Diesel fuels. Physico-chemical properties

The right performance and reliability of automobiles depend on both the technological factors and the quality of used fuels. So, physico-chemical properties of the fuels are presented in accordance with the performances of the engines they influence. Increased environmental awareness and depletion of fossil petroleum resources are driving the automotive industry to seek out and use alternative fuels. Biofuel is a major renewable energy source to supplement declining fossil fuel resources. The addition of alcohols is practical in biodiesel blends due to its miscibility with the pure biodiesel, improving physico-chemical properties of biodiesel blends, which lead to improved combustion efficiency. Proper volatility of fuels is critical to the operation of internal combustion engines with respect to both performance and emissions. Volatility may be characterised by distillation.The presence of ethanol or other oxygenates may affect these properties and, as a result, performances and emissions, as well. However, in the case of diesel-biodiesel-alcohols mixtures, the variance of component volatility makes difficult the analysis of the overall volatility.

Autorentext

Rodica Niculescu obteve o seu doutoramento em 2000 com uma tese sobre arranque a frio de motores. Desde então, a sua investigação centrou-se na melhoria dos desempenhos energéticos e ecológicos dos motores de combustão interna, bem como na análise de combustíveis e lubrificantes.