fuels

Liquid fuels are normally used in IC

Engines, however, some engines may be
designed to accept gaseous fuels. Also in
electricity generation plant, solid fuel (coal)
is used in the boiler furnace.
In general, combustion is actually a
chemical reaction process under certain
conditions, where the fuel element reacts
with oxygen present in air to forms oxides of
these elements
In order to avoid loose boundaries of
this subject, it is useful to limit our
considerations within the “hydro-carbon”
types of fuel
Hydrocarbons are one of the Earth's most important
energy resources. The predominant use of
hydrocarbons is as a combustible fuel source.
Hydrocarbons are economically important because
major fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum and natural
gas, and its derivatives such as plastics, paraffin,
waxes, solvents and oils are hydrocarbons.
Hydrocarbons can be gases( methane and propane),
liquids( hexane and benzene), waxes or low melting
solids( paraffin wax and naphthalene) or
polymers(polyethylene, polypropylene and
polystyrene).
 Introduction

An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an

industrial process plant where crude oil is
processed and refined into more useful
petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel
fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and
liquefied petroleum gas
 Cont…

Oil refineries are typically large sprawling

industrial complexes with extensive piping running
throughout, carrying streams of fluids between
large chemical processing units.
In many ways, oil refineries use much of the
technology of, and can be thought of as types of
chemical plants.
The crude oil feedstock has typically been
processed by an oil production plant.
There is usually an oil depot(tank farm) at or near
an oil refinery for storage of bulk liquid products.
 operation
Crude oil is separated into fractions by fractional
distillation.
The fractions at the top of the fractionating
column have lower boiling points than the fractions
at the bottom.
The heavy bottom fractions are often cracked into
lighter, more useful products.
All of the fractions are processed further in other
refining units.
However, two specific operation are used to
separates crude oil components :
 Cont..

Cracking :is the process in breaking large molecular

components into more useful smaller molecular
weight components.
Distillation :is the process used to separate the
mixture into single or smaller rangers of
components.
 Cont…

Crude oil varies greatly in appearance depending on

its composition. It is usually black or dark brown
(although it may be yellowish, reddish, or even
greenish).
Crude oil is made up almost entirely of carbon
and hydrogen.
C & H can combine in so many ways , and tests
shows that “25,000” different kind of HCs can really
be obtained.
Such combination may include very a large
molecular to very light molecular components
 Cont..

Large MWt components have high boiling

temperature.
small MWt components have low boiling point.
High boiling point components, such as tar and
asphalt can be returned back to the refinery for
cracking into smaller MWt.
Low boiling point components are a very
desirable products, such as solvent and fuels like
gasoline
 Cont…

1. Crude oil
2. Gasoline
3. Kerosene
4. Diesel oil
5. Sulfur
6. Asphalt
7. Motor oil
8. LPG
 Cont…

Petroleum products are usually grouped into

three categories:
1. light distillates (LPG, gasoline, naphtha),
2. middle distillates (kerosene, diesel),
3. heavy distillates and residuum (heavy fuel oil,
lubricating oils, wax, asphalt).
This classification is based on the way crude oil
is distilled and separated into fractions (called
distillates and residuum) as in the above
drawing.
 Order of fractionation

1. Liquefied petroleum gas(LPG)

2. Gasoline(also known as petrol)
3. Naphtha
4. Kerosene and related jet aircraft fuels
5. Diesel fuel
6. Fuel oils
7. Lubricating oils
8. Paraffin wax
9. Asphalt and tar
 applications

Therefore the products from refined crude oil can

be used for many applications such as for
example :
1. Automobile gasoline.2. Diesel fuel
3. Jet fuel 4. Home heating fuel 5. Industrial fuel
7. Natural gas (cooking). 8.Lubricants
9. Asphalt 10. Rubber manufacturing
11. Paint manufacturing 12. Plastic manufacturing
13. Explosion production 14. Alcohols.
15. wax
 fuel properties

Gasoline properties
1. Density
The specific gravity(or relative density) of gasoline
ranges from 0.71–0.77 ( 719.7 kg/m3),
Gasoline floats on water; water cannot generally
be used to extinguish a gasoline fire, unless used in
a fine mist.
 Cont..

2. Volatility is the tendency of a substance to

vaporize.
 Volatility is directly related to a substance's vapor
pressure.
At a given temperature, a substance with higher
vapor pressure vaporizes more readily than a
substance with a lower vapor pressure.
 Cont…

3. self-ignition temperature (SIT)

if the temperature of AF mixture is raised high
enough, the mixture will ignite itself without the
need of a spark or external igniter.
the temperature above which this occurs is called
the “ self ignition temperature “and will be denoted
by “SIT”
 Cont …

As mentioned previously, low boiling point HC components is :

1. Is very useful products
2. it’s low boiling temperature means it has high volatility.
3. High volatility components can vaporize at low temperature,
which is useful for cold starting of an engine, as fuel must
vaporize before it can be burned.
4. however, too high volatility is undesirable, because :

i-reduces volumetric efficiency, as fuel vapor replaces air

during induction stroke.
ii-it can cause vapor lock which prevent fuel flow through
carburetor lines
 Cont…

SIT is usually obtained when having high

compression ratio(Cr)
In CI engines, Cr is usually high and SIT is
obtained, this what really makes the principles of
ignition in CI engines.
In SI engines SIT may be referred to as “auto-
ignition”, or “pre-ignition”. And this is not desirable
at all in SI engine operation.
 As ignition start by the spark of a spark plug at
pre-set time of the cycle, this is why low Cr is
imposed on the design of SI engines.
 Cont….

If SIT is reached in SI engines, then pressure

pulses are generated, often in audible frequency,
which may cause serious damage to the engine.
This phenomena is called “knocking or pinging or
detonation
 Specified gasoline

Gasoline for reasonable approximation can be

considered as single component hydro-carbon fuel,
such as :
1. Gasoline
chemical formula C8H15
MWt= 111
2. Iso-octane
chemical formula C8H18
MWt= 114
 Octane number

Octane number is a fuel properties that describes

“ how well the fuel will or will not self ignite “.
Or
Octane number is a measure of the fuel
resistance to spontaneous (self) ignition during
compression stroke prior to the desired position of
the piston in the cylinder set by valve and ignition
timing.
 Cont…

The higher the ON the higher it’s resistance to self

ignition.
Therefore, high ON improves engine performance
and prevents knocking , and therefore, prevent
possible engine damage, thus improving engine
service life.
 Octane rating

Internal combustion engines are designed to burn

gasoline in a controlled process called deflagration.
But in some cases, gasoline can also combust
abnormally by detonation, which wastes energy
and can damage the engine.
One way to reduce detonation is to increase the
gasoline's resistance to auto-ignition, which is
expressed by its octane rating
 Cont…

Deflagration is a technical term describing subsonic

combustion that usually propagates through thermal
conductivity(hot burning material heats the next layer of cold
material and ignites it)
Detonation( knock, spark knock, pinging or pinking) in SI
engines occurs when combustion of the air/fuel mixture in the
cylinder starts off correctly in response to ignition by the spark
plug, but one or more pockets of air/fuel mixture explode
outside the envelope of the normal combustion front.
Auto-ignition The auto ignition temperature of a substance is
the lowest temperature at which it will spontaneously ignite in
a normal atmosphere without an external source of ignition,
such as a flame or spark
 Measuring ON

Two kind of fuels are used as standard or primary

reference fuels (PRF) :
1. Iso-octane (2,2,4 tri-methyl-pentane) having low
boiling point and has very slight tendency to knock,
and therefore it’s
ON = 100
2. n-heptane, which is characterized by high
tendency to detonate, therefore it’s
ON = 0
 Cont…

To find the (ON) of a fuel , the following test is

carried using special test engine :
1. The fuel (x) is used, Cr is adjusted at specified
operating conditions until a standard level of knock
is experienced.
2. Fuel (x) is replaced by mixture of the (PRF)
through special designed intake system to have any
blend of mixture, until same level of knock is
obtained.
3. At that instant, the (%) of iso-octane in the
mixture represent the (ON) of fuel(x).
 Cont…..

For example,
petrol with the same knocking characteristics
as a mixture of 90% iso-octane and 10% heptane
would have an octane rating of 90.
This does not mean that the petrol contains
just iso-octane and heptane in these
proportions, but that it has the same detonation
resistance properties.
Because some fuels are more knock-resistant
than iso-octane, the definition has been
extended to allow for octane numbers higher
than 100
 Measuring methods
1 -Research method RON [Research Octane
Number]The most common type of octane
rating worldwide is the (RON).
determined by running the fuel in a test
engine with a variable compression ratio
under controlled conditions, and comparing
the results with those for mixtures of iso-
octane and n-heptane.
 Measuring methods
2. -Motoring method MON [Motor Octane
Number]
(MON), is a better measure of how the fuel
behaves when under load, as it is determined at
900 rpm engine speed, instead of the 600 rpm for
RON.
MON testing uses a similar test engine to that
used in RON testing, but with a preheated fuel
mixture, higher engine speed, and variable ignition
timing to further stress the fuel's knock resistance.
 Cont..

3 -Aviation method AON

"octane booster" gasoline additives was commonly used for
ON improvement , but since the 1970s, its use in most of
the industrialized world has been restricted, and its use is
currently limited mostly to aviation gasoline.
4. Road Octane Number (RdON)
The final type of octane rating, called Observed Road
Octane Number (RdON), is derived from testing gasoline in
real world multi-cylinder engines, normally at wide open
throttle. The actual testing was done in cars on the road but
as technology developed the testing was moved to chassis
dynamometers with environmental controls to improve
consistency.
 Variables effecting ON

1. Combustion chamber geometry.

2. Gas turbulence
3. Induction swirl
4. Temperature
5. Inert gas addition
6. Flame speed
 Engine knock

Engine knock, is a sound that is made when the fuel

ignites too early in the compression stroke.
Severe knock causes severe engine damage, such
as
I. broken connecting rods,
II. melted pistons,
III. melted or broken valves and other components.
The Octane rating is a measure of how likely a
gasoline or liquid petroleum fuel is to self ignite.
The higher the ON, the less likely an engine is to
pre-ignite and suffer damage.
 Diesel fuel

introduction
Diesel fuel is also known as diesel oil or fuel oil.
It is petroleum fraction that lies between
kerosene and lubricating oil.
Two types usually used in IC engines :
1. Light diesel fuel
C12H22of MWt=170
less viscous, easy to pump, and cost more.
2. Heavy diesel fuel
C14H24of MWt=200
 Cont.

properties
In order to burn well, diesel fuel should :
1. Atomize properly
2. Ignite quickly
3. Burns completely
 Cont..

Ignition quality
Diesel fuel properties that determines the ignition
quality are :
1. Specific gravity this is related to the energy
content of the fuel and greatly affects the fuel
consumption of a diesel engine.
 Cont..

2. volatility
It is the tendency to evaporate under given set of
conditions.
Evaporation and mixing with air is essential for
good ignition quality and complete combustion, as
this will effects the exhaust contents (HCs, NOx,
smoke density, odour).
It is measured by “distillation temp. vs%
evaporated” according to ASTM distillation curve
 Cont..

3. Ignition quality
i-smooth spontaneous ignition at low temperature
is essential for good quality of ignition.
ii-ignition delay (ID)which is the time period
between start of injection and start of combustion.
ID Influence the quality of fuel optimization.
Too long (ID) causes rapid rate of pressure rise at
start of ignition which causes diesel knock.
Too short provides insufficient time for good
mixing which causes smoking
Effected by design parameters such as “Cr, injection rate &
timing, inlet air temperature..”
4. Cetane number (CN)
It is a measure of the fuel ability to auto-ignite quickly
when injected into the hot compressed air.
It is also a numerical measure of the influence the diesel
fuel has in determining the (ID)

CN↑→ diesel knock↓

exh. emission ↓
noise ↓
delay period ↓
CN ↑↑ → pre-ignition
occurs
Measuring CN
A special test engine is used for the purpose of measuring (CN) of fuel
(x). The test procedure :
i-fuel injection begins at (13 °bTDC)
ii-(Cr) to be adjusted for ignition to start at TDC Reference fuel
1-n-cetane[C16H34]
CN = 100
2-heptomethylnonane
HMN [C12H34]
CN = 15
Ref. fuel mixture variation according to test procedure until ignition
start at TDC
Accordingly , the mixture blend is used to calculate (CN) of fuel (x) as :
CN]x = % n-cetane+ (0.15) %HMN
 ON & CN
For gasoline , (ON) is a measure of the resistance to spontaneous
ignition
For diesel fuel, (CN) is a measure of the ease of spontaneous
ignition .
(ON & CN) are therefore the inverse measurement of the same
property (spontaneous ignition)
Approximate simple relationship between ON & CN :
CN = (104 –ON)/2.75
ON = 104 –2.75 CN
This means that “a good diesel engine fuel is bad gasoline engine
fuel”
Increasing (ON) is not harmful but a cost waste.
increasing (CN) is harmful as it might produce pre-ignition.
Thank you