Sustainable Mobility

Technical and environmental challenges for the automotive sector

Week 2 Session 3 Fuels (Part2)

Ludivine Pidol

IFPEN / IFP School 2014

Octane number

We are going to look at the properties which affect combustion; octane for gasoline and cetane for
Diesel fuel. The octane number characterizes the knock resistance of the gasoline fuel.
Remember, in a spark ignition engine, after mixing air and fuel in the combustion chamber, the
ignition is controlled by a spark.

The knock phenomenon is an abnormal combustion. It consists in auto-ignition of the fuel in a

sharp point of the combustion chamber before the spark. This auto-ignition occurs for a given local
pressure and temperature.
This uncontrolled auto-ignition creates pressure waves, which lead to a vibration. This vibration
sounds like a metallic noise and is called knock.
The knock phenomenon can induce several engine failures: cylinder head gasket failure, or piston
and cylinder head erosion, or piston ring failure.

Octane is a comparative measurement done with a specific engine.

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There are 2 methods: one for RON (Research Octane Number) and one for MON (Motor Octane
Number). The principle is the same, with the same engine. Only the engine set-ups change. In terms
of specifications, both RON and MON can be required (as in Europe). RON is higher than MON.
The anti-knock index is sometimes used as in the United States: it is the average of RON and MON.
When the octane number increases, the gasoline has a higher knock resistance.
At the pump in Europe, if it says unleaded 95, it means, the RON is higher than 95. This is the
regular value.
In the United States, when it says 87, it means that the average of RON and MON, the anti-knock
index, is higher than 87.
Several years ago, additives based on lead were used in order to improve the octane number. Lead
is a poison for after-treatment systems of gasoline vehicles and it presents some issues relating to
health. That is why efforts were made in order to replace additives with lead. Ethanol, methanol or
ETBE, Ethyl tert-butyl ether, are now used to improve the octane number.
In the United States, Octane limits are set and regulated at the state level; the industry Anti-knock
index standard is generally 87 for regular fuel, 89 for midgrade fuel and 91 for premium fuel.
In Europe or in Asia, it is the minimum RON which is indicated on the pump.
This map gives you the octane limit in several countries all over the world. RON limits are indicated
in black, whereas anti-knock limits are in red.

Cetane

Cetane characterizes the ability of Diesel fuel to auto-ignite.

Remember: Diesel engine is a compression engine where the air-fuel mixture auto-ignites.

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Combustion phasing is controlled by the injection timing. The auto-ignition delay is the time
between the start of the injection and the start of the combustion as presented on these figures.
During this delay, air and fuel are mixed and compressed.

To control the combustion, it is important to master the auto-ignition delay and consequently the
cetane value. A high cetane value leads to a short ignition delay.
The ignition delay is shorter for the blue fuel. So its cetane value is higher.
2 types of cetane requirements exist: the cetane number which is measured on a specific engine,
like for the octane number; and the cetane index, obtained by calculus from the density and the
distillation curve. The cetane index is equal or lower than the cetane number.

On this map, the minimum cetane number requirements are presented in several countries. You
can see that the limits are very different all over the world. For example, in the United States, the
limit is 40 whereas it is 51 in Europe. Keep in mind that in the United States, Diesel fuel is used for
trucks only; whereas Diesel fuel is used by both passenger cars and trucks in Europe.

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Sulfur content

The fuel specifications can contribute to the reduction of pollutants. One of the main improvements made
over the past few years concerns the decrease of sulfur in the fuels, as presented on this figure for Europe.
Indeed, in less than 15 years only, the sulfur limit was divided by 50 and now in Europe the specification is
less than 10 ppm weight of sulfur in fuels.
Why do we want to decrease the sulfur in fuels? Sulfur from fuels has a direct impact on emissions. It
contributes to sulfuric emissions, such as sulfur oxides.
Moreover, sulfur is a poison for the after-treatment systems which are used in many vehicles. The purpose
of after-treatment systems is to decrease the pollutant emissions and sulfur is a poison for them and can
damage them.

This map presents the maximum sulfur limit for gasoline all over the world. In developed regions, it is mostly
at 10 ppm to 150 ppm weight. In developing regions; the sulfur limit varies from 50 ppm to higher than 2 000
ppm weight.

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Energy content

The energy content is the energy available inside a quantity of fuel. If you have a lot of energy, you
can do more kilometers and your vehicle will emit less CO2.
Consequently, the energy content is directly linked to the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
This property is not specified for Diesel or gasoline fuel but it is relevant information.
From a scientific point of view, the energy content is measured by the lower heating value LHV. It is
the amount of energy released per unit volume or mass of fuel in a complete combustion. So, it is
expressed in Joules per liter or Joules per kilogram.
This table shows you some average lower heating values for gasoline and Diesel fuels.
The energy content per liter is higher for Diesel fuel. It means that the fuel consumption, expressed
in volume, is lower for Diesel fuel than for gasoline.

Conclusion

As a conclusion, we can say that gasoline and Diesel fuels have radically different uses. On the one
hand, in spark ignition engines, the air/fuel mixture is ignited by a spark. On the other hand, in
Diesel engines, the air/fuel mixture is auto-ignited. That is why gasoline and Diesel fuels display
such different behavior in terms of ignition.

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Now, if we focus on the diagram, gasoline has a high octane number, showing a high resistance
ability to auto-ignition and consequently, gasoline displays very poor performances in terms of
cetane. As for Diesel fuel, its auto-ignition ability is high, with a high cetane number but it displays
low octane.

We have seen that fuels should respect a lot of requirements: for instance the density, the volatility
and the sulfur content are in both gasoline and Diesel fuel specifications. The octane number is
dedicated to the gasoline whereas the cetane and the cold flow are properties of the Diesel fuel.
So, the work of the refiner is to transform crude oil into fuels, by finding the trade-off for all these
requirements. And of course, it should be done at the best price.

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