Fuel By P.B. Gill

The most common fuels use to power today’s automobiles are , gasoline (or petrol in some places) and diesel fuel(or petrol diesel).

Gasoline is made from the octane ingredient which is derived from crude oil and additive that are blended in, to control the heat and turbulence of the fuel when it burns . There are also additive blended into gasoline to assist in the lubrication of internal engine parts such as valve stems and valve guides . Additives are also blended in to help improve starting the engine . In colder weather antifreeze type additives are blended in the combat condensation and freezing .

Ethanol is now being blended into gasoline . This is the one of the steps toward fuels of the future , as ethanol can be manufactured . (from corn mainly at this point in time) . Ethanol has low pollution advantages which is good for our air .

Different octane rated fuels are available at the pumps. The main difference between regular fuel and premium fuel (besides the price!) is the speed at which it burns or the "flame speed" . The higher the octane rating is the faster the flame speed of the fuel . The quicker it will burn !

To explain "flame speed" , if you were to pour regular 87 octane gasoline in a very long line and then light it on fire at one end . How fare would the flame spread along that line of gasoline in one minute . Lets say for easy mathematics , that the flame traveled 1000. Feet in one minute . Now you do the same with an 89 octane gasoline , and the flame traveled 1300 feet in one minute . If with a 91octane gasoline , the flame traveled 1600 feet . Theses figures are not accurate . I am sure flame speeds are much faster but from this example I think you now under stand flame speed and the difference in gasoline’s . Some premium gasoline’s also contain slightly larger amounts of some additives such as antifreeze , in cold weather , or starting enhancers etc. A tank of top premium gasoline is not a bad idea in very extremely cold weather .

Normally in all but the very cold weather , premium gasoline is of no advantage in a normal low compression engine and some times can be a waste of your money . If the engineers have designed your engine to run on regular gasoline , it is very likely that it will perform the best and get better and the best mileage , on regular gasoline . This has to do the internal strategy the engineers built into the engine , such as valve timing and duration etc .

If you have a vehicle with a high compression engine then you must use a premium or high octane gasoline . Performance vehicles are the most likely to have high compression engines . You will find that with high compression engines , premium gasoline will perform much better and will deliver much better mileage .

The use of regular gasoline in a high compression engine will also cause internal damage . You must use high octane gasoline in high compression gasoline engines .

Diesel fuels are simple to figure out . Most stations that sell diesel fuel only have one . The few station that have two different ratings of diesel fuel , the difference is small . All factory diesels run well on regular diesel fuel . Diesel fuels use a cetane rating in place of the octane rating use for gasoline . Premium diesel fuel have only a slightly higher cetane rating , and may have slightly larger amounts of some additives . Premium diesel would be best in diesel vehicle that are modified for higher performance .

Summer diesel fuel will gel in cold weather . Therefore the blend for winter diesel fuel has an anti gel additive that is not in summer diesel fuel . For more information on this subject see the diesel section on this website .

Bio diesel fuel is now coming on the market . In can be manufactured from vegetable oils and many other materials that can be grown or raised . Though a on regular diesel fuel , a diesel engine that runs properly has a low pollution out put , bio diesel is even lower pollution .

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could get all the animal fat out of our hamburgers , and use it for fuel instead ? People would be healthier and the air would be cleaned .

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