TAIF-NK winter diesel fuel good even for the Arctic
Maximum filterability temperature is up to -46°C: what characteristics TAIF-NK winter diesel fuel has
In mid-December 2022, the winners of the contest “The Best Goods and Services of the Republic of Tatarstan” and the All-Russian quality programme "100 Best Goods of Russia” were honoured at the site of the Tatarstan Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Euro winter diesel fuel was awarded one of the highest federal awards — the title of laureate of the competition. What kind of product it is, where it is produced, and what it is good for — in the material of Realnoe Vremya.
88 tonnes per hour
The very word “laureate” came to Russia from Ancient Greece and literally means “crowned with laurels”, that is, the winner, the best, who showed outstanding results. It is an honour to become a laureate of the federal quality competition, where hundreds of applicants competed for the victory.
“There is nothing unusual in the fact that our diesel fuel became the winner in the quality competition. At TAIF-NK, Euro winter diesel fuel and all other types from a wide range of our products are produced in strict accordance with all requirements of GOST, technologies, etc. That is, we can produce goods of better quality than it is prescribed in the requirements, but not worse. And this is the main trump card of companies that value their reputation: at any branded filling station (both ours and competitors'), fuel produced only according to GOST is sold. Therefore, if you want quality, welcome to the filling stations of large manufacturers that guarantee quality, including ours," the director of TAIF-NK oil refinery, Vladimir Lakhomov, is sure.
The fuel tank of a passenger car or crossover on average can hold from 40 to 60 litres. It turns out that every hour, and around the clock, TAIF-NK alone produces enough fuel to refuel about 2 thousand cars. In a year, the production capacity allows to produce up to 900 thousand tonnes of Euro winter diesel fuel. But there is a nuance: the product is seasonal. In the summer heat and in warm regions it is not needed, but in winter the demand for it is high.
“Diesel winter fuel is not just in great demand. It is sold literally “just-in-time”. At the government level, there are not even recommendations, but requirements: not to reduce the production of winter fuel and, at the same time, to sell it as much as possible on the domestic market without exporting it," the director general of TAIF-NK JSC said in an interview with Realnoe Vremya journalist Maksim Novikov.
Moreover, “just-in-time” is not a figurative expression, but reality. Vladimir Lakhomov, the director of TAIF-NK Oil Refinery, told about the specifics of the shipment of winter diesel fuel:
“They are exported both by rail and by motor transport. If we have the opportunity to pump summer diesel fuel through the pipe in volumes up to 150 thousand tonnes per month, then winter diesel fuel cannot be sent by road and rail in such volumes. Winter one is shipped only by wheels. Everything is sold out. There are queues.
It is able to work in the most severe frosts
Such a great popularity of winter diesel fuel from TAIF-NK lies both in the high quality and in the performance characteristics of the product. And they are impressive.
“Our Euro winter diesel fuel in its composition is characterised by a low sulphur content (less than 10 ppm), low content of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. If we speak not in professional, but in ordinary language, then this is a fuel that carefully treats both the equipment it is refuelled with and the environment: deposits are not formed in the engine, which prolongs its working life, and the exhaust gases have a low smokiness, that is, they work in an environmentally friendly mode," Aleksey Taymanov, the chief technologist and head of the department of TAIF-NK JSC, explained.
From summer diesel fuel, as it is easy to guess, winter fuel differs in the ability to maintain working capacity even in winter frosts. The products of TAIF-NK demonstrated this vividly during the recent frosts in Tatarstan, when at some points on the map of the republic the thermometer columns dropped below minus 42-44°C.
“The fuel that we produce, according to GOST, requires indicators such as the turbidity temperature of -22°C (we have minus 24-25°C) and the maximum filterability temperature — the main indicator of low-temperature fuel according to GOST -32°C, and TAIF-NK fuel on average has a maximum filterability temperature of minus 44-46°C. That is, if you potentially have a desire to drive your car on fuel from TAIF-NK to the Arctic, then our fuel will allow you to do it. For information: the filterability temperature is an indicator at which the fuel density no longer allows it to pass through the fuel system filter. Accordingly, despite that we sell the product as winter diesel fuel, in fact, according to its low-temperature properties, it corresponds to the Arctic one," Aleksey Khramov, the chief engineer of TAIF-NK JSC, told about the characteristics of the product.
First batch of Arctic is being prepared for shipment
TAIF-NK is constantly in development, in search of opportunities to expand the basket of products. One of the directions is the creation of diesel fuel suitable for operation in even harsher conditions than those that the winter diesel fuel already produced allows.
“TAIF-NK has developed the technology for producing Arctic fuel by improving diesel fractions. Today we can safely say that we are able to ensure the production of Arctic diesel fuel. We already have it. Moreover, the potential of its production volumes is commensurate with the current production volumes of Euro winter diesel fuel. There are certain nuances related to the economic scheme, but I think that in a couple of weeks we will be ready to ship the first commercial batch," Aleksey Khramov shared plans for the new production in the near future.
Maksim Novikov, the director general of TAIF-NK JSC, added to the colleague's words:
“We are not talking about obtaining a product by laboratory means, but a real experimental batch that will be implemented, and we will understand whether we should put this product at the industrial level. At the moment, the price of Arctic fuel does not differ much from the cost of winter diesel fuel. But, of course, Arctic fuel will need its own chain of production equipment, which will either have to be withdrawn from existing schemes, or a new one will be built. The specifics of the product are such that interest in it is not constant. If there is demand and a good price, then, of course, we will do it.
In one of the earlier materials, we already talked about the novelty that was just being prepared for production with the specialists of the commercial management of the enterprise — there is confidence that the product will find its consumer. Moreover, there is also a possibility that the production of the Arctic will have to be shifted to a warmer season, since the northern regions — Siberia, the Far East, the North — become inaccessible in the middle of winter, and therefore the local population and companies operating in the regions prepare for the season in advance, including making stocks of the most suitable for climatic specifics of automobile fuel.