Ship fuel: "so unrefined that you could walk on it at room temperature"

September 1, 2014 5. Sea and Suez Ships burn bunker fuel now, which takes its name from the coal bunkers it used to be stored in. … “Residual Fuel Oil, to give bunker its real name, is dirty but cheap. Even now that fuel is ruinously costly—$600 a ton—bunker is still the cheapest. But it is horrible stuff. It is so unrefined that you could walk on it at room temperature. Even the spokesperson for Intertanko, an association of independent tanker owners, calls it “crud,” and “one step up from asphalt.” Burning bunker fuel releases into the atmosphere gases and soot including carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, sulfur dioxide, black carbon, and particulate organic matter.” All Excerpts From George, Rose. “Ninety Percent of Everything.” Henry Holt and Company. iBooks. This material may be protected by copyright.