The Basics Of Diesel Fuel

الاثنين، 18 أبريل 2016

By Sarah Evans


Generally, diesel fuels refer to all kinds of liquid fuels used in diesel engines. These engines have their fuel ignition happening as a result of compression of the inlet air mixture as opposed to a spark. The commonest kind of diesel fuel in use is a certain fractional distillate of petroleum fuel oil. However, there are many other alternatives derived from petroleum being developed and adopted including gas to liquid, biomass to liquid, and biodiesel.

The name petrodiesel is used for all variants of this energy sources which are extracted from petroleum. Ultra-low-sulfur diesel is that which has very low traces of sulfur. The abbreviation ULSD is often used. USLD is in wide is European states and North America. DERV is the term used for petrodiesel used for road vehicles. In Australia, this sources of energy is referred using the name distillate.

The discovery of petrodiesel was done by Rudolf Diesel, a Geman inventor and scientist. He was carrying out some experiments with his newly-invented compression-ignition engine when he made the discovery in 1892. The engine was intended to use coal duct but experimentation with peanut and vegetable oils were done by Rudolf. The engine later featured in Paris Exposition and World Fair.

Production of petrodiesel is achieved through fractionally distilling crude oil. The distillation must be done at 200 to 350 degree Celsius of temperature. The process causes the creation of carbon chains that contain 8-21 atoms of carbon in every molecule. The pressure is maintained at atmospheric pressure level.

The way this substance is stored must follow certain specifications. In the US, the container of storage needs to be yellow in color. The yellow color differentiates petrodiesel from other fuels such as kerosene and gasoline. Containers for storing gasoline are usually colored red while those that store kerosene are colored blue. Other countries have their own conventions. For example, the container used for storage is usually black in color in the UK.

Cetane number is the unit used to gauge the quality of this energy source. Cetane number measures the delay of ignition. When the cetane number is higher, it implies that the substance ignites faster or more readily whenever it is sprayed into air that is hot compressed. Among European countries, road petrodiesel must have a cetane number of 51 as the lowest value. Other variants such as premium petrodiesel have higher cetane numbers.

Petrodiesel and other forms of this substance find use in many applications. When the substance became popular in use, it displaced fuel oil and coal in powering vehicles during the last half of the twentieth century. Today, it is used to power cars, trains, aircrafts, and water vessels among others. It has many attractive features that make it suitable for use in military vehicles.

Previously, this material contained a lot of sulfur because oil refineries added it in huge quantities. Later it came to be known that sulfur causes a lot of harm and pollution to the environment and the quantity had to be reduced. Government started to intervene to force refineries into this action. Preferential taxation was adopted on a large scale and it seems to have worked quite well in some countries.




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