FUEL TESTING

QA 1
 Why Fuel Testing?

 To define the quality of fuel.

 To determine the predicted performance.
 To calculate the cost per unit energy.
 Efficiency of the process.
 Degree of accuracy.
 Fuel Testing
Limits of Inflammability
Calorific Value
Relative Density
Viscosity
Flash point
Volatility
Octane number
Cetane number
Diesel Index
Carbon Residue
Sulfur in oil
Surface Tension
Pour point
Cloud Point
 Limits of Inflammability
A mixture of combustible(fuel) with air cannot be ignited either
there is very small proportion of combustible or very large
proportion of combustible.
Lower limit: minimum proportion of combustible fuel required for
ignition to continue.
Upper limit: maximum proportion of combustible required for
ignition to continue.
e.g. Hydrogen lower limit % by volume is 4.0 and upper limit is 75.
Factors effecting limits are size and shape of container, direction of
flame, composition of fuel gas mixture, temp, pressure, humidity,
CV.
 Calorific Value (CV)
The calorific value of a fuel is the number of heat units evolved when
unit mass of fuel is completely burned and the combustion
products are cooled to 288K(including both the sensible and latent
heat of condensation).With solid and liquid fuels, mass sufficiently
define quantity of fuel but with gaseous fuels it is necessary to
specify temperature and pressure, British system uses temp = 288K
and P = 101.3 KN/m^2

CV affects power output and fuel economy.

In general, a fuel with a higher calorific value will produce more
power or provide better fuel economy.
• Gross Calorific Value (G.C.V)
C.V is defined as G.C.V. when products of
combustion (water vapours) are cooled to
288 K and latent heat of condensation of
water vapours is included in heat liberated.
• Net Calorific Value (N.C.V)
The heat produced by combustion of unit
quantity of a solid or liquid fuel when
burned, at a constant pressure of 1 atm
(0.1 MPa), under conditions such that all
the water in the products remains in the
form of vapor.
Bombs calorimeter
 Calorific Intensity
Maximum theoretical attainable temperature if a
fuel is completely burned with theoretical
amount of air is called Calorific Intensity. But
actually some heat is utilized in raising the
temperature of products, in excess air
 Evaporative Value
In steam engineering thermal value of fuel in
term of its power of evaporating water from a
temp of 100 degree centigrade into steam at
same temperature.
Evaporative Value = CV/latent heat of steam
 Specific Heat
Amount of heat required to raise the temperature
of unit mass of substance through one degree
is called Specific Heat.
 Viscosity
 The viscosity of a fluid is a measure of its internal resistance
to flow.
 Most important characteristic for storage and use
 Decreases as temperature increases
 Affects injector lubrication and atomization
 Viscosity effects on
a. Rate of flow through pipes or equipments
b. Atomization of fuels
 Viscosity

•  Low viscosity fuels may not provide sufficient
lubrication in close-fit pumps and injectors
Can cause abnormal wear, loss of power &
smoke
Influences the size of the fuel droplets
Units are
 Absolute Viscosity
• The
  force required to move one square meter of the
plane surface at the rate of 1 m s-1 relative to the second
plane surface, parallel to the first and separated 1m
from it by the layer of liquid.
• Also known as dynamic viscosity,
• Centipoise (cP) was the popular unit of absolute
viscosity.
• 1 cP = 10−3 Pa⋅s = 1 mPa⋅s
• 1P = 1g
• Absolute viscosity is measured by Ostwald Viscometer
 Kinematic Viscosity
• Kinematic viscosity is defined as absolute viscosity divided by
density of the liquid and reported as

 


•Centistoke (cSt) was the popular unit of kinematic viscosity.

•SI unit for kinematic viscosity is square meters per
second (m2/s)
 Measurement of Viscosity
• Saybolt viscometer
• Redwood viscometer
• Engler viscometer
Effect of Temperature and pressure
• The viscosity decreases with increase in
temperature.

• Pressure has an appreciable effect on viscosity

only at very high pressure.
 Flash Point
• Flash point of liquid fuel is the temperature at which oil begins
to evolve sufficient vapours to form an explosive or flammable
mixture with air when a flame is introduced..
• It is measure of volatility and fire hazard in handling and storage
• It is the temperature at which fuel vapors just start to ignite
when exposed to a flame
• Affected by the type of fuel and the air/fuel ratio
• It is important for safety reasons.

• It is used to identify the products and detect the contamination

with gasoline or kerosene oil
 Measurement of Flash point
• Pensky Martens closed cup apparatus.
• Abel apparatus
• Cleveland open cup.
 Fire Point
• Fire point is the temperature at which oil burns
continuously when a test flame is introduced.
 Ignition Temperature

The minimum temperature at which

substance ignites and burns without any
delay and without further addition of heat
from outside is called ignition temperature.
It is mostly used for solid fuels.

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 Volatility
• Affects ease of starting and smoke
• Less volatile fuels (higher boiling points)
normally have a higher heating value
• Starting and warm-up are better with higher
volatility
• Deposit formation, wear, and exhaust smoke
are worse with less volatile fuels.
 Octane Number
• The anti knocking quality of a fuel is expressed
in term of Octane Number.
• Knocking is caused by sudden ignition of
remaining unburnt fuel after the normal ignition
of fuel in engine. This spontaneous ignition
gives rise unstable products which propagate
flame at high velocities upto 1000 ft/Sec.
Pressure waves are set up which vibrate against
cylinder wall, giving rise to knocking sound.
 Octane Number
• It is determined by comparing the performance of the
fuel in a standard ignition engine with the performance
of various mixtures of iso-octane and n-heptane.
• Octane Number
Iso-octane (C8H18) = 100
n- Heptane (C7H16) = 0
Straight run gasoline with paraffins and naphthene have
octane no. 50 and increasing aromatics and iso-
paraffins in gasoline can have octane no. 85-100.
 Cetane Number
It is analogous to octane number and evaluate
fuel in compression-ignition (Diesel) engines.

It is determined by comparing the ignition delay

the fuel in a standard compression ignition
engine with the ignition delay of various
mixtures of cetane and α-methyl-napthalene.
 Cetane Number
• It is measure of Ignition quality.
• Affects: cold starting, warm-up, combustion
roughness, acceleration, and exhaust smoke density

• Cetane number is based on the ignition characteristics

of two hydrocarbons:
• Cetane - short delay period and ignites readily (100)
• Alphamethylnaphthalene (AMN) - long delay period
and poor ignition quality (0)

• It is the percentage by volume of normal cetane in a

blend with Alphamethylnaphthalene (AMN)
 Cetane Number
• Cetane number of
Cetane ( n-hexadecane, C16H34) = 100
α-methyl-napthlene ( C11H10) =0
• High cetane number indicates good ignition quality (short
delay period)

• Low cetane number indicates poor ignition quality (long

delay period)

• Cetane improver additive can improve ignition quality and

reduce white smoke during start up
 Aniline Point
• Aniline point is the temperature at which equal
volume of fuel and aniline are just miscible.
• Mixed Aniline point is temp at which two volume
of aniline, one volume of sample and one volume
of n-heptane are just miscible.
 Diesel Index
• It gives the estimation of the ignition quality
based on aniline point and relative density of
fuel.
• It indicates the paraffiinity of the fuel.
• As paraffins ignite rapidly, so it shows ignition
quality.

Diesel Index = aniline point (oF) x Relative

density(oAPI)
 Carbon Residue
• Carbon Residue gives a measure of solid deposits
obtained when medium and heavy fuel oils are subject
to evaporation and pyrolysis at elevated temperature.
• Bulk of oil will evaporate, but heavier and more
complex material will decompose and form complex
carbonaceous deposits.
• Carbon residue in fuel, can influence combustion
• Carbon residue rich fuels are harder to burn
• Carbon Residue leads to the formation of carbon
deposits spots on liners, burned oil film, stuck
rings and engine deposits are the results
• Carbon Residue increase knocking as it start to
burn suddenly and pressure waves are generated.
Measurement of Carbon Residue
• Conradson test
• Ramsbottom test

Ramsbottom = 0.8 x Conradson

 Sulfur in oil

• When Sulphur is present in oil then Sulfur

oxides (SO2 and SO3) are produced during
combustion of fuel. SO3 combines with water
in the exhaust to form sulfuric acid (H 2SO4)
• Sulfuric acid causes corrosive wear and
contributes to engine deposits
• It is measured at the same time as the calorific
value in bomb calorimeter.
 Pour Point
 Pour Point of oil is defined as lowest temperature at
which oil will flow or pour when cooled without
agitation under standard conditions.
 Pour point of oil is defined as the temp which is 5
deg K above the temperature at which oil just fail to
flow when cooled under standard conditions.
 It is related to the viscosity of the oil and to the
formation of the wax crystals.
 Important in the design of the heating jackets.
 Cloud Point
• Affects low-temperature operation
• Cloud Point is the temperature at which cloud
appears when oil is cooled under prescribed
conditions.
• Clouds may be due to separation of waxes.
• It is the lowest temp at which oil can be used
without causing blockage of equipment e.g.
filters.
 Fuel & Flue Gas Analysis
Analysis is used to measure Relative density,
calorific value of the fuel gas.
Hydrogen, hydro carbon and carbon monoxide
are important components of the fuel gas, as
these components affects the properties and
combustion characteristics of the fuel.
Gas burners are designed specially for a
particular fuel gas.
 Fuel & Flue Gas Analysis
• A flue gas contains fewer components as
compared to fuel gas, and important are ; CO,
CO2, H2O, O2, water vapor and excess fuel.
• A flue gas analysis indicates the completeness
of the combustion of the fuel by the presence
or absence of the CO.
• In case of Coal, it leads to the estimation of the
carbon and hydrogen content in the fuel.
 Fuel & Flue Gas Analysis
• Methods of gas analysis; whether fuel or flue gas,
are classified according to means by which
components are separated for individual
measurement.
• Selective chemical & physical
absorption(separation technique).
• Volume, pressure, density, thermal conductivity,
refractive index, energy absorption(Isolation
techniques).
 Selective Chemical Absorption
 Most widely used method, involves two stages.

o Direct absorption.
o Oxidation(combustion) followed by further absorption.

 CO2, SO2, H2S Caustic alkali solution (KOH)

 O2 Alkaline pyrogallol solution
 CO Ammonical cuprous chloride
solution
 Unsaturated hydrocarbons Bromine water/conc. H2SO4
 Selective Chemical Absorption
• Gas analyses are usually expressed in terms of
pressure or volume basis.
• Orsat Apparatus is constant pressure apparatus
used for fuel & flue gas analysis.
• Bonne and Wheeler Apparatus gives more
precise results and it is of constant volume
type.
Orsat Apparatus
 Density
Density has been the principal method of classification
since the early times of petroleum processing.
It is still used as an index for finding out the proportion
of gasoline & particularly, kerosene present.
However, density measurement remained an
important criteria for classification till other properties
of crudes were discovered & came into use.
Now a days, it is only one of the various properties for
petroleum classification & no classification is solely
based on density. 
Specific gravity or Relative Density
• The specific gravity or relative density of solid or
liquid is defined as density of substance divided
by density of water, specific gravity of gas is
defined as density of substance divided by density
of air.
• Ratio of mass of given volume of oil to mass of
same volume of water at a given temperature.
• Specific gravity of water is 1.
• Hydrometer used to measure Sp. Gravity.
 API Gravity
• Specific gravity measured by hydrometer is
not so correct. It is corrected by API
(American Petroleum Industry) scale

• Specific gravity is at 288 deg K.

• In general petroleum fuels have sp. Gravity
less than unity except coal tar.
• CV = 51916-8792 d^2 where d is Sp. gravity.
 Viscosity-Gravity Constant:
The viscosity- gravity constant was one of the early
indexes proposed to characterize (or classify) oil types &
is an indication of the paraffinity of crude oil.

vgc = {10d – 1.0752log (v-38)} / {10 – log (v – 38)}

 
where d is the sp. gravity 60° / 60° F & v is the saybolt
viscosity at 38° C
The lower the index number, the more paraffinic the
stock
 Correlation Index:
 This index, developed by the U. S. Bureau of Mines, is based
on the plot of specific gravity versus the reciprocal of the
boiling point in degrees Kelvin for pure hydrocarbons.
 From this plot, the following empirical equation is derived:
CI = 473.7d – 456.8 + (48640/K)
 Where K is the average boiling point, determined by the US
Bureau of Mines standard distillation method & d is the
specific gravity.
 
.
 Correlation Index:
• The values of the Correlation index between 0
& 15 indicate a predominance of paraffinic
hydrocarbons in the fraction.
• Values from 15 to 50 indicate a predominance
either of napthenes or of mixtures of
paraffins, napthenes, & aromatics.
• Values above 50 indicate the predominant
aromatic character.