Review of Some of the Fundamentals of Hydrocarbon Storage Stability

This paper summarizes studies of storage stability of distillate fuels and gasolines. The effect of oxidation on gum solubility is shown, as is the effect of fuel type on the composition and properties of gums formed. Typical gum compositions from hydrocarbon fuels are presented. Fuel components were labelled with radioactive tracers to measure gum formation in 110F storage. Sulfur compounds, nitrogen compounds, and unsaturated hydrocarbons are the most reactive fuel components in gum formation. The effect of omitting single types of compounds from a 17 component synthetic mixture of pure compounds is discussed.

A general equation for fuel deterioration is presented. A computer program is used to fit curves to storage data for simple mixtures, gasolines, and distillate fuels.