An Investigation of Methods for Determining Cetane Numbers of Low Ignition Quality Fuels

The possibility of military vehicles equipped with compression ignition engines having to operate on low ignition quality fuels has stimulated interest in methods of determining ignition quality of fuels which might be available on an emergency basis.

Discussed in this paper is a study having as its objectives determination of; the limitations of the standard ASTM cetane procedure, the modifications to this procedure necessary for measuring low cetane numbers and the applicability of various alternate methods.