1.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The first edition of CIMAC Fuel Recommendations was published in professional magazines
in January 1982. This led to further activities within the CIMAC Heavy Fuel Working Group
and the preparation of the second edition of CIMAC Fuel Recommendations No 8 in 1986.
In order to cope with the development of marine diesel engine designs and changes in crude
oil refining processes, the third edition of CIMAC Recommendations Regarding Fuel
Requirements for Diesel Engines No 11 was issued in 1990.

This fourth edition has been prepared by the members of the Heavy Fuel Working Group
comprising experts from the marine engine manufacturers, marine fuel treatment plant
manufacturers, refiners, fuel suppliers, additive suppliers, shipowners, research institutes
and fuel testing services.

CIMAC Fuel Recommendations are being used worldwide. In 1982, when the first edition of
CIMAC Fuel Recommendations was published, British Standards Institution (BSI) also
prepared the first marine fuel specification BS-MA 100. This standard became the basis for
the development of the first international marine fuel specification.

The demand of the marine and petroleum industries for standardisation of the marine fuel
quality resulted in the introduction of the ISO 8217 standard by the International
Organisation of Standardisation (ISO) in 1987. This first international standard for marine
fuels was a significant technical revision of the BSMA 100:1982 standard and, therefore,
replaced it.

In 1996 the second edition of ISO 8217 was published in co-operation between the marine
and petroleum industries. The third, much revised Committee Draft of the ISO 8217 standard
is now being prepared.

2. SCOPE

The CIMAC Fuel Recommendations cover petroleum fuels for use in marine and stationary
diesel engines. The Recommendations apply to the fuel as delivered, i.e., before the
appropriate treatment prior to use. These Recommendations are intended primarily for use
by the engine manufacturers in their manuals. This allows the engine operators to specify
fuel grades suitable for a given engine type and fuel treatment plant.

This edition of Fuel Recommendations specifies four grades of distillate fuel, one of which is
for diesel engines for emergency purposes. It also specifies ten grades of residual fuel.

Requirements for gas turbine fuels used in marine applications are specified in ISO 4261.

For the purpose of this Fuel Recommendations the term ‘petroleum’ is used to include oil
from tar sands and from shale.

The CIMAC Fuel Recommendations are published by the central CIMAC secretariat based in
Frankfurt, from where all interested parties can obtain hard copies. For more information
please see CIMAC web-page www.CIMAC.com.

The Fuel Recommendations will continue to be periodically reviewed and revised by the
Working Group when the need arises.

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3. GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS

The fuels shall be homogeneous blends of hydrocarbons derived from petroleum refining.
This shall not preclude the incorporation of small amounts of additives intended to improve
some aspects of performance. The fuels shall be free from inorganic acid and from used
lubricating oils.

NOTE 1: The fuel should not include any added substance or chemical waste which either:

– jeopardises the safety of ships/installations or adversely affects the performance of the

– is harmful to personnel; or

– contributes overall to additional air pollution.

NOTE 2: Potentially harmful vapours (hydrocarbon, hydrogen sulphide, etc.) may be released from fuel
oils, hence precautions should always be taken when opening valves, hatches and vent covers or
when entering void spaces (see Annex 4).

The properties of the fuels are set out in tables 1 and 2.

4. SAMPLING

The sampling of petroleum fuels for analysis, for the purposes of these CIMAC Fuel
Recommendations, shall be carried out in accordance with the procedures given in ISO 3170
and ISO TR/13739, clause 10, or an equivalent National Standard. Additional information on
sampling procedures is given in a separate CIMAC document entitled “Background design
and operation of heavy fuel treatment plants for diesel engines” (see reference [4] Annex
11).

5. NORMATIVE REFERENCES

The following test methods constitute provisions of these Fuel Recommendations. For
references, which are dated, subsequent amendments to, or revisions of any of these
publications do not apply. However parties to agreements based on this Fuel Recom-
mendations are encouraged to investigate the possibility of applying the most recent editions
of the test methods indicated below. For undated references the latest edition of the test
methods referred to applies. Members of ISO and all national standardisation bodies
maintain registers of current valid test methods.

ISO 91-1:1992, Petroleum measurement tables ---- Part 1: Tables based on reference
temperatures of 15 °C and 60 °F.

ISO 2719:2002, Determination of flash point ---- Pensky-Martens closed cup method.

ISO 3015:1992, Petroleum products ---- Determination of cloud point.

ISO 3016:1994, Petroleum products ---- Determination of pour point.

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ISO 3104:1994, Petroleum products ---- Transparent and opaque liquids ---- Determination of
kinematic viscosity and calculation of dynamic viscosity.

ISO 3170:1990, Petroleum liquids – Manual sampling

ISO 3675:1998, Crude petroleum and liquid petroleum products ---- Laboratory determination
of density or relative density ---- Hydrometer method.

ISO 3733:1999, Petroleum products and bituminous materials ---- Determination of water ----
Distillation method.

ISO 4259:1992, Petroleum products ---- Determination and application of precision data in
relation to methods of test.

ISO 4261:1993, Petroleum products ---- Fuels (Class F)---- Specifications ---- Gas turbine
fuels for industrial and marine use.

ISO 4264:1995, Petroleum products ---- Calculation of cetane index of middle distillate fuels
by the four variable equation.
2)
ISO 6245 , Petroleum products ---- Determination of ash.

ISO 8216-1:1996, Petroleum products ---- Fuels (class F)---- Classification ---- Part 1:
Categories of marine fuels.

ISO 8754 3), Petroleum products ---- Determination of sulfur content ---- Energy-dispersive X-
ray fluorescence method.

ISO 10307-1:1993, Petroleum products ---- Total sediment in residual fuels ---- Part 1:
Determination by hot filtration.

ISO 10307-2:1993, Petroleum products ---- Total sediment in residual fuels ---- Part 2:
Standard procedures for ageing.

ISO 10370:1993, Petroleum products ---- Determination of carbon residue ---- Micro method.

ISO 10478:1994, Petroleum products ---- Determination of aluminium and silicon in fuel oils –
Inductively coupled plasma and atomic absorption spectroscopy methods.

ISO 12185:1996, Crude petroleum and petroleum products ---- Determination of density ----
Oscillating u-tube method.

ISO/TR 13739:1998, Petroleum products – Methods for specifying practical procedures for
the transfer of bunker fuels to ships.

ISO 14596:1998, Petroleum products – Determination of sulfur content – Wavelength

ISO 14597:1997, Petroleum products ---- Determination of vanadium and nickel in liquid fuels
---- Wavelength Dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry.