK AND AUXILIARY MACHINERY DESIGNING, BUILDING, REPAIRING
W ..
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90' Between
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1500 Ton Dock
160' x 80'
70' Between
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850 Ton Dock
60' x 150'
50' Between
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300 Ton Dock
50' x 80'
40' Between
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The Choice is Markey
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(MARKEY]
flVIAIN IRON WORKS, INC.l)
REPAIR SERVICE
SERVING TUGS, PUSHERS, TOWBOATS, CREWBOATS,
SUPPLY BOATS, INLAND & OFFSHORE BARGES
HISTORY
Founded in 1948, Main Iron Works. Inc's
current facilities are available for construction
of new vessels ranging in size from 45' to 250
in length. Dry docking and a full range of
repair services are also available, including a
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With over thirty years experience and our
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GENERAL SERVICES
Air control mechanics
Electrical repairs, trouble shooting
Hydraulic mechanics
Piping and plumbing repairs
Sandblasting and Painting
Complete machine shop service
A.B.S approved for stainless steel
Cladding on main shafts
Complete wood working shop
Four Dry Docks:
300 Ton Capacity
850-Ton Capacity
1500-Ton Capacity
3500-Ton Capacity completed 1st qtr 84
Machine Shop:
Lathes Capacity in feet — 36 Feet
Swing in inches — 30 Inches
Wet Slips:
Three slips available for your boats or
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Shaft Storage Rack:
To avoid costly delay in waiting for
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Inventory:
Along with our parts inventory, we keep
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We also have a supply of forgings and bar
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Crane Service:
100 Ton Fixed Stiffleg for Offloading and
Loading Supplies
All ot the services listed above are available on a 24-hour basis, seven days
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Located at 50 Mile Marker
on Intracoastal Waterway
P.O. Box 1918
Houma. Louisiana 70361
CONTACT:
LeRoy Molaison • Henry Brunet
Otto Hughes • Wayne Piazza
(504) 876-6302 • (504) 525-4020^
REPRESENTED BY
H.J./ WICKERT & CO . INC . 1550 Burke St - Unit 0
San Francisco. Ca 94124 • Ph 415-647-3500
J.H MENGE CO . INC.. P0 Box 23602
New Orleans La 70183 • Ph 504-733-4871
J H MENGE CO INC . 1011 World Trade Bldg
1520 Texas Ave Houston. Tx 77002 • 713-224-9750
MARKEY MACHINERY CO.. INC
P.O. Box 24788, Seattle. Wash. 9§124
79 S. Horton St., Seattle, Wash. 98134
Ph. 206-622-4697
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