Petroleum Technology 18-03-2021

• Proper viscosity to flow in pipelines, injector nozzles, etc.

• Diesel should not cause deposits in fuel injector system. Cleanliness during use depends
on carbon residue, ash content, sulphur content in diesel.

• Minimum pollution, corrosion and wear & tear found by less S %. Max S = 0.5%

• Other requirement of diesel fuels (IS: 1460-1974): Max ash = 1 wt%, Min flash point
(Abel) = 38°C

• Combustion depends on: Cetane number, distillation range, gravity, etc.

• Handling and storage depends on: Flash point, viscosity, contamination, copper corrosion,
cloud and pour point, etc.

Important tests for diesel fuels

• Cetane number (Min. 42)
• ASTM Distillation range (180-360°C)
• Specific gravity
• Flash point (Abel, Min. 38°C)
• Viscosity
• Contamination (Water or sediments)
• Cloud point
• Pour point
• Ash content
• Sulfur content
• Aniline point
• Calorific value

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Petroleum Technology 18-03-2021

Cetane Number
• Related to ignition delay of a fuel in diesel engine

• Long chain, saturated, un-branched hydrocarbons have high cetane numbers.

• Cetane (Hexadecane, C16H34): Low ignition delay time and arbitrarily chosen high
quality reference compound for cetane scale with cetane number 100

• 2, 2, 4, 4, 6, 8, 8-heptamethyl nonane (C16H34): Long ignition delay time and has

been assigned a cetane number of 15

• Cetane number is determined in a single cylinder CFR (Cooperative Fuel Research)

engine by comparing the ignition delay of diesel sample with reference blends of
known cetane number.

• Cetane number = % n-cetane + 0.15 (% heptamethyl nonane)

• High cetane number is easy starting of compression ignition engines, faster warm
up, increased engine efficiency and power output, reduced exhaust smoke, odour
and combustion noise.

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Petroleum Technology 18-03-2021

Flash Point
• Measure of volatility of the product

• Measure of tendency of the fuel to form a flammable mixture with air under controlled
conditions.

• Lowest temperature at which application of test flame causes the vapors above the oil to
ignite.

• Used in assessing the overall flammability hazard of a material, low flash points are
potential to fire hazards.

• Abel apparatus is used for determining the closed cup flash point of petroleum product
between 19-49°C.

Additives used for diesel fuels

• Detergents: Used as cleaners to remove carbonaceous and gummy deposits from
fuel injectors and to prevent further formations, composed mainly of ash less amines
and amides.

• Stabilizers: Used to retard natural degradation during long term storage

• De-emulsifier: To improve anti-haze characteristics

• Sludge retardant: To limit deposit build up

• Dispersant: To break up fuel droplets (e.g. polyamides)

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Petroleum Technology 18-03-2021

• Rust corrosion inhibitor: To prevent pitting and erosion of metallic surface

• Metal deactivator: To inhibit deterioration by trace metals

• Anti-oxidant: To retard formation of gums and deposits

• Cold weather additives: In cold temperatures, paraffin crystallize into wax. This
tend to clump together and clog fuel filters. Pour point depressants, flow improvers
and cloud point reducers (e.g. Olefin-ester copolymer) are three basic types.

• De-icer agents: break any fuel/water mixture and prevent water from freezing in
cold. (e.g. glycol-ether)

• Lubricity additives: Generally, the new low sulphur diesel fuels contains less
aromatic because of severe hydro treating necessary to lower the total sulphur
content. These low-aromatic fuels negatively impact the fuel’s natural lubrication
tendency and increase the need for supplemental lubrication enhancement.