Introduction to Diesel fuel
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Introduction to diesel including History, Composition, Chemical & physical properties.
![Chapter 1: Introduction
Chemical name: Diesel fuel
Diesel fuel in general is any liquid fuel used in diesel engines. The most common type of
diesel fuel is a specific fractional distillate of crude oil.
History
Diesel fuel has an interesting origin because it was ignored as garbage for decades. Instead
of seeing it as a valuable source of fuel, it was thrown away as an unusable byproduct of
petroleum refining for more than 40 years.
Scientist James Young built the first oil refinery in Bathgate, Scotland, in 1851. In the
early days of petroleum refining, the primary objective was extracting burnable paraffin
for lamps. Soon after, kerosene was a common product of mid-1800s oil refining. For
decades, diesel was an unwanted byproduct or distillate of this crude oil refining, but it
was not considered important and called diesel fuel until 1892.
Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel invented the diesel engine in 1892. The original engine was
designed to run on coal dust. When Diesel patented the compression-ignition engine in
1892, it was an engineering breakthrough because the fuel did not need to be externally
ignited. This engine design has been perfected over the years, and is still used in modern
times. To make the engine work, diesel is compressed to a high temperature to ignite the
fuel inside a cylinder. When the combustion occurs, it moves a piston and causes the motor
to activate.
In addition to being successful in creating this engine for smaller loads, the design quickly
evolved to take on large ones. Within 20 years of its invention, the diesel engine was being
applied to large freight trucks, tractors, trains and ships. Modern diesel fuels have less
sulfur. Lower sulfur levels result in fewer sulfur emissions at the tailpipe. Most nations
now ban high- and mid-sulfur diesel fuels, or limit their use to off-road and industrial use.
Ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD) is a standard for defining diesel fuel with substantially
lowered sulfur content [18].](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/introduction-161110133437/85/introduction-to-diesel-fuel-1-320.jpg)
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Introduction to Diesel fuel
- 1. Chapter 1: Introduction Chemical name: Diesel fuel Diesel fuel in general is any liquid fuel used in diesel engines. The most common type of diesel fuel is a specific fractional distillate of crude oil. History Diesel fuel has an interesting origin because it was ignored as garbage for decades. Instead of seeing it as a valuable source of fuel, it was thrown away as an unusable byproduct of petroleum refining for more than 40 years. Scientist James Young built the first oil refinery in Bathgate, Scotland, in 1851. In the early days of petroleum refining, the primary objective was extracting burnable paraffin for lamps. Soon after, kerosene was a common product of mid-1800s oil refining. For decades, diesel was an unwanted byproduct or distillate of this crude oil refining, but it was not considered important and called diesel fuel until 1892. Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel invented the diesel engine in 1892. The original engine was designed to run on coal dust. When Diesel patented the compression-ignition engine in 1892, it was an engineering breakthrough because the fuel did not need to be externally ignited. This engine design has been perfected over the years, and is still used in modern times. To make the engine work, diesel is compressed to a high temperature to ignite the fuel inside a cylinder. When the combustion occurs, it moves a piston and causes the motor to activate. In addition to being successful in creating this engine for smaller loads, the design quickly evolved to take on large ones. Within 20 years of its invention, the diesel engine was being applied to large freight trucks, tractors, trains and ships. Modern diesel fuels have less sulfur. Lower sulfur levels result in fewer sulfur emissions at the tailpipe. Most nations now ban high- and mid-sulfur diesel fuels, or limit their use to off-road and industrial use. Ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD) is a standard for defining diesel fuel with substantially lowered sulfur content [18].
- 2. Chemical composition Diesel fuel is a very complex mixture of thousands of individual compounds, most with carbon numbers between 10 and 22. It is composed of about 75% saturated hydrocarbons (primarily paraffins including n, iso, and cycloparaffins), and 25% aromatic hydrocarbons (including naphthalene and alkyl benzenes. The average chemical formula for common diesel fuel is C12H23, ranging approximately from C10H20 to C15H28. Physical And Chemical properties Color : Colorless to Brown Physical state : Liquid Odor : Kerosene like Melting point : -8.1O C Boiling point : 282-338O C Density at 20O C : 0.87-0.95 g/ml Solubility in water at 20O C : 5 mg/L Vapor pressure at 21O C : 2.12-26.4 mmHg Flash point : 52 and 96O C Auto ignition temperature : 254 -285O C Flammability limit : 1.3-6.0% (%volume in air) Heating Value, net : 42,700 kJ/kg Diesel does not mix with water. Water in fuel can damage a fuel injection pump; some diesel fuel filters also trap water. Water contamination in diesel fuel can lead to freezing while in the fuel tank. The freezing water that saturates the fuel will sometimes clog the fuel injector pump. Once the water inside the fuel tank has started to freeze, gelling is more likely to occur. When the fuel is gelled it is not effective until the temperature is raised and the fuel returns to a liquid state.