Liquid fuels are combustible or energy-generating

molecules that can be harnessed to create mechanical

energy, usually producingkinetic energy; they also must take
the shape of their container. It is the fumes of liquid fuels
that are flammable instead of the fluid.
Most liquid fuels in widespread use are derived from fossil
fuels; however, there are several types, such as hydrogen
fuel (for automotiveuses), ethanol, and biodiesel, which are
also categorized as a liquid fuel. Many liquid fuels play a
primary role in transportation and the economy.
Liquid fuels are contrasted with solid fuels and gaseous
fuels.
Contents
[hide]

1 General properties
2 Petroleum
o 2.1 Gasoline
o 2.2 Diesel
o 2.3 Kerosene
3 Natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas
o 3.1 Compressed natural gas
o 3.2 Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)
4 Non-petroleum fossil fuels

 5 Biodiesel
6 Alcohols
o 6.1 Methanol
o 6.2 Ethanol
o 6.3 Butanol
7 Hydrogen
8 Ammonia
9 References

General properties[edit]
Some common properties of liquid fuels are that they are
easy to transport, and can be handled with relative ease.
Also they are relatively easy to use for all engineering
applications, and home use. (Fuels like Kerosene are
rationed and available in government subsidized shops in
India for home use.) Liquid fuels are also used most
popularly inInternal combustion engines.
Some technically important properties include: flash
point, fire point, cloud point, and pour point.

Petroleum[edit]
Main article: Petroleum
Most liquid fuels used currently are produced
from petroleum. The most notable of these is gasoline.
Scientists generally accept that petroleum formed from the

fossilized remains of dead plants and animals by exposure

to heat and pressure in the Earth's crust.

Gasoline[edit]
Main article: Gasoline
Gasoline is the most widely used liquid fuel. Gasoline, as it
is known in United States and Canada, or petrol virtually
everywhere else, is made of
hydrocarbon molecules formingaliphatic compounds, or
chains of carbons with hydrogen atoms attached. However,
many aromatic compounds (carbon chains forming rings)
such as benzene are found naturally in gasoline and cause
the health risks associated with prolonged exposure to the
fuel.
Production of gasoline is achieved by distillation of crude oil.
The desirable liquid is separated from the crude oil
in refineries. Crude oil is extracted from the ground in
several processes, the most commonly seen may be beam
pumps. To create gasoline, petroleum must first be removed
from crude oil.
Liquid gasoline itself is not actually burned, but its fumes
ignite, causing the remaining liquid to evaporate and then
burn. Gasoline is extremely volatile and easily combusts,
making any leakage potentially extremely dangerous.
Gasoline sold in most countries carries a published octane
rating. The octane number is an empirical measure of the
resistance of gasoline to combusting prematurely, known
as knocking. The higher the octane rating, the more
resistant the fuel is to autoignition under high pressures,
which allows for a higher compression ratio. Engines with a
higher compression ratio, commonly used in race cars and

high-performance regular-production automobiles, can

produce more power; however, such engines require a
higher octane fuel. Increasing the octane rating has, in the
past, been achieved by adding 'anti-knock' additives such as
lead-tetra-ethyl. Because of the environmental impact of
lead additives, the octane rating is increased today by
refining out the impurities that cause knocking.

Diesel[edit]
Main article: Diesel fuel
Conventional diesel is similar to gasoline in that it is a
mixture of aliphatic hydrocarbons extracted from petroleum.
Diesel may cost more or less than gasoline, but generally
costs less to produce because the extraction processes
used are simpler. Some countries (particularly Canada and
India) also have lower tax rates on diesel fuels.
After distillation, the diesel fraction is normally processed to
reduce the amount of sulfur in the fuel. Sulphur causes
corrosion in vehicles, acid rain and higher emissions of soot
from the tail pipe (exhaust pipe). Historically, in Europe
lower sulfur levels than in the United States were legally
required. However, recent US legislation reduced the
maximum sulphur content of diesel from 3,000 ppm to 500
ppm in 2007, and 15 ppm by 2010. Similar changes are also
underway in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several
Asian countries. See also Ultra-low-sulfur diesel.
A diesel engine is a type of internal combustion
engine which ignites fuel by injecting it into a combustion
chamber previously compressed with air (which in turn
raises the temperature) as opposed to using an outside
ignition source, such as a spark plug.

Kerosene[edit]
Main article: Kerosene
Kerosene is used in kerosene lamps and as a fuel for
cooking, heating, and small engines. It displaced whale
oil from lighting use. Jet fuel for jet engines is made in
several grades (Avtur, Jet A, Jet A-1, Jet B, JP-4, JP-5, JP7 or JP-8) that are kerosene-type mixtures. One form of the
fuel known as RP-1 is burned with liquid oxygen as rocket
fuel. These fuel grade kerosenes meet specifications for
smoke points and freeze points.
In the mid-20th century, kerosene or "TVO" (Tractor
Vaporising Oil) was used as a cheap fuel for tractors. The
engine would start on gasoline, then switch over to
kerosene once the engine warmed up. A "heat valve" on the
manifold would route the exhaust gases around the intake
pipe, heating the kerosene to the point where it can be
ignited by anelectric spark.
Kerosene is sometimes used as an additive in diesel fuel to
prevent gelling or waxing in cold temperatures. However,
this is not advisable in some recent vehicle diesel engines,
as doing so may interfere with the engine's emissions
regulation equipment.

Natural gas and liquefied petroleum

gas[edit]
Compressed natural gas[edit]
Main article: Compressed natural gas
Natural gas, composed chiefly of methane, can be
compressed to a liquid and used as a substitute for other

traditional liquid fuels. Its combustion is very clean

compared to otherhydrocarbon fuels, but the fuel's low
boiling point requires the fuel to be kept at high pressures to
keep it in the liquid state. Though it has a much lower flash
point than fuels such as gasoline, it is in many ways safer
due to its higher autoignition temperature and its low
density, which causes it to dissipate when released in air.

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)[edit]

Main article: Liquefied petroleum gas
LP gas is a mixture of propane and butane, both of which
are easily compressible gases under standard atmospheric
conditions. It offers many of the advantages of compressed
natural gas (CNG), but is denser than air, does not burn as
cleanly, and is much more easily compressed. Commonly
used for cooking and space heating, LP gas and
compressed propane are seeing increased use in motorized
vehicles; propane is the third most commonly used motor
fuel globally.

Non-petroleum fossil fuels[edit]

Main article: Synthetic fuel
When petroleum is not easily available, chemical processes
such as the Fischer-Tropsch process can be used to
produce liquid fuels from coal or natural gas. Synthetic fuels
from coal were strategically important during World War II
for the German military. Today synthetic fuels produced from
natural gas are manufactured, to take advantage of the
higher value of liquid fuels in transportation.

Biodiesel[edit]

Main article: Biodiesel

Biodiesel is similar to diesel, but has differences akin to
those between petrol and ethanol. For instance, biodiesel
has a higher cetane rating (45-60 compared to 45-50 for
crude-oil-derived diesel) and it acts as a cleaning agent to
get rid of dirt and deposits. It has been argued that it only
becomes economically feasible above oil prices of $80 (40
or 60 as of late February, 2007) per barrel. This does
however depend on locality, economic situation, government
stance on biodiesel and a host of other factors- and it has
been proven to be viable at much lower costs in some
countries. Also, it yields about 10% less energy than
ordinary diesel. Analogous to the use of higher compression
ratios used for engines burning higher octane alcohols and
petrol in spark-ignition engines, taking advantage of
biodiesel's high cetane rating can potentially overcome the
energy deficit compared to ordinary Number 2 diesel.

Alcohols[edit]
Main article: Alcohol fuel
Generally, the term alcohol refers to ethanol, the
first organic chemical produced by humans,[1] but any
alcohol can be burned as a fuel. Ethanol and methanol are
the most common, being sufficiently inexpensive to be
useful.

Methanol[edit]
Main article: Methanol fuel
Methanol is the lightest and simplest alcohol, produced
from the natural gas component methane. Its application is
limited primarily due to its toxicity (similar to gasoline), but

also due to its high corrosivity and miscibility with water.

Small amounts are used in some gasolines to increase
the octane rating. Methanol-based fuels are used in some
race cars and model airplanes.
Methanol is also called methyl alcohol or wood alcohol, the
latter because it was formerly produced from
the distillation of wood. It is also known by the name methyl
hydrate.

Ethanol[edit]
Main article: Ethanol fuel
Ethanol, also known as grain alcohol or ethyl alcohol, is
commonly found in alcoholic beverages. However, it may
also be used as a fuel, most often in combination with
gasoline. For the most part, it is used in a 9:1 ratio of
gasoline to ethanol to reduce the negative environmental
effects of gasoline.[citation needed]
There is increasing interest in the use of a blend of 85% fuel
ethanol blended with 15% gasoline. This fuel blend called
E85, has a higher fuel octane than most premium gasolines.
When used in a modern Flexible fuel vehicle, it delivers
more performance to the gasoline it replaces at the expense
of higher fuel consumption due to ethanol's lesser specific
energy content.[2]
Ethanol for use in gasoline and industrial purposes may be
considered a fossil fuel because it is often synthesized from
the petroleum product ethylene, which is cheaper than
production from fermentation of grains or sugarcane.

Butanol[edit]
Main article: Butanol

See also: Clostridium acetobutylicum

Butanol is an alcohol which can be used as a fuel in most
gasoline internal combustion engines without engine
modification. It is typically a product of the fermentation
ofbiomass by the bacterium Clostridium
acetobutylicum (also known as the Weizmann organism).
This process was first delineated by Chaim Weizmann in
1916 for the production of acetone from starch for
making cordite, a smokeless gunpowder.
The advantages of butanol are its high octane rating (over
100) and high energy content, only about 10% lower than
gasoline, and subsequently about 50% more energy-dense
than ethanol, 100% more so than methanol. Butanol's only
major disadvantages are its high flashpoint (35 C or 95 F),
toxicity (note that toxicity levels exist but are not precisely
confirmed), and the fact that the fermentation process for
renewable butanol emits a foul odour. The Weizmann
organism can only tolerate butanol levels up to 2% or so,
compared to 14% for ethanol and yeast. Making butanol
from oil produces no such odour, but the limited supply and
environmental impact of oil usage defeats the purpose of
alternative fuels. The cost of butanol is about $1.25$1.32
per kilogram ($0.57-$0.58 per pound or $4 approx. per US
gallon). Butanol is much more expensive than ethanol
(approx. $.40 per liter or 1.50 per gallon) and methanol.
On June 20, 2006, DuPont and BP announced that they
were converting an existing ethanol plant to produce 9
million gallons (34 000 cubic meters) of butanol per year
from sugar beets. DuPont stated a goal of being competitive
with oil at $30$40 per barrel ($0.19-$0.25 per liter) without
subsidies, so the price gap with ethanol is narrowing.

Hydrogen[edit]
Main article: Liquid hydrogen
See also: Hydrogen economy
This section needs additional citations
for verification. Please help improve this
article by adding citations to reliable sources.
Unsourced material may be challenged and
removed. (March 2008)
Liquefied hydrogen is the liquid state of the
element hydrogen. It is a common liquid rocket
fuel for rocket applications and can be used as a fuel in
an internal combustion engineor fuel cell. Various
concept hydrogen vehicles have been lower volumetric
energy, the hydrogen volumes needed for combustion are
large. Hydrogen was liquefied for the first time by James
Dewar in 1898.

Ammonia[edit]
Ammonia (NH3) has been used as a fuel before at times
when gasoline is unavailable (e.g. for buses in Belgium
during WWII). It has a volumetric energy density of 17
Megajoules per liter (compared to 10 for hydrogen, 18 for
methanol, 21 for dimethyl ether and 34 for gasoline). It must
be compressed or cooled to be a liquid fuel, although it does
not require cryogenic cooling as hydrogen does to be
liquefied.[3]

References[edit]

1. Jump up^ "AccessScience | Encyclopedia

Article | Alcohol fuel". Accessscience.com.
Retrieved 2008-11-06.
2. Jump up^ E85
3. Jump up^ "Ammonia FAQs". Retrieved 9
August 2012.

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