Petroleum Chemistry: Assignment 1

Students name: Fatin Nur Shafiqah

Gasoline

Gasoline also known as gas or petrol is a derivative of petroleum in the form of a mixture of
volatile, flammable liquid hydrocarbons . It is frequently used for terminal combustion
engines besides acting as a solvent for oils and fats (Gasoline, n.d.).

Production of Gasoline

Gasoline hydrocarbons are manufactured by catalytic cracking of hydrocarbon oil. Products

obtained by catalytically cracking hydrocarbon oil are gasoline hydrocarbons and also
gaseous materials such as hydrogen and normally gaseous hydrocarbons such as methane
(Claussen, 1946). Furthermore, gasoline is also produced by another method which is
pyrolysis of biomass followed by hydroprocessing of forest residues (Hsu, 2012).

Gasoline as fuel cell vehicles

In our knowledge, gasoline is amongst the fuel options for fuel cell vehicle. Fuel cell vehicles
can be directly powered with either hydrogen, an onboard chemical processor or other liquid
fuels such as gasoline or methanol. As a hydrogen infrastructure is perceived as expensive, a
complex onboard fuel processor for conversion of gasoline to hydrogen is developed. But
studies done indicates that the cost of onboard fuel processors for hydrogen might be less
than expected with the possibility of reducing local air pollution and greenhouse gas
emissions produced by fuel cell vehicles powered by gasoline (Thomas, James and Kuhn,
2000).

Modifications on the production of gasoline to decrease green house gas emission may be
possible through pyrolysis and hydroprocessing of forest residue. A life cycle assessment
(LCA) was done on gasoline with assumption of the usage of upgraded grid electriticity and
supplemented natural gas to the hydrogen plant. This assessment has resulted in the gasoline
to be estimated to contain greenhouse gas (GHG) emission of carbon dioxide equivalent of
117 g km-1 and 98 g km-1 respectively and net energy value (NEV) of 1.09 MJ km -1 and 0.92
MJ km-1 respectively. This uncertainty analysis exhibited lower GHG emission and higher
NEV value than the conventional gasoline in 2005 thus drwing the conclusion that through
the use of biomass-derived electricity, a significant improvement in GHG emissions can be
obtained (Hsu, 2012).

Diesel

Generally, diesel fuel is any liquid fuel utilised in diesel engines. A common type of diesel
fuel is a certain fractional distillate derived petroleum fuel oil however other alternatives that
does not originate from petroleum such as biodiesel, biomass to liquid (BTL) or gas to liquid
(GTL) development and adoption is rapidly increasing (Diesel fuel, 2014)

Types of Diesel

Production of diesel are derived from a variety of sources with the most common being
petroleum. Among the other sources are biomass, animal fats, biogas, natural gas and coal.
Thus, utilisation of varied sources leads to different types of diesel fuel.

i. Petroleum diesel
Petroleum diesel which is also called as petroldiesel or fossil diesel is one of the
most common type of fuel which is produced through fractional distillation of
crude oil at high temperature and pressure. The result of the fractional distillation
 is a mixture of carbon chains (8-21 carbon atoms per molecule) (Petrol diesel,
2008).

ii. Synthetic diesel

Synthetic diesel is the product of any carbonaceous material (including
biomass,biogas, natural gas, coal and others). The process of synthetic diesel
production involves raw material gasified into synthesis gas followed by
purification before it undergoes conversion to synthetic diesel by the Fischer-
Tropsch process (Foreign Agricultural Service, 2005). A paraffinic synthetic
diesel with an almost zero content of sulphur and aromatic content contributes in
the reduction of unregulated emissions of toxic hydrocarbons, nitrous oxides and
particulate matter.

iii. Biodiesel

Biodiesel of fatty-acid methyl ester (FAME) is derived from vegetable (rapeseed

oil or soybean oil) oil or animal fats that has undergo transesterified with
methanol. Sodium or potassium hydroxide is used as catalyst in the conversion of
vegetable oil and methanol into FAME (Bostch Automotive Handbook, n.d.).

Aviation fuel

Aviation fuels or more commonly known as jet fuels is one of the many products that had
originated from crude oil. This specific fuel was extracted from the middle distillates fraction
of the crude oil (Nygren, Aleklett and Hook, 2009). High octane number of aviation fuel
products is obtained by a catalytic process reformation in the presence of hydrogen (Brown,
1944).

Due to effort to reduce oil consumption under preservation reason, aviation fuel is affected as
there would be a decline in crude oil production. Aviation traffic is predicted to grow 5%
each year to 2026 and fuel demand by about 3% per year which leads to substantial shortage
of jet fuel by 2026. Thus, aviation industry requires an alternative replacement soon if air
traffic remain at the current level (Nygren, Aleklett and Hook, 2009).

Composition of Aviation Fuel

Description of aviation fuel used by spark-ignited piston engines are based on their octane
rating. The content of aviation fuel are mainly hydrocarbons such as olefins, naphtenes,
paraffins, aromatics and other additives such as antioxidants and metal deactivators including
impurities. Alternative fuels and alcohol mistures may be used experimentally however
alcohol is not allowed in any specified fuel specification (Rouse, 2012).

Use of Aviation fuel

Aviation fuel is use in turbotrop and jet aircraft. Proper caution must be taken in order to
maintain a low viscosity at low temperature so it meets the expected limits in terms of density
and calorific value as to burn cleanly and stay chemically stable when it experiences high
temperature (Air Bp, 2012).

However, aviation gasoline or more known as avgas is a highly reformed type of gasoline for
aircraft. It has more emphasis on purity, anti-knock characteristics and minimization during
spark fouling. It is a must to reach the performance guideline required for take-off power
settings and leaner mixtures utilised during cruise in order to minimise fuel consumption
(Aviation gasoline, 2012).

Kerosene

Kerosene (paraffin oil or kerosene oil) is a flammable pale yellow or colourless oily liquid
with a nice characteristic odour that is obtained from petroleum (Kerosene,2014).

Kerosene’s properties

Kerosene is a liquid that is formed from hydrocarbons which had undergo the fractional
distillation of petroleum at the temperature between 150 oC and 275oC therefore producing a
mixture with density 0.78-0.81 g/cm -3. It is miscible in petroleum solvents however
immiscible in water (Collins, 2007).Kerosene is a mixture of hydrocarbons (10-16 carbon
atoms per molecule) with saturated straight-chain and branched-chain as its main constituents
including napthenes (Kerosene,2014). Aromatic carbons for example alkylbenzenes and
alkylnaphtalenes is expected to be below 25%olume by while olefins is expected to be not
more than 5% by volume (American institute of Petroleum, 2010).Kerosene is less volatile
when compared to gasoline with its flash point at 38 oC while gasoline is as low as -40 oC thus
resulting kerosene as a safe fuel to handle (Kerosene,2014).

Surrogate fuel for kerosene

Surrogate fuels are defined as a few hydrocarbon compounds mixtures that has similar
combustion characteristics to commercial fuels. Experimental and numerical research had
been carried out to develop a surrogate that can reproduce certain aspects of combustion of
kerosene.The Aachen surrogate ( mixture of n-decane 80% and1,2,4-trimethylbenzene 20%
by weight) has been selected as a possible candidate to replace kerosene. This is due to the
fact that critical conditions of extinction,autoignition and volume fraction of soot in laminar
premixed flows that burns the Aachen is similar to the burning kerosene (Honnet et. al,
2009).

Lubricating oil
Lubricating oil is a substance that is used to reduce friction between two surfaces that comes
in contact with each other that results in a lower heat energy produced as the surfaces move
(Wikipedia, 2014).

Types of Lubricating oil

Lubricating oil mostly originates from a variety of base oil with varied additives. There are a
few types of lubricating oil:-

i) Base oil groups:

Lubricating base oil are derived from crude oil and are defined by their
composition wether they are paraffinic,naphtenic or aromatic (Engine oil
publications, n.d).

ii) Biolubricants
Most biolubricants are triglyceride esters that are developed from plants and
animals with vegetable derived materials as the favoured one. Other example are
canola oil, castor oil and rapeseed oil.

iii) Synthethic oils:-

-Polyalpha-olefin
-Synthetic esters
-Phosphate esters
-Silicate esters

Lubricating oil additives

The compounds of these additives majority are long chain hydrocarbon substituted
polyamines with the amino groups bonded to the aliphatic atoms. The oil solubizing group
that is relatively free of aromatic unsaturation is the hydrocarbon group (Honnen and
Anderson. 1971).

Heavy gas oil

Heavy gas oil is a fraction of petroleum distillation or in another aspect, any petroleum in the
form of liquid that is burned in a furnace or boiler in order to generate heat or applied by an
engine (Wikipedia, 2014).

Classes of fuel oil

i. Number 1 fuel oil - an oil that is distillated and volatile that is used for vaporizing
pot-type burners.

ii. Number 2 fuel oil - a distillated home heating oil

iii. Number 3 fuel oil- a distillate oil for burners that require a low viscosity fuel

iv. Number 4 fuel oil- an advertised heating oil for burner installation

v. Number 5 fuel oil- a residual-type industrial heating oil that should be preheated
for proper atomization of the burners,

vi. Number 6 fuel oil- a high viscosity oil

Uses of oil

Heavy gas oil has a varied use in our daily life such as it probides fuel for trucks,
ships and cars. It is also used as the emergency fuel for peaking power plants in
the case of the natural gas supply is disrupted.
References

Air BP. (2012,May 10). Avgas vs Jet fuel. Retrieved from: http://www.bp.com/

American Institute of Petroleum. (2010) Kerosene/Jet fuel assessment document. Retrieved

from:

http://www.epa.gov/hpv/pubs/summaries/kerjetfc/c15020ad2.pdf

Aviation gasoline. (2012, May 10). Sergeant Oil & Gas Co Inc. Retrieved
from:http:?/www.aviation-

fuel.com/

Bosch Automotve Handbook (6), pp. 327-328.(n.d.)

Brown, C.L. (1944). U.S. Patent No. 2.348,599. Washington, DC U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office.

Claussen, W.F. (1946). U.S. Patent No.2,400,075. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and
Trademark office.

Collins, C. (2007) Implementing phytoremediatiom of petroleum hydrocarbons. Methods in

Biotechnology (Humana Press) (23): pp.99-108.

Diesel fuel. (2014) Wikipedia. Retrieved from: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_fuel

Engine Oil Publications (n.d.) Retrieved from:

http://www.pi.org/certifications/engineoil/pubs/index.cfm

Gasoline. (n.d.) Retrieved from:

http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/226565/gasoline

Accessed: 18.11.14

Honnet, S., Seshadri, K., Niemann, U., & Peters, N. (2009). A surrogate fuel for kerosene.
Proceedings of the CombustioN Institute, 32 (1), 485-492.

Honnent, L.r., & Anderson, R.G. (1971) U.S. Patent No.3.565.804. Washington, DC: U.S.
Patent and Trademark office
Hsu, D.D. (2012). Life cycle assessment of gasoline and diesel produced via fast pyrolysis
and

Hydroprocessing. Biomass and Bioenergy,45, 41-47.

Kerosene. (2014). Retrieved from:

http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/315506/kerosene

Nygren, E., Aleklett, K., & HÖÖk, M. (2009). Aviation fuel and future oil production
scenarios. Energy

Policy, 37 (10), 4003-4010.

Rouse, P.L. (2012) FAA Safety document. Retrieved from: http://www.energy-consumers-

edge.com/faa-ethanol-safety.html

Petro diesel .(2008, April).MacCompanion Magazine. Retrieved from:

http://www.maccompanion.com/macc/archives/April2008/Greenware/KickingGasolin
e.htm

Synthetic diesel may play a significant role as renewable fuel in Germany. (2005, January).
USDA

Foreign Agricultural Service. Retrieved from:

http://www.fas.usda.gov/pecad2/highlights/2005/01/bt0104/synthetic diesel.htm

Thomas, C.E., James, B.D., Lomax Jr, F.D., & Kuhn Jr, I.F. (2000). Fuel options for the fuel
cell vehicle:

hydrogen, methanol or gasoline?. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 25(6),

551-567.

Wikipedia. (2014) Lubricant. Retrieved from: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lubricant

Wikipedia. (2014) Fuel oil. Retrieved from: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_oil