Diesel Fuel Ignition Quality as Determined in the Ignition Quality Tester (IQT™) - Part IV

This paper reports on the fourth part of a continued study on further research and development with the automated Ignition Quality Tester (IQT™). Research over the past six years (reported in SAE papers #961182, 971636 and 1999-01-3591) has demonstrated the capabilities of this automated apparatus to measure the ignition quality and accurately determine a derived cetane number (DCN) for a wide range of middle distillate and non-conventional diesel fuels. The present paper reports on a number of separate investigations supporting these continued studies. These investigations include: (1) the development/validation of critical calibration, operation and testing procedures, (2) the development of component/parameter specifications, operating limits, etc., and (3) the assessment of the performance of the IQT™ for a wide variety of diesel fuels, when operating in accordance with the Institute of Petroleum (IP) test method (in the 2001 year book as a draft test method) and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) draft test method. Performance capabilities were also evaluated in terms of cetane improver additive and blending component response.

This paper also presents initial insights into the precision capability of the IQT™ and associated test methods, based on the results of two preliminary round robin studies. On-going co-operative efforts, aimed at furthering the standard development processes in both Europe and North America, are also discussed.