Automotive Diesel Fuel Development and Performance Characteristics

Automotive diesel fuel has traditionally been produced by atmospheric distillation of crude oil to provide a product meeting the requirements of diesel engines and their operators. More recently there has been a need worldwide to increase supply of diesel fuel relative to other petroleum fuels and this has led to the increased use of catalytically cracked blendstock, and a review of properties limiting product yield. This paper describes some of these key properties including the boiling range, low temperature performance, cetane number and storage stability. The performance of extended boiling range fuels in automotive equipment and their effect on emissions is discussed as are changes in ignition quality characterised by cetane number. Increased product yield by means of selected low temperature flow improvers is discussed with reference to field trials in Australia. Finally, the results of recent research work are presented in which both stabilising additives and hydrogenations are shown to significantly improve storage stability of fuel containing cracked components. Included in this study was an evaluation of predictive laboratory tests which are also discussed in the paper.