Alkanes in gasoline

More specifically regarding petroleum and petroleum products, the alkanes in gasoline and some other petroleum products are central nervous system depressants. In fact, gasoline was once evaluated as an anesthetic agent. However,... 

The hydrocarbons in cmde oil are alkanes, olefins, aromatics, polyaromatics, and organic compounds containing S, N, 0, and heavy metals. Since there are many isomers of aU of these types of molecules, the reactions implied by the preceding equations rapidly approach infinity. A representative reaction of these might be the cracking of hexadecane (number 3 heating oil) into octane and octette (components in gasoline). 

Ipatieff and Grosse4 showed in 1936 that n-butane is isomerized to isobutane by properly promoted aluminum chloride. The importance of isobutane in the alkylation of alkenes and the possibility of converting n-alkanes of low octane values into branched high-octane alkanes for gasoline quickly resulted in much research that furnished information of both theoretical and industrial importance.5-11... 

Unlike gasoline, the chromatographic response for all alkanes in diesel, especially the ones greater than C-22, are not similar. However, a fairly accurate result may be obtained by comparing the area or height response of alkanes below C-24 (between C-10 and C-22) in both the standard and the sample extract (Cavanaugh, 1995). 

The zeolites high acidity is also of crucial importance in the production of gasoline via the M-forming process. In gasoline, linear rt-alkanes are relatively undesirable compared to their branched counterparts because of their lower octane numbers. Separation of linear and branched materials increases the value of the gasoline. Better still, if linear materials can be converted into branched species,... 

Alkanes are widely used as fuels Methane is familiar as natural gas, propane is used as bottled gas and as a fuel for welding torches, butane is used as cigarette lighter fluid, and octane is a major component in gasoline. 

The transformation of light alkanes (C2-C4) over H-ZSM-5 and Ga or Zn modified H-ZSM-5 catalysts to aromatic hydrocarbons has been studied intensively in recent years, since it would expand the raw material base for the manufacture of aromatics [1, 2]. The aromatics produced can be used as feed-stock for plastics, as chemical source for many chemical processes, as additives for increasing the octane number in gasoline, etc. 

Hunt, J.M., 1975. Origin of gasoline range alkanes in the deep sea. Nature, 254 411-413. 

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