Diesel fuel preparation

We have become dependent on the use of petroleum fuels to provide heat, power equipment and provide transportation. This has led to a concern that there could be an interruption in a secure, adequate supply of crude oil needed to manufacture these fuels. Continued reports of microbial contamination in petroleum fuels have also caused concern. Scientists have been evaluating the use of alternate sources to petroleum to prepare fuel (synthetic fuels) such as oil shale, tar sands and coal. Studies of the microbial susceptibility of Jet JP-5 and diesel fuels prepared from these alternate sources demonstrated that the synthetic fuels would not support more microbial contamination than their petroleum-derived fuel counterparts and that fuel derived from pyrolyzed coal may even have fewer problems (May and Neihof, 1982). Coal JP-5 jet fuel inhibited growth of Hormoconis resinae and Candida spp. (caused by constituents in the coal-derived fuel that have not been identified) (Neihof and May, 1984). 

Fuels and Lubricants. Rare-earth neodecanoates have been claimed as additives for diesel fuels that reduce the precipitation of particles and gum (108). Neodecanoic acid has also been used in the preparation of ashless detergent additives for fuels and lubricants that reduce engine deposits in internal combustion engines (109). 

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. 

In conclusion, there is interest for bioethanol upgrading to fuel additives and some research is active in this direction, but much more effort is needed to demonstrate the validity and the viability of the concept of preparing oxygenated diesel fuel additives from bioethanol and glycerol. The key to success is to develop selective multifunctional solid catalysts, in which interest is more general, because similar multifunctionality is necessary in the catalytic synthesis of fine chemicals [67]. There is, thus, the possibility of cross-fertilization between the two research areas. 

First, ground AN can be mixed with liquid fuels. A common example prepared commercially is ground AN mixed with nitromethane. This produces the binary explosive known as KinePak. Diesel fuel can also be used, as it was with prills to produce ANFO. 

In its commercial plants Sasol has to date used only iron based catalysts. (The preparation and properties of these catalysts have been reviewed elsewhere (2).) Not only is iron by far the cheapest of the metals (see Table I) but iron catalysts also produce large amounts of low molecular weight olefins which are important in the Sasol process. (These olefins are oligomerized to either gasoline or diesel fuel and this allows the production of these two liquid fuels to match the market requirement.) A major drawback of iron is that at high temperatures carbon deposition occurs which results in catalyst disintegration. 

As a means of preparing high percentages of diesel fuels with good quality from the hydrocracked oil, a batch distillation of the oil was made in a packed laboratory distillation column in which a first fraction was removed at a corrected column head... 

The yield of fuel oil prepared from the blended dewaxed residuum was 21.5 volume-percent of the in situ crude. The total of this, plus the 51.6 volume-percent of diesel fuels, amounted to 73.1 volume-percent of the in situ crude that could be used as low-sulfur diesel fuels or Nos. 1 through 4 burner fuels. 

Rodgers et al. [85] identified soil surface-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons through the use of real-time aerosol mass spectrometry in two NIST standard research material soils (Montana SRM 2710 and Peruvian SRM 4355), each contaminated separately with three common petroleum hydrocarbons (diesel fuel, gasoline and kerosene). This method required no sample preparation. Direct laser desorption/ionisation mass spectrometric analysis of individual soil particles contaminated with each of the petroleum hydrocarbons at three different contamination levels (0.8,8, and 80 ppth (wt/wt)) yielded detectable polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon cation distributions that ranged from m/z 128 to 234, depending on the fuel contaminant. The same analysis... 

Preparation of Diesel Fuel - The same severely hydro-treated 250°F+ products from the three syncrudes described in the jet fuel case meet all specifications for No. ID fuel oil, as shown in Table VI. The cetane test is accurate to about two numbers. Probably all three hydrotreated syncrudes just meet the ASTM required minimum of 40. Conventional additives could be used to improve the cetane numbers, as shown by experimental results discussed elsewhere. ( 8)... 

The yield periods for the preparation of diesel fuel are shown in Table III. These yield periods are the same as shown above in the jet fuel case. Properties of diesel fuel cuts and naphthas are shown in Tables IV and V, respectively. 

All fuel methods analyze GRO with a purge and trap sample introduction technique, whereas semi volatile diesel fuel and heavy, non-volatile motor oil (DRO and RRO) are first extracted from soil or water samples, and the extracts are injected into the analytical instrument. This distinction in sample preparation gave rise to the terms of total purgeable petroleum hydrocarbons (TPPH) or total volatile petroleum hydrocarbons (TVPH) and total extractable petroleum hydrocarbons (TEPH). A group of petroleum fuels with the carbon range of C7 to Cig may be analyzed with either technique. Common petroleum fuels and other petroleum products fall into these three categories as shown in Table 2.3. 

A microemulsion fuel suitable for use in diesel engines has been prepared from diesel fuel, ethanol, traces of water and cationic surfactants as emulsifiers, plus other additives [94]. Suitable cationic surfactants are alkyl polyamines and their alkoxylates. The fuels benefit from improved lubricity. 

After all of the holes were drilled, we went back with a specially designed air device and blew previously prepared ammonium nitrate into the shot holes. This ammonium nitrate came premixed from the factory with powdered walnut hulls and diesel fuel. (It Is referenced in the trade as a blasting agent. It s cheaper than dynamite, with not too much less ability to do the work. The material s greatest drawback is its lumpy, clumpy nature when temperatures get to 409F and below.)... 

Schwab, A. W., Bagby, M. O., and Freedman B. 1987. Preparation and properties of diesel fuels from vegetable oils, Fuel, 66,1372-1378. 

Hemandez-Maldonado and coworkers also compared the desulfurization of diesel fuel by 7r-complexation sorbents Cu(I) and Ni(II) zeolites prepared by different ion exchanging methods.143 Their results showed that the TT-complexation sorbents desulfurization performance decreases as follows Cu(I)-Y(VPIE) > Cu(I)-Y(LPIE-RT) > Ni(II)-Y(SSIE) > Ni(II)-X(LPIE) with the breakthrough capacity of 0.278, 0.167, 0.158, and 0.143mmol-S/g-A, respectively (or 8.9, 5.3, 5.1, and 4.6mg-S/g-A, respectively see Table 5.4). 

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