Cetane number

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cetane number or CN is an indicator of the combustion speed of diesel fuel. It is an inverse

of the similar octane rating for gasoline (petrol). The CN is an important factor in determining
the quality of diesel fuel, but not the only one; other measurements of diesel's quality include
(but are not limited to) energy content, density, lubricity, cold-flow properties and sulphur
content.[1]
Contents
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1Definition
2Typical values
3Additives
4Alternative fuels
5Chemical relevance
6Measuring cetane number
6.1Ignition Quality Tester (IQT)
6.2Fuel ignition tester
6.3Cetane index
6.4Industry standards
7See also
8References
9Further reading
10External links

Definition[edit]
Cetane number or CN is an inverse function of a fuel's ignition delay, and the time period
between the start of injection and the first identifiable pressure increase during combustion of
the fuel. In a particular diesel engine, higher cetane fuels will have shorter ignition delay
periods than lower Cetane fuels. Cetane numbers are only used for the relatively light
distillate diesel oils. For heavy (residual) fuel oil two other scales are used CCAI and CII.
In short, the higher the Cetane number the more easily the fuel will combust in a
compression setting (such as a diesel engine). The characteristic diesel "knock" occurs when
fuel that has been injected into the cylinder ignites after a delay causing a late shock wave.
Minimizing this delay results in less unburned fuel in the cylinder and less intense knock.
Therefore higher-cetane fuel usually causes an engine to run more smoothly and quietly.
This does not necessarily translate into greater efficiency, although it may in certain engines.

Typical values[edit]
Generally, diesel engines operate well with a CN from 40 to 55. Fuels with higher cetane
number have shorter ignition delays, providing more time for the fuel combustion process to
be completed. Hence, higher speed diesel engines operate more effectively with higher
cetane number fuels.
In Europe, diesel cetane numbers were set at a minimum of 38 in 1994 and 40 in 2000. The
current[when?] standard for diesel sold in European Union, Iceland, Norway andSwitzerland is

set in EN 590, with a minimum cetane index of 46 and a minimum cetane number of 51.
Premium diesel fuel can have a cetane number as high as 60. [2]
In North America, most states adopt ASTM D975 as their diesel fuel standard and the
minimum cetane number is set at 40, with typical values in the 42-45 range. Premium diesels
may or may not have higher cetane, depending on the supplier. Premium diesel often
use additives to improve CN and lubricity, detergents to clean the fuel injectors and
minimize carbon deposits, water dispersants, and other additives depending on geographical
and seasonal needs.[citation needed]. California diesel fuel has a minimum cetane of 53.[3] Under the
Texas Low Emission Diesel (TxLED) program there are 110 counties where diesel fuel must
have a cetane number of 48 or greater, or else must use an approved alternative formulation
or comply with the designated alternative limits.[4]

Additives[edit]
Alkyl nitrates (principally 2-ethylhexyl nitrate[5]) and di-tert-butyl peroxide are used as
additives to raise the cetane number.

Alternative fuels[edit]
Biodiesel from vegetable oil sources have been recorded as having a cetane number range
of 46 to 52, and animal-fat based biodiesels cetane numbers range from 56 to 60. [6]Dimethyl
ether is a potential diesel fuel as it has a high cetane rating (55-60) and can be produced as
a biofuel.[7]

Chemical relevance[edit]
Cetane is the chemical compound with chemical formula n-C16H34, today named hexadecane
according to IUPAC rules. It is an unbranched alkane, a saturated hydrocarbon chain with no
cycles. Cetane ignites very easily under compression, so it was assigned a cetane number
of 100, while alpha-methyl naphthalene was assigned a cetane number of 0. All
other hydrocarbons in diesel fuel are indexed to cetane as to how well they ignite under
compression. The cetane number therefore measures how quickly the fuel starts to burn
(auto-ignites) under diesel engine conditions. Since there are hundreds of components in
diesel fuel, with each having a different cetane quality, the overall cetane number of the
diesel is the average cetane quality of all the components (strictly speaking high-cetane
components will have disproportionate influence, hence the use of high-cetane additives).

Measuring cetane number[edit]

Accurate measurements of the cetane number are rather difficult, as it requires burning the
fuel in a rare diesel engine called a Cooperative Fuel Research (CFR) engine, under
standard test conditions. The operator of the CFR engine uses a hand-wheel to increase the
compression ratio (and therefore the peak pressure within the cylinder) of the engine until
the time between fuel injection and ignition is 2.407ms. The resulting cetane number is then
calculated by determining which mixture of cetane (hexadecane)
and isocetane(2,2,4,4,6,8,8-heptamethylnonane) will result in the same ignition delay.

Ignition Quality Tester (IQT)[edit]

Another reliable method of measuring the derived cetane number (DCN) of diesel fuel is the
Ignition Quality Tester (IQT). This instrument applies a simpler, more robust approach to CN
measurement than the CFR. Fuel is injected into a constant volume combustion chamber at
approximately 575 C and 310 psi. The time between the start of injection and the recovery

of the combustion chamber pressure to 310 psi is defined as the ignition delay. This
measured ignition delay is then used to calculate the DCN of the fuel. The fuel's DCN is then
calculated using an empirical inverse relationship to ignition delay. Because of the
reproducibility, material cost, and speed of the IQT, this has been the definitive source for
DCN measurements of fuels since the late 2000s.[8] [9] [10]

Fuel ignition tester[edit]

Another reliable method of measuring the derived cetane number of diesel fuel is the Fuel
Ignition Tester (FIT). This instrument applies a simpler, more robust approach to CN
measurement than the CFR. Fuel is injected into a constant volume combustion chamber in
which the ambient temperature is approximately 575 C. The fuel combusts, and the high
rate of pressure change within the chamber defines the start of combustion. The ignition
delay of the fuel can then be calculated as the time difference between the start of fuel
injection and the start of combustion. The fuel's derived cetane number can then be
calculated using an empirical inverse relationship to ignition delay.

Cetane index[edit]
Another method that fuel-users control quality is by using the cetane index (CI), which is a
calculated number based on the density and distillation range of the fuel. There are various
versions of this, depending on whether metric or Imperial units are used, and how many
distillation points are used. These days most oil companies use the '4-point method', ASTM
D4737, based on density, 10% 50% and 90% recovery temperatures. The '2-point method' is
defined in ASTM D976, and uses just density and the 50% recovery temperature. This 2point method tends to overestimate cetane index and is not recommended. Cetane index
calculations can not account for cetane improver additives and therefore do not measure
total cetane number for additized diesel fuels. Diesel engine operation is primarily related to
the actual cetane number and the cetane index is simply an estimation of the base
(unadditized) cetane number.

Industry standards[edit]
The industry standards for measuring cetane number are ASTM D-613 (ISO 5165) for the
CFR engine, D-6890 for the IQT, and D-7170 for the FIT.

See also[edit]

NExBTL
Octane rating

References[edit]
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

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Jump up^ dorfketal.com Archived August 8, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
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