STANDARD FUELS USED FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION MARINE ENGINES IN THE USSR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00047R000400730008-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 20, 2013
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: September 8, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

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CLASSIFICATION SECRET I 'r 0- --1W
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
COUNTRY USSR
SUBJECT Standard Fuels Used for Internal Combustion
Marine Engines in the USSR
DATE DISTR. '
50X1
NO. OF PAGES 7
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
REPORT NO.
TMIL OOCVY[NT CONTAIN[ INIONMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DOFEMSO
01 TOE UNITED STATE I' WITHIN TML SIANINI O/TITLE 1$, SECTION! 703
ANN Tf 1' 0/ TNL V.L. CODE' AS AMEMDEO. ITS TIANSMISLIOM OE SEVE.
LATION OF ITL CONTENT[ TO ON RECEIPT NV LII UMAUTNONIE[D TAN30. IS
PROMISITED IV LAY. TOE LEPNODUCTIOM OP TNIL ION. IL PAONISITE D.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
50X1
The basic fuels used for internal combustion ship engines in the
USSR are refined petroleum products. Generally speaking, of the
fuels used in all branches of industry in the USSR up to 70% are
petroleum products.
2. From 1931 to 1946 a classification for petroleum was in use which
divided fuels into six groups depending on the fractional content
of predominating hydrocarbons. In 1946 a new standard industrial
classification of petroleum (GOST 912-46) was introduced and is
in effect today. The new classification is based upon the amount
of sulphur, resins, and paraffin content of the fuel and also the
quality of products obtained by the cracking process: Gasolines,
kerosenes and oils. Petroleum is divided according to the
following.
(a) By sulphur content:
(1) Oil sulphides with a content of up to
?.5% sulphur
(2) Sulphides with a content of more than
0.5% sulphur
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3?
(1) Low resinous with a content of up to 17% resin
(2) Resinous with a content of from 18 to 35% resin
(3) High resinous with a content of more than
35% resin
(e) By the temperature of the thickening of the oil fraction
with an Engler viscosity of 7 degrees centigrade (7/E50 7/):
(1) Low paraffin with a thickening temperature of
minus 16 degrees centigrade and lower
(2) Paraffinous with a thickening temperature
of from minus 15 to plus 20 degrees centigrade
(3) High paraffinous with a thickening temperature
higher than 20 degrees centigrade.
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(b) By the content of resinous substances:
Fuels are divided into 48 types according to the quality of gasolines,
kerosenes and oils;
(a) Gasolines;
(1) Petroleum that contains high octane gasoline
(an octane count of 72 and more)
(2) Petroleum that contains medium octane gasoline
(an octane count of from 65 to 71)
(3) Petroleum that contains low octane gasoline
(a count of 65 and less)
(4) Petroleum not containing gasoline.
(b) Kerosenes:
(1) Petroleum containing tractor kerosene (octane
count of 40 and more)
(2) Petroleum containing intermediate kerosene
(octane count of 30 to 39)
(3) Petroleum containing low octane kerosene
(count of less than 30)'
(c) Oils:
(1) Petroleum containing high index oil with a
specific weight of the oil fraction 0.903 and
lower
(2) Petroleum containing medium index oil with a
specific weight 0.904 to 0.927
(3) Petroleum containing a low index oil with specific
weight 0.927 and more
(4) Petroleum not containing oils.
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Fuels used in internal combustion ship engines are divided into
two basic types:
(a) Fuels of the furnace type, that is, solarium and
Diesel fuel
(b) Residual fuels or simply residues (*.zuts).
The basic criterion for selecting fuels for ship engines is the
degree of speed of the latter. Thus ship engines are divided
into three groups:
(a) Slow speed with 500 revolutions per minute and
average cylinder stroke of four to six meters
per second.
(b) Medium speed from 500 ran. to 1,000 rpm and an
average cylinder stroke of from six to nine
meters per second.
(c) High speed with x,000 rpm and an average cylinder
stroke of nine to 12 meters per second,
6. In order to avoid trouble in the operation of ship engines, the
Merchant Registry issued a set of rules designating which fuels
should be used for which engines. The factories producing the
engines state which type of fuel is to be used in them and
different fuels may be substituted only after controlled experi-
mentation. According to the rules of the Merchant Registry the
ignition temperature for heavy fuels should not be lower than
plus 65 degrees centigrade (according to Martens.Pensky).
7. For low speed engines, motor fuel (GOST 1667-42) either residual or
mixed is used:
(a) Motor fuel M-3 is a mixture of mazut with solarium fractions.
The Engler viscosity of this fuel is 50 at 50?C. The ignition
temperature is 65?C and the thickening temperature is 5?C.
This fuel is used widely in ship engines not requiring any
kind of pre-heating of the fuel. 0lavaeftesbyt (Head
Directorate of Petroleum Marketing) of the Ministry of the
Petroleum Industry recommends the use of M-3 for low speed,
low power engines of 250 to 500 rpms developing 100 hp.
M-3 can be used also as a starting fuel for engines operating
with heavy-type fuels M14 and M-5.
(b) x-4 is a residue from the cracking process. The Engler
viscosity is 7.50 at 50?Cp the stiffening temperature is
minus 50C and the ignition temperature is plus 65?C. M-4
may be used by heating it with hot water at a temperature
of 45? to 50?C, but in the summertime when the temperature
of the surrounding atmosphere is high enough, this fuel can
be used without pre-heating. This fuel is used principally
in slow-speed engines having a comparatively large cylinder
power (more than 100 effective hp per cylinder) if the fuel
is filtered carefully and the water removed (about two per
cent water may be expected to appear in the fuel).
(c) Motor fuel M-5 like MI4 Is a residual fuel. The Engler
viscosity is 9.0? at 500C, the thickening temperature is plus
5?C and the ignition temperature is 90?C. Several types of
this fuel have an even higher thickening temperature (plus
35?C)? M-5 requires pre-heating from 40? to 7000, depending
upon the type of fuel, in order to lower the viscosity to
three to five degrees. In this condition the fuel has the
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m4-
proper degree of fluidity. This fuel like tm4 is used
principally in low-speed engines of comparatively large
cylinder power (more than 100 effective hp per cylinder),,
providing that the fuel is carefully filtered and water
removed.
8. Solarium oil (GOST 1666-42) is used for medium-speed engines.
Solarium is a.distilled petroleum product having a boiling point
of from 2400 to 260?C and a distilling fraction of 55 to 60% up
to 350?C. The Ignition temperature of solarium is 125?C (ac-
cording to Brenken), and the thickening temperature is -20?C0
The viscosity of solarium is 1.2 to 1.75 degrees Engler at 50?C.
The high quality of solarium makes it especially adaptable for
use in medium-speed engines on account of its comparative safety
from fire hazard and on account of the fact that it sprays well
into the cylinders of the engine. Solarium is also used for a
preparation of mixed fuels (K-3). A substitute for solarium is
Diesel fuel.
9. Summer and winter Diesel fuel (COST 305-42) and Diesel aviation
fuel (OST VTt3 161044) are used for high-speed engines.
(a) Diesel auto tractor summer fuel is an intermediate
product of the cracking process, consisting of heavy
kerosene fractions and light solarium fractions.
Summer fuel has a thickening temperature of minus
10?C and an ignition temperature of 65?C. Its viscosity
equals 1.4 to 1.7 degrees Engler at 20?C. At 350?C
this fuel contains 85% topping.
(b) Diesel :auto tractor winter fuel is an intermediate
produc,; of the cracking process,, consisting of heavy
kerosene fractions and light solarium fractions. Winter
fuel has a thickening temperature of minus 35?C and an
ignition temperature of 65?. Its viscosity equals 1.4
to 1.7 degrees Engler (at 20?C). At 350?C the fuel has
85% topping. The industrial price of Diesel auto tractor
fuel in 1951 averaged 640 rubles per ton.
(c) Diesel aviation fuel of the type "AD 40-340-1.1-1.5" is
a fuel of very high. quality- used in high-speed engines
having self-ignition. The designation of this fuel has
the following meaning: AD means aviation "Diesel" fuel,
1.1-1.5 means that the viscosity is from 1.1 to 1.5 degrees
Engler (at 20?C), 340 means that at 340?C the maximum
fraction (97%) is distilled and finally that the cetane
count of this fuel should not be less than 40. The
ignition temperature of this fuel is 28?C and the thick-
ening temperature minus 55?C.
10. Besides the fuels prescribed by the standard there is still another
series of non-standard fuels used in ship engines, and the character-
istics of which depend mainly on their origin. The use of non-standard
fuels in ship engines requires the concurrence of organs of the
Merchant Registry and the quality of these fuels should approximate
the requirements of the engine manufacturer.
11. The minimum temperature at which a fuel ignites itself and burns
without the action of any kind of outward source of ignition is one
of the most important characteristics of a given fuel as it shows the
degree of suitability of the latter for use in e.igines. The tempera-
ture of self-Ignition of a given fuel in relation to the pressure
exerted at the end of the compression process has special meaning
in engines.
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12. Fuel is injected into the cylinder of an engine at rather low
temperatures (400 to 6o0C). This fuel temperature is much less
than the temperature of the compressed air in the cylinder
(6000 to 700?C). The intermediate time from the moment of the
actual entrance of the fuel into the cylinder to the moment that
compression begins in the cylinder is called the period of delay
in self-ignition and is measured in thousandths of a second or
in degrees of angle of crankshaft revolutions. The length of the
period of delay in self-ignition depends on many factors, first
of all, on the physical (the heating drop, evaporation, the
heating of the vapors to the temperature of the compressed air,
etc) and chemical (type of fuel, its structure, speed of reaction
of oxidization of the fuel with oxygen from the air, etc).
13. The length of the period of delay in self-ignition determines the
quality of the fuel which is in turn responsible for the ease of
starting of the engine, smoothness of operations, etc. The
quality of self-ignition of the fuel also exerts an influence on
the completeness and fullness of burning, specific consumption,
extent of after burning, etc or in other words, on the entire
burning process.
14. A series of laboratory and motor tests have been devised for the
evaluation of the self-igniting quality in fuel. Of the motor
methods in the USSR the most widely used were the methods of
determining the critical degree of compression and those de-
termining the period of delay in self-ignition,
15. The idea of the method of determining the critical degree of
compression is, that on a special four-stroke, one-cylinder engine,
having a compression degree of from seven to 23 and having a
Diesel head (the normal one being used for determining the octane
count of gasoline and other light fuels) it is possible to deter-
mine a minimum degree of compression at which the fuel being
tested ignites itself. This degree of compression is called
critical. The lower the critical degree of compression the higher
the quality of fuel as far as self-ignition and burning is con-
cerned.
16. The method of determining the period, of delay in self-ignition is
based on the taking of detailed indicator diagrams from the engine
used in the test. As in the case of determining the critical degree
of compression, an engine with a variable degree of compression is
used for this test, and the fuel is also tested in the normal working
of'an engine by injecting the fuel at temperatures ranging from 100
to the highest absolute point. In order to determine the extent of
the delay in self-ignition, a special device is used which records
the moment of the injection of the fuel and the moment that it is
ignited.
17. Practically,it has been proven much easier not to use the absolute
critical degree of compression and the period of delay in self-
ignition but simply to compare these qualities with the standard
ones for standard fuels. For this purpose at first two chemically
pure hydrocarbons were used of which the first, cetene, has the
most absolutely low point of self-ignition (that is, at a low critical
degree of compression and a short period of delay in self-ignition
and the second, mezitline, to the contrary has the most difficult
degree of self-ignition. At present there are new standards for
fuel; cetane (C16 N 4) is the most stable in storing and alpha-
methylnaphthalene (11T10) is the cheapest. The grading of fuel
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for engines as regards self-ignition is done by the so-called
cetane count showing the per cent by volume of cetane contained
in the fuel in a mixture of it with alphamethylnaphthalene which
when used experimentally in an engine with a changeable degree
of compression shows the equivalent in self-ignition with the
fuel being tested. The self-ignition degree of eetane corresponds
to the figure 100 and the self-ignition degree of alphamethylnaphthalene
corresponds to the figure zero. The cetane count is determined usually
by the method of coinciding ignitions. If the critical degree of com-
pression is found for a given fuel,, then two mixtures of standard fuels
are made. These fuels differ from each other by not more than four
units of cetane count, one of which gives a coincidence of ignition
at a lower and the other at a higher degree of compression than the
degree of compression found for the fuel being tested. Then by the
method of interpolation, the percentages of the mixture are found.
This mixture has the same critical degree of compression as the fuel
being tested. The percentage of cetane in this mixture is called the
cetane count of the fuel,.
18~ The difference between the cetane and the cetene count of the fuel
is that the cetane count equals 7/8 of the cetene count. In everyday
experiments, the cheaper secondary standard fuels (the tares of which
are determined in relation to the primary fuels) having a lower
cetane count (for example Diesel fuel with a cetane count. not'less
than 60 and green soap with a cetane count of not more than 25) are
used. The cetane count is a comparative quantity and is not an
absolute measure of the quality of self-ignition in an engine as the
latter depends also on the form of the combustion chamber and other
factors. The cetane counts of fuels indirectly showing the period
of delay in self-ignition are selected in accordance with the kind
of engine and the degree of its speed and power as follows:
(a) For low-speed engines m- from 35 to 50
(b) For high-speed engines mm from 40 to 60.
19. The cetane counts of Diesel fuels made from Soviet petroleum vary from
!0 to 70, that is, they completely fulfill the specifications for fuels
for high-speed engines.
20. Besides determining the cetane count by means of special engines, there
is also a device called the "bomb" which is used for this.purpose in
which the conditions of pressure and temperature correspond with those
found in an actual engine. In highspeed and forced-injection engines
the cetane content of the fuel is often raised by the addition of high
cetane components. Some of these are peroxide acetyls, tetralene and
others and also nitro combinations (ethyl nitrate, am ml nitrate and
others). For example, an addition of one percent acetyl. peroxide
raises the cetane count from 40 to 60. Any increase in the. amount of
an addition renders the action of the addition less effective.
21. Another effective means of raising the cetane count is by processing
fuels with selective solutions, the action of which is based on the
elective dilution of harmful components in the fuel (for example,
aromatics). The solutions used for this purpose are furfural, liquid
sulphurous gas and others.
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