Fuels and its Rating

Required basic characteristics of fuel in IC engine are

• Good atomization, vaporization and well mixing with air.
• High Energy content. Or Calorific Value
• Fast and complete combustion
• Quick and easy starting and reliable in any ambient condition.
• Free from carbon deposits, less gum content
• Pre-ignition & knock resistance
• Should not be corrosive during combustion
• Minimum pollutants
• Low Sulphur Content
The characteristics of fuel used has a considerable influence on
the design, efficiency, output and durability exhaust pollution.
 TYPES OF FUELS
IC engines can be operated on different types of fuels such as
liquid, gaseous and even solid.
SOLID FUELS: -
• little practical importance – Injection problem, ash residue and
disposing difficulties.
• Coal can be converted into hydrocarbon fuel or hydrogenated to
produce hydrocarbons. Basically it consists of forming synthesis
gas by partially burning coal with insufficient air. The process is
called as gasification. It mainly produces CO and hydrogen.
• A number of processes are developed for converting coal into
liquid fuels also.
• Ex: Wood, Coal, charcoal.
GASEOUS FUELS: -
• Gaseous fuels are ideal fuels and pose very few problems in
using them in IC engines;
• They mix more homogenously with air and eliminate the
distribution and starting problems that are generally
encountered with liquid and solid fuels.
• The main problems that restrict its use are storage and handling
in automobiles.
• Hence gaseous fuels are generally used for stationary power
plants, which are close to source of availability of fuel.
• Some of the gaseous fuels can be liquefied under pressure for
reducing the storage volume but this arrangement is very
expensive as well as risky:
LIQUID FUELS: -
• The most of modern internal combustion engines use liquid
fuels, which are derivatives of petroleum crude.
chemical structure of petroleum: -
• Natural petroleum oil is the largest single source of IC engines fuels.
• Petroleum, as obtained from the oil wells is mainly a mixture of many
hydrocarbons with differing molecular structure. It also contains small
amounts of S, O2, N2 & other impurities.
• The carbon and hydrogen atoms may be linked in different ways in a
hydrocarbon molecule and this linking influence the chemical and
physical properties of different hydrocarbon group.
• The C/H ratio, its nature of bonding determines energy characteristics
of hydrocarbon fuels. Depending upon number of carbon and hydrogen
the petroleum products are classified into different groups as follows
REFINING PROCESS:-
• The crude oil - impurities such as water, solids and gases
consisting mainly of ethane and methane.
• Simple atmospheric distillation it can be separated into gasoline,
kerosene and fuel oil etc.
• The lightest fractions such as butane, propane, ethane etc are
obtained at low temperature and form natural gas, then comes the
gasoline, naphtha kerosene, and gas oils in the order of
increasing molecular weight.
• The demand for gasoline is much more than other petroleum
products. The yield from the typical crude is very less. This led in
the development of refinery process to convert unwanted streams
of crude into salable products and to upgrade the quality of these
streams.
• Main refinery processes are thermal cracking, catalytic cracking,
polymerization (unsaturated products combination), alkylation
(light undesirable hydrocarbons combination), reforming
(Improvement of antiknock tendancy without volume change)
and blending
Fractional Distillation of crude oil
 PRODUCTS OF REFINING PROCESS

• Natural gas: - Natural gas is found dissolved in petroleum or in

huge amounts under earth surface in oil and gas bearing areas. It
is mainly paraffin compounds like methane, a small amount of
propane, ethane, butane and other light hydrocarbons.
• Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG): - Propane, butane and some other
hydrocarbons after separation from natural gas if stored under
pressure form liquid called as liquefied petroleum gas. LPG –
cooking and engines.
• Gasoline: - Lightest petroleum fraction boiling up to 2000C -
considered as gasoline. Mixture of number of hydrocarbons
(about 40). The correct composition depends upon type of crude
oil and refining process.
• Kerosene: - Heavier than gasoline with boiling range 150- 3000
C and SG-0.78- 0.85. This is generally used in gas turbines, as
jet fuel and lamps and stoves
• Distillate: - It is slightly heavier than kerosene used as tractor
fuels and domestic fuels.
• Diesel fuel: - It lies between kerosene and lubricating oils. These
cover a wide range of SG and BP. The boiling point ranges 200-
3700C. These are used as CI engine fuels.
• Fuel oils: - Used as industrial fuels.
• Lubricating fuels: -These are heavy distillate of petroleum and
residual oils. Used for lubricating the engines and general-
purpose machines
 SI Engine Fuel Requirements

• It should easily vaporize

• Knock Resistant
• Should not tend to reduce volumetric efficiency
• Easy to handle
• Economical & easily available
• Clean burning & less corrosive
• High calorific value
• Should not form gum and varnish.
SI Engine performance depends on:

• Volatility
• Sulphur Contents
• Gum Deposits
• Carburetor Detergent Additives
• Antiknock Quality
Volatility: It is the main characteristic of SI engine fuel.
• Volatility indicates the tendency of a fuel to change from
liquid to vapor form.
• Gasoline is a mixture of about 40 hydrocarbons
• A high volatility is desirable from the point of view of
startability and good distribution.
• Storage stability, vapor-locking and carburetor icing prefer
the use of low volatility fuels.
• Evaporative pollution is higher for high volatile fuel.
• Volatility of the fuel can be obtained by two tests.
1. Distillation Test.
2. Reid Vapour Test
ASTM Distillation Test Apparatus
American Standard for Testing Materials

• 100 cc of fuel is distilled

• Temperature of the vapour when
the first drop of condensate from
the condensor is taken as initial
boiling point.
• Vapour temperature is noted for
each 10% collection.
• Distillation Test is conducted to find the volatility of a fuel. The volatility of a single
constituent fuel can be extracted from a mathematical formulae. It is harder to
find the volatility of a multi constituent fuel mathematically. That is why we have
to depend on the ASTM Distillation Test.
• Heat is applied to the flask which contains 100 ml of the fuel, and the
temperatures are recorded when the first drop falls into the graduated receiver
and also when drops totaling 5, 10 and 15 percent etc are condensed. Since
hydrocarbon fuels are mixtures of many components, the boiling temperature
continually rises as evaporation takes place. At the end of the test a limiting
temperature, the end point temperature will be reached. However it will be found
that not all of the fuel has been driven from the flask, even though the flask
appears to be empty, and a residue will condense upon cooling. It will also be
found that a portion of the fuel has unavoidably escaped, since the sum of the
condensed portion and the residue will not total the original amount, this portion
called the loss. It is arbitrarily assumed that the loss represents the most volatile
part of the fuel and therefore occurred at the very start of the distillation.
• Heavy diesel oil vaporizes at high temperature, close to 250o . It has low volatility.
1: Heavy Diesel oil
2. Distillate
3. Kerosene
4. Summer Gasoline
5. Winter Gasoline
6. Aviation Gasoline
7. Ethyl Alcohol
8. Benzene
Equilibrium Air Distillation Test

• ASTM test is in the presence of

fuel vapor itself.
• In actual engines fuel is
evaporated in the presence of
air.
• Greater percentage of fuel will
be evaporated in the presence of
air, at a given temperature than
ASTM standard value.
The ASTM plot can not be directly correlated with the performance of the fuel in
the engine because the conditions in the engine manifold do not duplicate the
ASTM procedure. Thus in the ASTM test the fuel is evaporated in the presence
of its own vapor while in the engine manifold the fuel is evaporated in the
presence of air more than vapor. Forms of test apparatus simulating engine
conditions were devised and the process is called an Equilibrium air
distillation(EAD).
Even with the EAD there is discrepancy between the engine conditions and the
test conditons which arises because
1. The engine intake manifold is much shorter than the long copper tube
manifold of the EAD test.
2. The velocities in the engine manifold are as many times as great as the test
velocities.
However the EAD distillation represents the most favourable approach to the
complex problem of volatility. If an engine and fuel are analysed together, then
the effects of different fuels can be rationally interpreted from the EAD analysis.
In other words, although the EAD temperatures are not quantitatively correct, the
relative temperature difference between fuels can be predicted with some
assurance.
Reid Vapour Pressure Test

• In terms of Reid vapor pressure

• It is a measure of the vapor pressure of an oil at 38°C
expressed as mm of Hg, indicates the tendency of fuel to
vapor lock.
• Fuel is immersed in oil bath of 38°C , air chamber volume
being 4 times that of fuel.
• Pressure increase in the gauge is noted, it is because of
vaporization.
 Effect of Volatility on Engine
Performance
• Cold Starting
• Hot Starting
Front End Volatility
• Vapour Lock
• Evaporation Losses
• Short & Long Trip Economy
• Acceleration & power
• Warm up
Mid Range Volatility
• Smoothness
• Hot Stalling
• Carburettor Icing
• Crank Case Dilution
• Deposits & Spark plug fouling Tail End Volatility
Front end volatility: It covers the 0-20% of fuel vaporised
Mid range volatility: It covers the 20-80% of volatility
Tail end volatility: It covers the 80-100% of volatility

The following important performance characteristics are a

affected by front end volatility
1. Cold starting 2. Hot starting 3. Vapor lock
4. Evaporation loss

Cold Starting:
• To start the engine combustible mixture is required.
• Air gasoline mixture range is 8:1(rich) to 20:1(lean).
• Most suitable mixture is 12:1, fastest burning mixture.
• In winter, small amount of fuel is evaporated, producing
lean mixture.
• Choke is used to provide combustible mixture strength.
Hot Starting:
• When an engine is shut down, the fuel in the fuel pump,
fuel lines, carburetor bowl evaporates by the heat from
hottest parts.
• When engine is started immediately after hot shut down,
more vapour with the usual mixture is supplied to
manifold, hence rich mixture is obtained.

Vapour Lock:
• It is the phenomenon of restriction of fuel supply to the
engine (or supply of lean mixture) caused by
excessively rapid formation of vapor in the fuel supply
system / carburetor.
• Loss of power or stoppage of engine.
• Fuel lines, pump and carburetor are placed in cooler
regions.
Evaporation Losses:
• Because of vaporization and loss of lighter fractions of
gasoline from tank and carburetor.
• Reduces fuel economy and antiknock properties.
The following important performance characteristics are a
affected by Mid - range volatility
1. Engine warm up
2. Engine acceleration, smoothness and fuel economy
3. Short-trip and long trip economy- Short trip economy
related to warm up period.
Long trip is not much dependent on warm up period
Higher specific gravity fuel gives more mileage per litre.
4. Carburetor icing: - Lower volatile fuel needed to avoid this
problem. It results in sticking throttle valves. Additives like DPG
(dipropylene glycol) used.
Tail end volatility; - Lower tail-end volatility gives better mileage but
crankcase dilution, engine deposits, gum formation, sparkplug
fouling increases.
Summer and Winter Gasoline; It is customary for fuel manufacturer to
alter the volatility of their gasoline with seasons and to vary the
extent of these changes with geographic locations and altitude to
give the best overall performance.
Winter gasoline is more volatile that the summer gasoline and
vaporizes at lower temperatures. This helps with cold start conditions
in the winter. The refiner adds light ends to the blend of gasoline to
turn it into winter gasoline.
 Fuel Rating
• Normally fuels are rated for their antiknock characteristics.
• Octane number for gasoline and Cetane number for diesel fuel.
SI Engine Fuel Rating
• Knocking resistance of SI engine fuel depends upon chemical
composition, fuel air ratio, ignition timing, dilution, speed, shape of
CC, ambient condition and CR. Thus standard operating variables are
fixed to define the knock resistance.
• Antiknock property of an SI engine fuel is determined by comparing it
with a mixture of two-reference fuels Iso-octane (C8 H18) and Normal
heptane (C7 H16) – called primary reference fuels (PRF)
• Iso-octane chemically being a very good antiknock fuel is arbitrarily
assigned a rating of Octane Number 100.
• Normal heptane has very poor antiknock characteristics and is given a
rating of Octane number 0.
• These two fuels are called as primary reference fuels (PRF).
• The ON of a fuel is defined as the % age by volume of iso-octane
in a mixture of iso-octane and normal heptane, which exactly
matches the knocking intensity of the fuel in a standard engine
under a set of standard operating conditions.
• Thus a gasoline that gives the same knock intensity as 90 PRF
(90% by volume iso-octane, 10% by volume normal- heptane) in
a test is said to have an octane number of 90.
• The standard engine used for the test is called CFR (cooperative
Fuel Research) engine.
• The octane scale is extended beyond 100 by adding tetraethyl
lead (TEL) to iso-octane.
• Highest useful compression ratio (HUCR): - It is the highest
compression ratio at which a fuel can be used without detonation
in a specified test engine under specified operating conditions
that is adjusted to give best efficiency
The test to determine the ON is carried out in two protocols using
ASTM standards.
1. Motor protocol (MON) obtained under severe conditions
2. Research protocol (RON) obtained under mild conditions
Difference between them is
 In the motor protocol (ASTM D2700-92),
• The input air temp is maintained at 380C,
• The ignition timing varies with CR b/n 14-260 bTDC,
• The motor is run at 900rpm.
 In the research protocol (ASTM D2699-92)
• The input air temperature varies b/n 20-520C
• Spark timing is fixed at 130 bTDC,
• The motor is run at 600rpm
•The ON obtained by RON & MON are averaged to get Anti-knock
index which is [Research O.N + Motor O.N]/2
 CI Engine Fuels
The properties can be analyzed under three headings
1. Satisfactory handling and storage
2. Smooth and efficient running.
3. Cleanliness during operation
Handling and storage : For easy storage, handling and trouble free delivery
into the combustion chamber the following properties are analyzed;
(a) Viscosity – Viscosity of fuels increases with increase in C atoms
(b) Flash and fire point : The flash point and the fire point of the diesel
should be higher than the storage and handling temperature.
(c) Cloud point: - temperature below which the wax content of petroleum
fuel separates out in the form of a solid called cloud point.
(d) Pour point: - It is the temperature below which the entire mass of the
fuel solid and liquid together will freeze and thus cause flow of fuel
impossible. It is usually 5-100C below the cloud point.
The presence of solidified wax thickens the oil and clogs the fuel filters and
the injectors in the engines. The wax also accumulates on cold surfaces.
Therefore cloud point indicates the tendency of the oil to plug filters or
small orifices at cold operating temperatures.
Smoothness and efficient running: - Atomization
controlled by viscosity, surface tension etc. Volatility
helps in mixing inside the combustion chamber but it
should be less than SI engine fuels. Low sulfur is desired.
( % age of sulfur is more in Diesel fuel than gasoline)
Cleanliness: This is important for the long life of fuel
delivery system. The pump will be spoiled if it contains
more solid particles. It is therefore necessary to pass
diesel fuel through an effective filtering system before it
enters the pipe lines, fuel pumps and nozzles.
Rating of CI engine fuels:
• The reference fuels used in rating of CI engine fuel are Normal
Cetane (C16H34) straight chain paraffin and - methyl
naphthalene (C11 H10).
• Normal Cetane is assigned a Cetane number (CN) of 100 and  -
methyl naphthalene has a CN of 0.
• The CN of a fuel is defined as the percentage by volume of
normal Cetane in a mixture of normal Cetane and  -methyl
naphthalene which has the same ignition characteristics as the
test fuel when combustion is carried out in a standard engine
under specified operating conditions.
• The ignition delay is the primary factor in controlling the initial
auto-ignition in the CI engine and hence knock can be directly
related to the ignition delay of the fuel.
• Knock resistance property of diesel fuel can be improved by
adding small quantity of compounds like amyl nitrate, ethyl
nitrate, or ether.
 Other Relationships:
• RON – MON = Sensitivity of fuel
• Performance Number
Klimep of Test fuel
PN = -------------------------- x 100
Klimep of iso-octane
Klimep- knock limited indicated mean effective pressure
• Approximate relationship between RON and CN :
CN = (104-ON)/2.75

Cetane Number can also be correlated to an easily measurable number

called Diesel Index through a standard graph.
• Diesel Index = [Aniline point(◦F) x API Gravity at 15◦C] / 100
where, Aniline point is the lowest temperature at which the fuel is
completely miscible with an equal volume of aniline and API gravity is
calculated as
141.5
• API = ------------------ - 131.5
Sp.gr.at 15◦C