Mazut (
Russian: Мазут,
romanized: Mazut) is a low-quality
heavy fuel oil, used in
power plants and similar applications in the countries of the former Soviet Union. In the West, through
fluid catalytic cracking, mazut is distilled into
diesel and other light distillates.[2][3]
Mazut may be used for heating houses in the former
USSR and in countries of the
Far East that do not have the facilities to blend or break it down into more conventional petro-chemicals.
There have been signs of mazut burning in
Iran to compensate for the shortage of
natural gas but it has caused environmental problems, such as huge amounts of
air pollution in big cities such as
Tehran.[4]
Mazut-100 is a
fuel oil that is manufactured to
GOST specifications, for example, GOST 10585-75 (not active) or GOST 10585-2013 (active as per December 2019[5]). Mazut is almost exclusively manufactured in
Russia,
Kazakhstan,
Azerbaijan, and
Turkmenistan.[6] This product is typically used for larger boilers in producing steam, since the
energy value is high.
The most important factor when grading this fuel is the
sulfur content, which can mostly be affected by the source feedstock. For shipment purposes, this product is considered a "dirty oil" product, and because
viscosity drastically affects whether it is able to be pumped, shipping has unique requirements. Much like No. 6 fuel oil (
Bunker C), mazut is a refinery residual product, that is, products left over after
gasoline,
diesel, and other light distillates are distilled from crude oil except, unlike bunker fuel, mazut is produced from much lower grade feedstocks.
Different types of Mazut-100
The main difference between the different types of Mazut-100 is the content of sulphur. The grades are represented by these sulfuric levels:[7]
"Very low sulphur" is mazut with a sulphur content of 0.5%
"Low sulphur" is a mazut with a sulphur content of 0.5–1.0%
"Normal sulphur" is a mazut with a sulphur content of 1.0–2.0%
"High sulphur" is a mazut with a sulphur content of 2.0–3.5%
Very-low-sulphur mazut is generally made from the lowest-sulfur crude feedstocks. It has a very limited volume to be exported because:
The number of producers in Russia is limited. Refineries that produce this are generally owned by the largest domestic oil companies, such as
Lukoil and
Rosneft, etc.
In Russia and the
CIS countries a minimum of 50% from the total produced volume is sold only to domestic consumers in Russia and the CIS.
Most of the remainder amount is reserved by state quotas for state-controlled companies abroad.
The remaining volume available for export is sold according to state quotas, via state auctions, accessible only to Russian domestic companies.[citation needed]
Low- to high-sulfur mazut is available from Russia and other CIS countries (Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan). The technical specifications are represented in the same way, according to the Russian GOST 10585-99. The Russian origin mazut demands higher prices.
^Definition of mazut in English by Oxford Dictionaries: Origin: Late 19th century; earliest use found in Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature. From Russian mazut fuel oil, perhaps from an Azerbaijani Turkish derivative ultimately of Arabic zayt oil (plural zuyūt); probably unrelated to Russian regional mazutina oily stain (Tver′ region, 1897), Russian mazat′ to oil, to smear...
^Mazut, Page 54, CIR Staff Paper, Center for International Research (U.S.), Publisher: U.S.S.R. Input-Output Branch, Center for International Research, Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1984.