Gasoline

By: Kyle Young

Why do gasoline prices go up? Most people do not understand how much the government
controls fuel inflation. Not only is it certain times of the year. Octane quality affects gas prices
more than people think. The most important quality of gasoline is octane quality. Octane
number is a measurement for antiknock properties of the fuel.(Beaver) Knocking in a gasoline
engine is usually to metallic objects knocking together. Sever knocking can and will cause major
engine damage. Pre-flame reactions occur in the engine cylinders when portions of the fuel selfinitiate combustion prior to the advancing flame from the spark plug. An additional amount of
energy released causes the engine to knock.
The octane number for a test gasoline represents the percentage by volume of
isooctane (2,2,4-trimethylpentane) in a reference fuel consisting of the mixture of isooctane
and heptane that would be necessary to match the test fuel's knocking tendency. Isooctane
burns with a minimal knocking and is given an octane rating of 100. This is in contrast to
heptane, which burns with much knocking and is given an octane rating of 0. Thus, a
gasoline that burns with the same amount of knocking as a mixture of 92 percent isooctane
and 8 percent heptane is classified as a 92 octane gasoline.(Beaver)
Octane can be increased with different mixtures of fuel additives, tetraethyl lead (TEL),
was developed in the 1920s. It was used to promote the higher quality fuel for the higher quality
combustion engines. However, TEL is highly toxic and poisons catalytic converters. (Beaver)
Since the 1970s all vehicles have had catalytic converters due to emissions.
The gasoline is all started from the crude oil. Salts and metals in the crude oil promote
corrosion and poison processing catalysts. The crude oil is heated (to decrease viscosity) and
extracted with water to remove the salts and metals. The process is called emulsion.