Rationale

This is part of the overall ASTM Subcommittee E streamlining effort to make specifications easier to read, make them easier to keep up to date, and to utilize similar table formats for the various fuel standards which now mostly come from the fungible ultra-low sulfur (i.e., 15 ppm sulfur maximum) diesel pool. The effort is also intended to help prepare the standards for other future new fuels or blends being used in distillate applications. Subcommittee E has already balloted changes to reformat the D396 Standard Specification for Fuels Oils (i.e., home heating oil and boilers) and the D2880 Standard Specification for Gas Turbine Fuel Oils (i.e., on-ground gas turbines) to separate the lighter grades (No. 1 and No. 2 of various sulfur levels) and the heavier grades (No. 4 through No. 6) into two separate tables. The lighter grade table was also reformatted to list the properties that change between the grades in the top part of the table and the properties that are the same between the grades at the bottom of the table, in addition to listing the sulfur grades as a property on the left side of the table instead of having a separate column for each sulfur grade. This makes the standard less cluttered and easier to read and makes the differences between the grades more readily apparent. In addition, to reduce the number of standards that need to be maintained, grade B6-B20 was included in the D396 lighter grade table as a separate grade rather than having an entire separate standard for B6-B20. The ASTM Subcommittee E streamlining for D975 is occurring in two parts. The first part is to reformat the D975 tables in a similar manner to D396 and D2880, and to move the B6-B20 grade (which is currently in a separate standard, D7467) into the D975 standard as was done in D396. The ballot attached is to accomplish this first part. This ballot does not change any of the current properties or substantive wording of the D975 grades or the B6-B20 grade in D7467—it simply rearranges the tables and moves where B6-B20 is housed from D7467 to D975. The second part of the D975 streamlining will be to modify/improve the appendices within D975. This will involve simplifying the appendix wording, incorporating new considerations for modern exhaust aftertreatment, and incorporating the pertinent parts of the B6-B20 appendices. Ballots for the second part will begin after the first part is completed. Current plans are to ballot D7467 for withdrawal after the changes are completed to allow smooth transition.