NEW DELHI: State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has developed a special class diesel conforming to NATO grade for use in ships and vessels of Indian Navy.
Vice Admiral G S Pabby launched the Upgraded High Flash High-Speed Diesel (HFHSD- IN 512) in presence of IOC Director (R&D) SSV Ramakumar and IOC Director (Refineries) S M Vaidya, a company statement said here.
"IOC has always endeavoured to supply world-class fuels to Indian Defence Forces. Moving ahead in this direction IOC has developed and upgraded the specifications of HFHSD- IN 512 fuel required for Indian Naval ships. The upgraded fuel now exceeds the MIL DTL 16844M specifications which is considered benchmark standard across in the world," it said.
The fuel possesses the best rheological and detergent characteristics validated against most stringent military specifications.
It also has lesser environmental impact due to low Sulphur content and would result in the better performance of engines.
"This fuel will facilitate the Indian Navy to enhance its global footprint and will allow India to fuel the vessels of friendly foreign countries at places where fuel conforming to NATO grade is supplied," the statement said.
Speaking on the occasion, Pabby called the launch of the upgraded diesel a historic day in the partnership of the Indian Navy and IOC.
He appreciated IOC's efforts towards research and rigorous testing for the formulation of the upgraded product along with the upgradation of downstream infrastructure for ensuring delivery of the product at Naval jetties.
"The changeover to the upgraded HFHSD- IN 512 has been done without any additional cost to the Indian Navy by IOC," he said.
Ramakumar said the IOC's R&D department was formed way back in 1972 to attain self-sufficiency through indigenization of petroleum products required for defence forces.
IOC-Indian Navy partnership panning past several decades has resulted in the development of high-performance products as and when new vessels/ equipments are inducted, he said reiterating R&D Centre's commitment to continually bring forth products and processes to meet the future needs sustainably and address country's requirement of reducing import dependency.
Vaidya said IOC has always been guided by country-before-business philosophy and the company has strongly supported the energy needs of the Indian Defence Forces in both peace and war times.
The upgraded HFHSD blend, meeting NATO specifications, is being supplied from Haldia and Paradip refinery.
He said IOC refineries were the first ones to make available 0.5 per cent Sulphur Marpol Fuel Oil that will reduce stack emissions from the ships.
Indian Navy had wanted that fuel supplied to them to be upgraded to conform to MIL DTL 16884 M specifications.
This would facilitate the Indian Navy to have a global footprint and ensure inter-operability with all leading foreign navies.
IOC's R&D Department conducted an in-depth fuel characterization study as per the NATO grade MIL specifications and further incorporated the additional parameters suggested by the Indian Navy.
Accordingly, IOC prepared a specification comprises of 22 parameters against the 20 parameters of MIL specs for the supply of diesel exclusively for Indian Navy.
The customized HFHSD- IN 512 has the unique combination of low pour and Cold filter plugging point (CFPP) and High Flash Point.
It has the highest cetane number amongst all marine diesel fuel and exceeds MIL-DTL 16884M specifications in terms of Fuel Hygiene parameters and other critical properties, the statement added.