Diesel fuel material factor

There has been a recent revival in interest in the use of ethanol-diesel fuel blends (E-diesel) in heavy-duty vehicles as a means to reduce petroleum dependency, increase renewable fuels use, and reduce vehicle emissions [27]. E-diesel blends containing 10-15% ethanol could be prepared via the use of additives. However, several fuel properties that are essential to the proper operation of a diesel engine are affected by the addition of ethanol to diesel fuel - in particular, blend stability, viscosity and lubricity, energy content and cetane number (increasing concentrations of ethanol in diesel lower the cetane number proportionately) [28]. Materials compatibility and corrosiveness are also important factors that need to be considered. 

All compounds that contain PO4, CO3, SO3, and SO2 are insoluble, except for those of family 1 on the periodic table and NH4. Most hydrocarbon compounds are not soluble, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, pentane, octane, etc. Compounds that are polar, such as the alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, esters, and organic acids, are soluble in water. Several factors affect the solubility of a material. One is particle size the smaller the particle, the more surface area that is exposed to the solvent therefore, more dissolving takes place over a shorter period of time. Higher temperatures usually increase the rate of dissolving. The term miscibility is often used synonymously with the term solubihty. Solubility is also related to polarity insofar as those materials that are polar are generally soluble in other polar materials. Miscibility, solubility, polarity, and mixtures will be discussed as they pertain to specific chemicals and families of chemicals in other chapters of this book. 

The fossil load factor is an important issue and its origin so evident and often unavoidable that we asked ourselves the question what the consequences are when this factor is reduced to zero. Whenever, in a biomass conversion process, a fossil fuel contribution was spotted, we replaced this contribution by one from biomass origin. For example, the process may require electricity, which is supplied by a nearby coal-fed power station. Then this amount of electricity was thought to be generated by a power station fed by biomass. Or the process may require heat or chemicals and again biomass is the raw material from which these requirements were met. Dr. Feng Wei made such an analysis for a process where a diesel-type product was obtained from wood chips as a feedstock. His work has been discussed as an example at the end of Chapter 13. 

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