Additives Make Heating Oil Better
Lincoln Laboratory has provided proprietary additives to improve heating oil performance for 60 years. A lot has changed over this time and today’s heating oil is significantly different in several respects. The sulfur content of heating oil has been reduced from 3,000 parts per million to 15 ppm. This recent change produces a quantum reduction in carbon emissions and, because it is cleaner burning, heating system reliability is improved and maintenance costs are reduced.
Another major change, blending biodiesel with Ultra Low Sulfur Heating Oil (ULSHO), introduces a renewable component to heating oil. This blended product is marketed as Bioheat®. The biodiesel component is manufactured from organic sources such as soybeans and food waste, and is currently blended with ULSHO at rates between 2 and 20 percent of volume. This helps in a major way to reduce our dependence on fossil fuel and contributes another increment to lowering emissions.
But while product evolution brings benefits in some areas, it often creates new problems. In the case of heating oil, new issues include:
• Reduced stability of stored fuel
• Increased corrosive tendencies
• Greater sensitivity to cold temperatures
