2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-17 18:37
Diesel fuel is quite old, but still in demand type of fuel for reciprocating diesel engines. And if earlier its scope was limited due to poor quality and toxic combustion products, now more and more passenger cars are equipped with diesel engines, and scientists are working to improve performance and make diesel fuel environmentally friendly.
What is diesel fuel
Diesel fuel is a heavy fraction of oil, which are based on hydrocarbons with a high - 200-350°C - boiling point. Used as a fuel in diesel engines and gas diesel engines.
Why diesel? Because unlike gasoline engines, in which the mixture of gasoline and air is ignited by a spark, in a diesel piston engine, the fuel ignites spontaneously under high compression.
Externally, diesel fuel is a transparent liquid with a higher viscosity than gasoline, the color of which can be both yellow and brown in different shades. The color is affected by resins in the composition of the fuel.
When burned, any fuel produces energy. Diesel fuel, in addition to this main task, performs several other important functions in the operation of the engine. It lubricates friction surfaces in fuel injectors and pumps, cools the walls of the combustion chamber and regulates exhaust parameters on engines.
Use of diesel fuel
Sea and river vessels, diesel locomotives, military and agricultural equipment, trucks - almost all heavy vehicles run on diesel engines.
In recent decades, a passenger car that runs on diesel fuel has become popular in developed European countries. Fuel consumption is 40% less in a diesel engine, and tractive effort, power, throughput and exhaust gas safety are greater than in a gasoline engine.
Diesel fuel is an economical fuel in operation and cost. It is used in diesel generators of stationary and mobile power plants, in boilers of autonomous heating systems.
Solar oil, popularly known as diesel fuel, is a residual diesel fuel with a high viscosity and a boiling point of up to 400°C. This type of fuel is used for low-speed engines in water and rail transport, tractors. In addition, solarium impregnates the skin in the leather industry. Solar oil is includedin the composition of the cutting fluid for metal cutting and quenching fluid for heat treatment.
Key Features
Cetane number (the main parameter of diesel fuel) characterizes the flammability of the fuel. It determines the combustion delay period of the working mixture, that is, the time that elapses between the injection of fuel into the cylinder and the start of its combustion. The shorter this period of time, the higher the cetane number, and the shorter the engine warm-up time. True, this increases the exhaust smoke, which becomes critical at a cetane number above 55.
For the processes of pumping and injection of fuel, its viscosity is important, on which the lubricating characteristics also depend
The density of diesel fuel determines its efficiency and economy, because the higher the density, the more energy is generated during combustion.
An important characteristic is the amount of sulfur that diesel fuel contains. These are sulfur compounds that reduce the corrosion resistance of the fuel system.
The quality of diesel fuel is also indicated by the limiting filterability temperature, that is, the temperature at which diesel fuel thickens so much that it no longer passes at all or very slowly passes through a filter with certain sizes.
It is below the cloud point, that is, the temperature at which the paraffin contained in the fuel begins to crystallize.
Types of diesel fuel
Until 2015, diesel fuel inRussian standards were divided by type. In the state standard, which was put into effect in January 2015, the division coincides with the division into environmental classes in accordance with the European standard and takes place depending on the sulfur content in the fuel. Sulfur content no more than 350, 50 and 10 mg/kg corresponds to type I, type II and type III according to obsolete and environmental classes K3, K4 and K5 according to the new state standard, respectively.
It is not recommended to use fuel with a high sulfur content, as this increases harmful emissions into the atmosphere, accelerates corrosion and wear of fuel system elements, and, accordingly, increases the cost of frequent filter and oil changes.
As a rule, the improvement of some properties leads to the deterioration of others. Reducing the sulfur content is a decrease in the lubricating properties of diesel fuel. Therefore, in order to preserve one of the main functions, various additives are added to the fuel.
Varieties of diesel fuel
Grades of diesel fuel differ in the temperature below which the fuel cannot be used. The limiting filterability temperature is used as a criterion. Moreover, summer and off-season diesel fuel is broken down by grade with this indicator not lower than -20 ° С.
Grade A is characterized by a temperature of at least 5°C above zero. For each subsequent grade B, C, D, E and F, the indicator decreases by 5°C.
Example is EURO diesel fuel, grade C, type II and III or in the new version of environmental classes K4 and K5 withfilterability temperature up to five degrees below zero and sulfur content not more than 50 and 10 milligrams per kilogram of fuel.
Diesel fuel classes
Division into diesel fuel classes for winter or cold climates is not only based on filtering temperature, the second characteristic is cloud point.
Winter and arctic diesel fuels at low temperatures begin to crystallize paraffin, which degrades performance.
| Diesel class | Limiting filterability temperature, °С | Cloud point, °C | |
| 1 | 0 | -20 | -10 |
| 2 | 1 | -26 | -16 |
| 3 | 2 | -32 | -22 |
| 4 | 3 | -38 | -28 |
| 5 | 4 | -44 | -34 |
If in the designation of diesel fuel after the designation DT there is not a letter, but a number, then this fuel is winter or arctic.
Diesel grades
According to the physical and chemical properties, performance characteristics and conditions of use, diesel fuel is divided into fourtype, which are marked with capital letters of the alphabet:
- Summer (L), which includes grades of fuel A, B, C, D with a maximum filterability temperature from +5 to -10 ° C. This diesel fuel can be used at temperatures below 0°C.
- Off-season (E), varieties E and F, with temperatures up to -15 and -20 ° C, respectively, used in autumn, when the air temperature ranges from +5 to -5 ° C.
- Winter (W), which is divided into classes from 0 to 3 and a filtering temperature in the range from -20 to -38 ° C and is used at an air temperature of at least minus 20 ° C.
- Arctic (A) class 4 fuel with a maximum filtering temperature of minus 44°C and an ambient temperature of up to minus 50°C (in documents, a negative value is often accompanied by the word "minus" and not an icon to avoid inaccuracies).
Fuel labeling
Grades of diesel fuel include the name (DT), grade or class depending on the conditions of use and the environmental class. That is, only two parameters are indicated in the grade: sulfur content and maximum filterability temperature.
Today you can find both new and obsolete designations, for example, DT winter EURO 5 grade F, which stands for winter diesel fuel with a sulfur content of not more than 50 mg / kg and a filtering limit temperature of up to minus 20 ° C, then there is the most used fuel in the conditions of the Russian winter with high requirements for environmental friendliness.
You still come across such a marking L-0, 2-62, that is, top-grade summer fuel with an indication of the amount of sulfur(200 mg/kg) and flash point 62°C. The flash point is not the main indicator, but other things being equal, the fuel with a higher temperature is considered to be the best for fire safety purposes.
How to store diesel fuel
For an ordinary consumer who has a personal car with a diesel engine, the issue of storing diesel fuel is not worth it.
But for industries where fuel is bought in bulk and stored for a long time, the problem of storage is very relevant.
Storage of diesel fuel is possible at a temperature of 20°C during the year and at a temperature above 300C from six months to a year in sealed containers protected from direct sunlight.
During storage, the fuel should not come into contact with copper, brass or zinc, so that the fuel does not become clogged with the products of chemical reactions with these metals. In addition, it must be protected from moisture and dust and must not contain additives that may degrade during storage. For example, diesel fuels with a high environmental rating are loaded with lubricity additives that degrade very quickly.
The efficiency of this fuel is high, its scope is steadily growing. There are new brands of diesel fuel and new sources of its production. Now there are new developments, and diesel fuel is produced not only from oil. Maybe the future belongs to diesel fuel from vegetable oils.
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