A 40% premium on diesel fuel?! What happened?
A Volkswagen Rabbit which sounded like a farm tractor was never something I found attractive. However, during the oil price gyrations of the 1970s and 1980s, a number of people did choose diesel passenger vehicles because the fuel was 10-20% cheaper and diesel engines were significantly more fuel efficient than those powered by gasoline.
Elsewhere, the 1970s and 1980s were characterized by the same old domestic North American products, showing little re-engineering or innovation. Tariff barriers often helped ensure they were made in this country or on this continent. They were relatively expensive. Electronics?: a cathode ray tube TV (maybe colour), a stereo for your 'records', a VCR. An audio cassette player in the car!
Welcome to the 2020s!
Diesel is more of a globally-traded and -priced commodity today. With this blog's favourite Strait blocked, Persian Gulf crude oil is not getting to European refineries ... but our refined diesel fuel is. I saw a Sky News (UK) story today with a graph showing that Canada has the largest diesel fuel reserves in the world. I guess 'had' would be more accurate.
Since 2000, there has been explosive innovation in new products. Twenty years ago, we could not have imagined all the changes which have taken place - both the new products and the changes they have caused in our societies.
And now, the whole economy of the "globalized world" runs on diesel - from the trucks moving the shipping containers to the docks of China, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan ... up to and including the wide assortment of courier trucks racing up and down our street every single weekday ... and now on weekends.
And the Europeans have perfected clean diesel automobiles! These are not your father's Volkswagens!
With the US military on the move in recent months, 'middle distillates' diesel and jet fuel are in greater demand than usual.
Farmers are planting - creating the usual seasonal demand on diesel ... and they are not happy about the price changes.
And if your experience and knowledge-based hunch is that the higher diesel fuel demand will continue or increase ... petroleum financial derivatives, or a loaded petroleum tanker slow-steaming or loitering between here and Europe or Asia ... is even more of a sure thing than a White House insider pre-Tweet bet on a prediction market.
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Diesel - How It Began
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| https://archive.org/details/11650204bsb/page/n4/mode/1up |
If you were to copy and paste the link above, you could read Rudolf Diesel's original treatise.
Warning: lots of German ... even more math!
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| screencap from: Rudolf Diesel, Pioneer of the Age of Power; Nitske & Wilson; 1965; U of Oklahoma Press. archive.org |
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| screencap from: Diesel, Technology and Society in Industrial Germany; Donald E Thomas Jr; 1987; U of Alabama Press. archive.org |
Diesel's patent from the Kaiser.
M-A-N is the abbreviation of Maschinenfabrik Augsburg Nürnberg.
It will appear again below.
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| from: Iron Horse to Diesel; Paul Snow; 1961; Whitman. |
From a childhood storybook, came this image. I love the artist's flying cogwheels. I believe there were two motor explosions in different settings. One was fuelling with ammonia, the other was using a powdered coal/water slurry.
During my research, I was reminded that General Electric was experimenting with a powdered coal fuel for a diesel-electric prototype in 1990 ... but there was a note that railroads would have to indicate an interest in the technology for the development to continue.
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| screencap from: Rudolf Diesel, Pioneer of the Age of Power; Nitske & Wilson; 1965; U of Oklahoma Press. archive.org |
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The new fields of aviation and diesel power must have set records for the 'short elapsed time' between the invention of a technology, and its application in war-fighting.
Elsewhere on this blog, you'll find that a recent Rudolf Diesel biographer speculated that his apparent nighttime English Channel ferry suicide was a cover orchestrated by the British to spirit him off to Montreal. Overnight, the Vickers shipyard there was turned into a high-security facility with a complete change of personnel. The theory is that the multi-lingual, well-travelled Diesel was 'an expert' brought in to apply Diesel's latest technologies to the Royal Navy submarines being built there.
Meanwhile ...
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| from: Die Höllenmaschine Im U-Boot; Kapitän Herbert Sauer; 1928; August Scherl. archive.org |
Top: In the oil engine room of a U-boat in front of the main switch and the engine telegraph.
Bottom: In the diving control center, forward port side. High-pressure compressed air distribution system. In the center of it, the base of the central periscope with eyepiece. Central control station with repeater gyrocompass. Top left, engine telegraph. On the right, under the clock, the quick-venting handwheels of the forward ballast tanks.
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| from: Geology of Petroleum; William Harvey Emmons; 1921; McGraw-Hill. |
At one point, Ontario was Canada's premier petroleum producing province.
The tar/bitumen/oil ... sands are the source of the heavy oil which facilitates the production of large quantities of diesel fuel.
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The 1930s, United States ...
There was enough interest in diesel engines in the late 1920s and all through the 1930s, that a magazine existed to write about all the different applications in which the technology could be used. The advertisements are particularly good at depicting this potential.
Notice the United Fruit Company motive power, pulling what looks like sugar cane. There is a good chance this operation was in Cuba. Unlike the many steam locomotives already present on Cuban railways, these light diesels were able to operate with less maintenance. They didn't have the thirst for water of the steam engines. They were also less likely to emit sparks which could set fire to the dried cane as it stood in the fields.
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| from: Diesel Progress magazine; June 1935; Diesel Engines Inc. archive.org |
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The gimmicky, art-deco, streamlined trainsets rode like maintenance-of-way speeder trailers but they spurred on many technological changes.
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| from: Diesel Progress magazine; June 1935; Diesel Engines Inc. archive.org |
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Coming to German Cinemas in 1942 ...
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| from: https://archive.org/details/diesel0000illu/mode/1up |
The text-heavy side of this November 1942 German leaflet concludes:
"A man and a fighter triumphed. And with him, his idea, his work, which changed the face of the global economy."
... Probably the 'Reichsminister für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda' did not subscribe to the theory
that Rudolf Diesel disappeared in order to build Royal Navy submarines in Montreal.
I've watched parts of this movie - it's on YouTube.
The directing is a little heavy-handed ...
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1950 - General Motors Booklet
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| from: Diesel the Modern Power; Ralph A Richardson; 1950; General Motors. |
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| from: Diesel the Modern Power; Ralph A Richardson; 1950; General Motors. |
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| from: Diesel the Modern Power; Ralph A Richardson; 1950; General Motors. |
To make interpretation a little easier ... the three little rocker arms above the cylinder show you when the valves and the injector are doing something.
The two-cycle innovation is 'scavenging'. Instead of using a piston cycle just to push the exhaust gases out ... an attached blower clears them and replaces them with fresh air at the same time. Consequently, every 'downward' piston movement is a power stroke.
These opposed-piston engines were even more efficient ...
but, as adapted space-saving marine/submarine engines,
they were more complicated, too different, and too troublesome in the long run.
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From a 1957 Textbook on Petroleum ...
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| from: Petroleum, Prehistoric to Petrochemicals; GA Purdy; 1957; Copp Clark. |
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A Transport Canada Railway Locomotive Document from 2001
(a quarter of a century ago)
This material will not be on the proverbial test.
Perhaps some readers may be interested in how some of these older units compare.
This publication says this data comes from AAR testing.
IG is Imperial Gallon
MM is millions
NOx and SOx are oxides of nitrogen and sulphur.
HC - hydrocarbons, unburned 'oil'
PM is probably PM 2.5, the nasty little bits of soot that can pass from the lungs into the bloodstream.
from: Diesel Fuel Quality and Locomotive Emissions in Canada; Robert Dunn; 2001; Transport Canada. archive.org
I believe that Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (bsfc) is a way of expressing fuel efficiency. It is more complicated that the 'best' fuel efficiency ... because it factors in cycles of performance under different conditions. The lower bsfc numbers indicate a more efficient engine.
A 'brake dynamometer' attaches to a crankshaft and applies different measured braking (i.e. resistance) forces on it to simulate the various loads under which the engine works.
While the newer units don't seem to offer significantly better efficiency on a 1:1 basis ... the text reminds us that they provide more power per unit and that they burn the fuel with less pollution.
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| from: Diesel Fuel Quality and Locomotive Emissions in Canada; Robert Dunn; 2001; Transport Canada. |
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Diesel Engines in Ships
When we get to the use of 'diesel' in large modern ocean ships such as tankers and containerships, there is not one single type of fuel which is burned. Ships carry multiple fuel tanks to allow for cost-effective operation or for low-pollution operation.
Since 2020, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has required that all ships (unless using scrubbers) must carry fuel oil with no more than 0.50% sulphur content (mass/mass). In specific Emission Control Areas (ECA) fuel with no greater than 0.10% sulphur content can be used. Effective March 2027, the Canadian Arctic and Norwegian Sea become ECAs with the 0.10% sulphur regulation becoming effective.
The text below revisits my 1957 petroleum textbook. The unrefined petroleum is still the same today. The processes for refining it are more complex, so I sometimes like to start with the basic explanation of what they did 75 years ago in simpler times.
The last paragraph is still applicable. The ship owner is not going to allow the ship's engineers to put just any kind of fuel in a marine diesel engine that costs millions of dollars.
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| from: Petroleum, Prehistoric to Petrochemicals; GA Purdy; 1957; Copp Clark. |
In reading about future 'alternative fuels' to be used instead of petroleum for shipping ... e.g. biodiesel, hydrogen, ammonia*, methanol*, LNG*, etc ... I get the impression they all have some characteristic which makes them impractical outside of those ECAs which require low sulphur fuel. (*Currently used in Emission Control Areas.)
For example: fuels may be scarce and expensive; or, the smallest molecule which is always escaping and its supercooled liquid form damages the metal it interacts with; or, potentially extremely toxic to the crew if not handled with great care; or, not containing enough energy per unit and/or requiring more specialized handling than diesel oil.
Exception: On ships designed to carry LNG ... the ship can be designed to use the 'boiled off' vapour exclusively as fuel.
As with the previously-presented locomotive fleet (and the automobile fleet) ... owners are unlikely to scrap a piece of equipment which has only been in service for 5 years. Tankers and containerships generally have a service life of 20-30 years. The main engine usually works for the whole lifespan of the hull.
... So if a miracle like cheap solar-powered electric containerships suddenly descended down upon the earth, the ship owners would probably continue to use their old ships, burning their old fuels, until the end of their normal service lives.
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Another interesting thing about modern ocean ships such as tankers and containerships ...
We have all seen that they are 'welded together' in China or South Korea using cheap labour and/or very intensive automation. You should see some of the plate steel cutting/handling/welding automation videos! ...
However, these mass-produced ships are a 'global trade product'. Sure, the steel is made, the 'unfair subsidies' given, and the brute force assembly is done in Asia. However, the complete engines generally come from Europe. The electronic control systems may come from somewhere else, etc.
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A Ship Built in 2025
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| from: CGTN news website. |
Recently completed in China, this Greek-owned tanker will carry 850-900,000 barrels of oil - depending on the oil's density.
If you had about 115 of these ships loaded, it would represent the world's petroleum use on a single day.
The Seascout is powered by a MAN B&W 6G60ME-C Mk9.5 engine - a low-speed, six-cylinder, two-stroke marine diesel. It puts out approximately 22,850 horsepower or 17,040 kW. Its engine drives the propeller directly with no transmission between the engine and the prop. It generally operates at 60-85 RPM (range 20-95 RPM), travelling at about 14 knots.
You may have noticed the 'MAN' (Maschinenfabrik Augsburg Nürnberg) which takes us right back to one of Rudolf Diesel's first engine builders. Just like General Electric, the name endures but the corporate structures have changed over the decades. I believe MAN is now owned by Volkswagen's parent.
People may remember that during the first oil crisis, top highway speeds were reduced, to decrease the impact of the oil shortage ... because of the exponential resistance of air as a car's speed increases ...
The Danish shipping line Maersk first came up with the idea of 'slow steaming' and ran a trial involving 110 ships in 2007. Adjustments were required to the ship engines to avoid damaging them by running them at speeds for which they weren't designed. By dropping the speed from 24 knots to 14-18 knots they found they could reduce fuel consumption by 30% or more.
Obviously, containerships in high demand and operating on a schedule will operate at higher speeds when necessary.
However, for bulk commodities, ship fuel economy is often more important for profitability than speed. This is particularly the case when petroleum is going to remain 'at sea' for a period of time. There, it waits for the shipowner or product consignor to determine that a given market will provide an advantageous price ... and the ship is then instructed to dock and make delivery.
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He was born in a foreign country. He lived and worked in impoverishment during his first decade of life. He was subsequently deported to another foreign country.
Rudolf Diesel hoped that poorer countries could fuel his simplest engines with whichever plant oils they had in abundance. He hoped people could derive the economic benefits of efficient, modern motor power.
Diesel never could have imagined how his invention would dominate the world's transportation system over a century later.
'His work changed the face of the global economy.'
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