FHD Power Generation Series

1. Field test on Caterpillar 3412 gen-set on a vessel in the South Pacific.
2. Water Brake dynamometer test on a Caterpillar 3412 propulsion engine at the Hawthorne Caterpillar dealer located in San Diego, CA.
3. Resistive/reactive load bank test on a Caterpillar 3406 powered 300 kilowatt gen-set at the Hawthorne Caterpillar dealer located in San Diego, CA.

ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
Engine performance (horsepower and torque, responsiveness and noise) benefited from the presence of Fitch treatment. The ramp mode data(2 sets with FFC verses one baseline) clearly indicated significant fuel savings of nearly 20% compared to baseline numbers when data are normalized to horsepower and torque produced by the engine.

Also, it is obvious from the comparison of the 4 sets of graphs of the ramp mode data that engine performed dramatically better with the FFC fuel. The engine reached much higher levels of torque and horsepower with the FFC treated fuel. Fuel savings were significant and well documented in all three evaluations.

Differences between results can be primarily attributed to differences in the quality of the fuel used in each project. In the field test onboard the ship; savings were in the range 8.5 to 12 % in part due to the quality of the fuel supplied. In Test 2) the dyno test in San Diego we procured aged fuel that had been in storage for at least 6 months. In Test 3) the load bank test, it was decided to use the current ULSD #2 fuel supplied from the dyno test cell’s day tank. Even with this relatively high quality fuel, a significant economic benefit from employing the FFC (1/4gph) was apparent.

With the normal fuel employed by the fleet in the South Pacific, the fuel savings and other benefits to emissions and engine performance will be substantially greater than this test measures. The combination of the series of three separate evaluation projects clearly supports this conclusion.