FUELS

(INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE)

 FUELS
• Petro chemicals or hydro carbons(HC)
• Gasoline/Petrol is a liquid obtained from crude
oil/mineral oil/rock oil--organic compound
• It is a dark brown/black, foul smellingliquid
• It undergoes no of refining processes in the refinery.
Usually fractional distillation
• Hydrocarbons with more carbon atoms have higher
boiling point than the one with fewer carbon atoms.
• HCwith low boiling point are collected at the top of
the tower
 FUELS
• Cracking is process of breaking large HCby
thermal & catalyticcracking
• Reformation- why? To improve anti knock
qualities of fuels
• Isomerisation- same no of molecular
formula but different chemicalstructures
FRACTIONALDISTILLATION
 FUELS
FRACTIONS BOILING RANGE NO OFCARBON USES
ATOMS
PETROLEUM GAS BELOW 40 1-4 FUELCOOKING/HEATING
PETROL 40-75 5-10 CARS
NAPTHA 75-150 7-14 PLASTICS,DETERGENT/FEED
STOCK
KEROSE 160-250 11-16 AIRCRAFTS,COOKING
NE/
PARAFIN
DIESELOIL 250-300 16-20 CI ENGINES
LUBRICATING OIL 300-350 20-35 WAXES/ POLISH
BITUME ABOVE 350 MORE THAN 70 PAVING ROAD
N/
ASPHALT
 PROPERTIESOFFUELS
• Boiling & melting point increases asmolecular
size increases
• Density increases as molecular size increases
• Viscosity increases with molecular size
• Less flammable with increase in molecular size---
so ?
• Fuel with less carbon atoms is more volatile &
heating value increases by proportion of
hydrogen atoms.
FUELS
FUELS
 AIR/FUEL
• N2- 80 %, 02-20 %
• H2 in HC forms H20 & O2forms CO2
• But incomplete combustion may
result in some HCgoing out to form
CO& NOx
 FUELPROPERTIES
• Volatility
• Resistance to spark knock or detonation
• Anti rust
• Anti icers
• Detergent-clean fuel/carburetor
• Dye for colour
 FUELPROPERTIES
Natural Evaporation of Volatile Fuels
 FUELPROPERTIES
• Volatility : crank case dilution, vapour
lock, starting issues
• Gum deposit: impurities due storage,
clogs carburetor, carbon deposits
• Sulphur: corrosion, low ignition temp
promoting knocks
 FUELPROPERTIES
• Flash point of a volatile material is thelowest
temp at which it can vaporize to form an
ignitable mixture in air.
• It requires an ignition source.
• At flash point, the vapours cease to burn
when source of ignition isremoved
• SI engine, A/F mixture is heated above its flash
point, then ignited by sparkplug.
 FUELPROPERTIES
• Knock: Abnormal combustion after spark at
the plug resulting in high pitch metallic
rapping noise called pinging.
• Pre-ignition: Hot spots causing ignition
before spark plug. Hot exhaust valve, spark
plug or carbon deposits. Rumble to mild
detonation/ dull thud.
• To avoid pre-ignition, low flash & higher auto
ignition temp.
COMBUSTION
COMBUSTION
COMBUSTION
 COMBUSTION
• If T&P of A/F mixture is
raised high enough, it will
self ignite without aspark
plug.
• In SI engines auto/pre-
ignition is not desirable.
Spark plug ignites A/F
mixture at proper time in
cycle. ID= Ignition Delay

• Compression ratio generally

<10:1 to avoid pre-ignition
 COMBUSTION
• Mechanical factors to
control combustion
• Quench area prevents
last part of A/F mixtureto
detonate. It occurs at end
of compression stroke.
Mixture squeezed to
promote turbulence.
• Hemisphere shape has a
central plug. Flame
travels a short distance.
No end pockets
 Gasoline/Petrol
• It is a complicated mixture of
hydrocarbons boiling between 50and
2000C, with chemical formulas
between C6H14and C12H26,but agood
"average" compound is C8H18.
 OCTANENO
• Organo-manganese & alcohols aresubstitutes
of Tetra-ethyl Lead(TEL)
• Knock occurs at WOT when engine is loaded/
going uphill
• Solution-
o High octane (slow burning): Ignition timing advance
o Medium octane: Retard ignition or starting
combustion later in compressionstroke.
EFFECTOFTETRAETHYLLEADON
OCTANE NUMBER
 OCTANENUMBER(ON)
To find the ON of an SI engine fuel, the
following test procedure is used:
•A specially designed test engine is run at
specified conditions using the fuel beingtested.
•Compression ratio is adjusted until astandard
level of knock isexperienced.
•The test fuel is then replaced with a mixtureof
the two standardfuels.
 OCTANENUMBER(ON)
• The intake system of the engine is designed
such that the blend of the two standard fuels
can be varied to any percent from all iso-
octane to all n-heptane.
• The blend of fuels is varied until the same
knock characteristics are observed as with the
test fuel.
 OCTANENUMBER(ON)
• The percent of iso-octane in the fuel blend is
the ON given to the test fuel. For instance, a
fuel that has the same knock characteristicsas
a blend of 87% iso-octane and 13% n-heptane
would have an ON of 87.
 ISOOCTANE(C8H18)
• Also written as: iso-octane
• Also called : 2,2,4-Trimethylpentane
• It is an organic liquid compound withthe
formula (CH3)3CCH2CH(CH3)2.
• Itis one of several isomers of octane.
• It is an important component of gasoline,
frequently used in relatively largeproportions
toincrease the knock resistance of the fuel.
 DIESELFUEL
• Hasa high compression ratio of 16:1 to 22:1
• Heat of compression ignites fuel as it sprays
into the engine cylinder. It does not require
an ignition source.
• Volatility: less than petrol but it also has
higher heating value (Longchain).
• Viscosity: Slightly more than petrol, otherwise
it would not break into particles. Small
particles burn fast.
 DIESELFUEL
• Immediately after injection, the fuel partially
evaporates with a resulting chilling of the air
in the immediate vicinity of each fuel particle.
• However, the extreme heat of compression
rapidly heats the fuel particles to self ignition
point and combustion begins. The fuel
particles burn as they mix in theair.
 DIESELFUEL
• The smallest particles burn rapidly but larger
ones take more time to ignite because heat
has to reach them to bring them to self
ignition.
• Combustion is slower and pressure rise is
small (constant).
• A good CI engine has short ignition lag.
• Ignition lag affects starting, warm up,and
produces smoke.
DIESELFUEL
 DIESELFUEL
• Knock: Time of injection and actual burning. If
lag increases, amount of fuel accumulated is
more, abnormal amount of energy isreleased,
excessive pressure rise with audible knock.
• Sulphur Content of Diesel: ExcessiveSulphur
causes cylinder wear/breaking down of
lubricating oil.
OCTANE& CETANENOs
 Definition Cetane Number (CN)
•
⬥ The cetane number is the percentage by
volume of cetane in the mixture that has
the same performance as the fuel being
•
tested.
⬥ It is a measure of a fuel's ignition delay, 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
fuelswill have shorter ignition delay periods
than lower cetane fuels.
 Definition Cetane Number (CN)
• Cetane numbers are only used for the relatively
light distillate diesel oils.
• The higher the cetane number the more easilythe
fuel will burn in a compression setting (such as a
diesel engine).
• The characteristic diesel "knock" occurs when the
first portion of fuel that has been injected into the
cylinder suddenly ignites after an initial delay.
 Definition Cetane Number (CN)
•
⬥ Once ignition occurs, all the remaining
fuelburns smoothly as it leaves the
•
injectornozzle.
⬥ Minimizing this delay results in less
•
unburned fuelin the cylinder at the
beginning and less intenseknock.
•
⬥ Therefore higher-cetane fuel usually
causesan engine to run more
smoothlyand quietly.
⬥ This does not necessarily translate
into greater efficiency, although it may,
 CETANENUMBER(CN)
•
⬥ In the 1930's the Cooperative Fuel
Research (CFR) committee sought a way of
expressing the tendency of a diesel fuel to
ignite quickly, and their work was taken up
•
by the ASTM.
⬥ A Hydrocarbon fuel that ignited very
quickly, cetane (n-hexadecane) was
arbitrarily given a rating of 100, and a
Hydrocarbon that was very slow to ignite,
•
called 1-methylnapthalene, was assigned a
rating of zero.
 CETANENUMBER(CN)
• A specially-designed engine with adjustable
compression is used to determine a fuel’s cetane
number. The fuel being tested is injected at 13°
before top deadcenter.
• The engine’s compression ratio is then adjusteduntil
the fuel ignites at topdead center.
• Retaining this compression ratio, the engine is then
run on various blends of cetane with 1-methyl-
napthalene, until a blend is found for whichignition
occurs at top deadcenter.
 Typical Values
• Generally, diesel engines operate well with a
CNfrom 40 to 55.
• Higher speed diesel engines operate more
effectively with higher cetane numberfuels.
• In North America, most states adoptASTM
D975 as their diesel fuel standard and the
minimum cetane number is set at 40, with
typical values in the 42-45range.
 Typical values
• In Europe, diesel cetane numbers were set ata
minimum of 38 in 1994 and 40 in2000.
• The current standard for diesel sold in European
Union, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland 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.
• In Pakistan High Speed Diesel is about CN45
 Cetane Index
• Because of need for special engines/testequipment,
often cetane number cannot be determined
experimentally.
• Instead an estimate is made from the fuel’sspecific
gravity and the temperature at which half of a
sample will boil away.
• Such an estimate is called cetane index, not cetane
number.
• An improved method relies on the temperaturesat
which 10%, 50% and 90% of the sample boils away.
•
 Diesel Petrol

Diesel Petrol
In diesel engines, heating
Uses: In petrol engines
systems

Energy content: 38.6 MJ/litre 34.6 MJ/litre

Torque (for 10L engine): 1000 Nm @ 2000 rpm 300Nm @ 4000 rpm

Power (for 10L engine): 490Hp @ 3500 rpm 600Hp @ 5500 rpm

Power = torque*RPM: More torque at low speeds Runs at higher RPM

Auto-ignition temperature: 210°C 246°C

 Diesel Petrol

More than petrol. Diesel fuel

produces approximately 13%
CO2 emission: more CO2 gas per litre of Lower than diesel.
fuel burned, compared to
petrol engines.

increases at lower
Viscosity: No change
temperatures

US Consumption (2006): 50 Billion gallons 148 Billion gallons

 High-Speed Diesel Fuel
• High-speed diesel fuel has a higher cetane
number than fuel for low-speed,stationary
engines.
• The cetane number of high-speed diesel
fuel is typically around 50. Cetanenumbers
for diesel fuel range from 40 to 55.
• High-speed diesel fuel is also classified as
1D or 2D, indicating pour point and
viscosity.
 High-Speed Diesel Fuel
• 1D and 2D Fuels: Pour point refers to the
minimum temperature at which the fuel will
flow, while viscosity measures its resistanceto
flow.
– A 1D fuel, which has a lower pour point and
less viscosity, works better in low
temperatures.
– A 2D fuel, with a higher pour point andmore
viscosity, is more suitable under warmer
conditions.
 High-Speed Diesel Fuel
• More BTUs: 2D fuel maintains its lubricating
qualities at high speeds. It also contains
more BTUs (British Thermal Units, a measure
of power), produces more power per gallon
and reduces consumption.
• The fuel requirements for a specific diesel
engine typically appear in the owner's car
manual
 Additives
Premium diesels may or may not have higher
cetane, depending on the supplier. Additives
are often used to improve:-
•CN
•Lubricity
•Detergents to clean the fuelinjectors and minimize
carbon deposits
•Water dispersants
•Other additives depending on geographical and
seasonal needs.
 Additives
• Additives. Alkyl nitrates (principally 2-ethylhexyl
nitrate) and di-tert-butyl peroxide are used as
additives to raise the cetanenumber.
• Alternative fuels. 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.
• Dimethyl ether is a potential diesel fuel as it has a
high cetane rating (55-60) and can be produced asa
biofuel.
 Alkanes, Alkenes & Alkynes
• Alkanes, alkenes and alkynes are simple
hydrocarbon chains with no functional groups.
Alkanes are identified because the carbon chainhas
only single bonds.
• Common alkanes include
• Methane (natural gas),
• Propane (heating and cooking fuel),
• Butane (lighter fluid) and
• Octane (automobile fuel).
Isooctane’s Structural Formula
C8H18
Butane's Structural Formula
C4H10
Benzene’s Structural Formula

C6H6
Structural Formulae of Benzene andToluene
Naphthalene's Structural Formula

C10H8