Petrol Oil

admin — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 06:09:10 +0000

Petrol or gasoline is mixture of hydrocarbons derived from crude petroleum through distillation. It is mainly used as fuel for internal combustion engines. ‘Petrol’ is used in most of the Commonwealth Countries while the term ‘Gasoline’ is basically used in North American Countries. Etymology of petrol is also quite interesting. The word ‘gasolene’ first came into existence in 1865 which was modified to the modern spelling ‘gasoline’ in 1871. Initially any other fuel other than diesel or liquefied gas which could be used in engines was termed as gasoline. The word ‘petrol’ came into existence in early 1892. Carless-Capel & Leonard, a German wholesaler, was the first company to register ‘petrol’ as a trade name. Gasoline is also known as Benzin in Germany which is derived from a chemical named Benzene.

Petrol or gasoline is a by product of distillation of crude oil or petroleum which is complex mixture of various hydrocarbons occurring naturally. The distillation of crude petroleum to yield its various by products is credited to Muslim Chemists who were the first to distill crude oil. Crude petroleum consists of around 84% of energy rich fuels such as diesel, petrol and LPG. Petroleum is believed to be formed due to continuous compression and heating of decayed organic material which is settled at the bottom of the sea in absence of oxygen over a period of time and subjected to high pressure. Crude oil can be classified according to its place of origin or by its viscosity or relative weight or sulfur content.

China had earned the credits for drilling the first oil wells in around 4^th Century using bamboo poles but commercial oil well was first drilled in 1858 in North America by James Miller Williams. Edwin Drake began the petroleum industry in America in 1859 by drilling a 69 ft deep oil well for Seneca Oil Company. Initially gasoline was used as cleaning liquid to remove strains. Before the evolution of filling stations, gasoline was available in cans. Gasoline is also used for lighting in the form of white gas which is highly purified petrol. In 1910 major oil fields were discovered in Canada, Iran and Mexico. By 1950’s oil took over as major fuel from the reigning coal.

Octane rating is an important characteristic of petrol. It is an indicator of anti knocking capacity of petrol which is defined as resistance to abnormal combustion in internal combustion engines. A better octane rating means a better quality of petrol. Various additives are widely used now a days to increase the octane ratings of petrol or to act as lubricators which includes oxygenates (such as methanol, ethanol), Antiknock agents (such as Tetra-ethyl lead, Isooctane) and antioxidants (such as Butylated hydroxytoluene, Ethylene diamine). Regular gasoline with octane rating of 91 contains 34.8 MJ/L (MegaJoules/Litre) of energy. But various non-aliphatic hydrocarbons present in petrol and many anti knocking agents can cause various health and environmental issues such as air pollution which are being taken seriously all over the world. These issues have led to the inclination towards alternate fuels such as biofuels which have very less emissions as compared to various fossil fuels. Due to these environmental issues leaded petrol was banned in the year 2000. Petrol is also quite unstable as varnishes and gums are easily formed in it if left unattended for a period of time.

Petrol has been the main reasons for the developments in car engines since last 100 years. Most of the car engines are designed according to the kind of petrol available at that time. Petrol itself has gone through a lot of changes because of the pressure of very high demand which has let to the development of various variants of petrol having a wide range of boiling points with more high and low boiling point hydrocarbons. The addition of these hydrocarbons has resulted in changes in carburetor design and fuel systems of car engines regularly.

Diesel Oil

admin — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:18:05 +0000

Diesel is one of the fractional distillate obtained during distillation of crude oil or petroleum. It is generally called petrodiesel, as it is obtained from petroleum, to differentiate it from other forms of diesel which are obtained from sources like biomass. It is obtained between temperature range of 200 °C and 350 °C during fractional distillation at atmospheric pressure. It has a density of around 850 grams per liter which is 15% less than that of petrol or gasoline with a calorific value of around 41 mega joules per liter which is also around 15% less when compared to the calorific value of petrol. Diesel is primarily used as a fuel in specially designed diesel engines which were invented by Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel, a German engineer and patented in 1892. Initially Coal Dust was used as fuel in Diesel engine and after that vegetable oils were experimented as fuel.
First diesel engine was commercially built by Adolphus Busch in the United States. After the end of World War I diesel engines which were used in submarines were made to adapt for peacetime economy by soldiers who operated these engines. ”Semi-Diesel’ engines were manufactured by modifying these diesel engines which were used in trucks in 1930s. Fuel injection systems were started to develop in 1922 by Robert Bosch and by 1927 an acceptable and efficient injection pump was produced. The demand for this pump was very large and manufacturing was outsourced to France and England to meet the demand.Diesel regulations were introduced in the late 1960s which further strengthen the development of better diesel engines with less emission and improved fuel economy.
The composition of diesel basically has major portion of saturated hydrocarbons such as paraffins and cycloparaffins and some portions of aromatic hydrocarbons such as alkylbenezenes and naphthalenes. It is also believed that diesel oil also contains some microbes which are capable of survival in closed tank and can feed on diesel fuel.
Diesel contains a high level of pollutants as compared to petrol which require it to undergo additional filtration. Since it can also be used as heating oil its demand in cold countries is quite high as compared to petrol and as result diesel is priced higher than gasoline in UK and many parts of US. Higher energy content of diesel and the internal efficiency of diesel engine make diesel a better fuel for cars which provides better economy and causes about 31% less polluted emissions as compared to gasoline.
Due to strict emission standards being imposed world over, the world is looking for cleaner fuels. Synthetic diesel has also proved to be cleaner fuel as compared to petrodiesel as it emits 30% less pollutants. Synthetic diesel is produced by drying and gasifying garbage, sewage sludge, straw, wood and corn which results in synthetic gas. This gas after purification goes through Fischer-Tropsch process which results in synthetic diesel by converting carbon monoxide and hydrogen into liquid hydrocarbons. Natural gas can also be used to produce synthetic diesel. Bio-diesel has also come up as an alternative fuel to conventional diesel which is produced from vegetable oils.
Over the last two decades the diesel technology has shown substantial improvements. Dynamics of innovations in diesel technology has been quite high in recent years. Evolution of direct injection technology has bought breakthrough in diesel technology which has resulted in improved efficiency of energy usage by 15-20% by improving injectors and increasing pressure of injection. Many additives are being used with diesel to improve its energy content and provide better fuel efficiencies. Presently Research and Developments in the fields of diesel technology are focusing on reductions of emissions which can be achieved only on the cost of reduced energy efficiency. Most of the current Research and Development work in field of diesel technology is focused mainly at marine transport and automotive transport and railways is also expected to follow.

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Petrol Oil

Diesel Oil