Marine Fuels: Specifications, Testing, Purchase, and Use

About the Course

This class explains how the properties of marine fuels affect fuel handling, combustion, and cost. It provides a detailed understanding of fuel quality requirements, and why they are necessary for good handling and combustion performance. Class interaction will be stressed by using practical examples of applications of the course material to past and current problems.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course you will be able to:

• Recall the history of marine fuel
• Describe how properties of marine fuels affect fuel handling, combustion and cost
• Describe the sampling process
• Take precautions to decreate fuel contamination.

Who Should Attend

Supervisors and managers in laboratory operations; purchasing; fuel supply and handling; and quality control. Also for shipping company employees, and those dealing with the sale, purchase, trade, or use of marine fuels, who need a detailed understanding of fuel quality requirements and why they are necessary for good handling and combustion performance.

(Not intended as a training course for lab technicians or those who run the tests, because it does not address detailed conduct of the various test methods.)

Course Description

Registration: 7:30 am-8:00 AM on first day.
Class: 8:00 AM-4:30 PM. Following lunch on the third day, the class will tour a testing laboratory.

Day 1

• Brief History of Marine Fuel
• Marine Fuel Specifications
• Chemistry Primer
• Crude Quality/Characteristics
• Refining (Fuels Manufacture)
• Refining (Blending Practices)

Day 2

• Quality Parameters, Significance and Testing
• Sampling
• Current Marine Fuel Quality
• IMO Environmental Issues/Low Sulphur/ECA/GHG - Marpol Annex VI
• Diesel Engines
• Ignition Quality

Day 3

• Fuel Purchasing
• Fuel Pre-treatment (Centrifuging)
• Fuel Handling and Delivery
• Fuel Contamination
• Resolution of Conflicts

ASTM Standards Referenced

Specification

• D2069 Marine Fuels

Test Methods

• D93 Flash Point by Pensky-Martens Closed Cup Tester
• D95 Water in Petroleum Products & Bituminous Materials by Distillation
• D97 Pour Point of Petroleum Products
• D189 Conradson Carbon Residue of Petroleum Products
• D445 Kinematic Viscosity of Transparent & Opaque Liquids
• D482 Ash from Petroleum Products
  D976 Calculated Cetane Index of Distillate Fuels
  D4294 Sulfur in Petroleum Products by Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy
• D4530 Determination of Carbon Residue (Micro-Method)
• D4737 Calculated Cetane Index by Four Variable Equation
• D4870 Total Sediment in Residue Fuels

Practices

• D1298 Density, Relative Density, or API Gravity of Crude Petroleum & Liq. Petrol. Prods by Hydrometer Method

Other

• CIMAC Std.-Rec. 11, Fuel Req. for Diesel Eng.

Fee Includes

• Course workbook and all referenced standards
• Transportation for demonstrations
• Certificate of Attendance and 2.1 Continuing Education Units (CEUs)
• Coffee breaks

About the Instructor

Robert Berner, marine fuels and lubricants consultant, has 45 years of experience in the marine fuels research and technical service. He served in the American Merchant Marine, holds a Chief Engineers license, worked for Esso International's Tanker Department as a Repair Superintendent, served in the Exxon International Marketing Department, Industrial and Wholesale Division, and was responsible for Exxon's marine fuels sales including product quality, claim dispute resolution, and policy implementation. Following his retirement from Exxon, Berner served as sales director for a bunker dot com company. He has a Bachelor of Engineering in Marine Engineering from the State University of New York Maritime College and a Masters of Business in Management and Finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

About Sponsoring Committee

Organized in 1898, ASTM is one of the world's largest voluntary standards development organizations. ASTM standards have grown to be among the world's most widely used and accepted documents. The 82-volume Annual Book of ASTM Standards contain 13,000 standards written by 34,000 members on our 140 technical committees. Committee D02 on Petroleum Products, Liquid Fuels, and Lubricants developed the standards used in this course. For more information, contact Alyson Fick at (610) 832-9710 or go to our D02 technical committee page.

Group Sessions

Do you have a group of 5 or more people interested in this course? Save time and money by bringing this course to your site. On-site training courses, either in person or virtual, can also be tailored to meet your specific needs. For more information, please contact sales here or call 1-877-909-ASTM.

Attention: Professional Engineers

If your state has a continuing education requirement for license renewal, ASTM training courses and ASTM membership can help you meet that requirement.

How Learning Will Be Assessed

Learning will be assessed through a series of question and answer sessions.

Attendee Praise

Praise from recent attendees of the course:

"Wealth of case studies, real-world examples/experiences. Content exactly what I needed/expected, well presented, engaging."