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Fuel For Thought
Petroleum or crude oil is a dark viscous liquid. The name petroleum comes from Latin: 'Petra' means rock and 'Oleum' means oil. So petroleum is literally rock oil. It is a mixture of several compounds of carbon and is found deep within earth's crust.
The next obvious question would be how is petroleum formed? Petroleum is also commonly referred to as fossil fuel. That's because the source of petroleum is fossils. Not dinosaur fossil but small micro-organisms, the size of a pinhead, found in oceans and lakes about 100 to 600 million years ago. These organisms settled to the bottom of the sea.
It takes thousands of years and millions of organisms to form thick deposits of organic-rich sludge at the bottom of the ocean. The high heat and intense pressure along with various chemical reactions transform the sludge into oil and natural gas. These oil wells need to be sandwiched between layers of non-porous rocks or the oil would seep out.
The next obvious question would be how is petroleum formed? Petroleum is also commonly referred to as fossil fuel. That's because the source of petroleum is fossils. Not dinosaur fossil but small micro-organisms, the size of a pinhead, found in oceans and lakes about 100 to 600 million years ago. These organisms settled to the bottom of the sea.
It takes thousands of years and millions of organisms to form thick deposits of organic-rich sludge at the bottom of the ocean. The high heat and intense pressure along with various chemical reactions transform the sludge into oil and natural gas. These oil wells need to be sandwiched between layers of non-porous rocks or the oil would seep out.
While petroleum wells are generally found under the landmasses formed from the sea due to the motion of the earth's crust. In India the first oil well was found in 1867 in Makum in Assam.
How is crude oil turned into petrol and diesel?
The crude oil pumped out of the ground is a liquid that contains aliphatic hydrocarbons. Aliphatic hydrocarbons are composed of hydrogen and carbon. The carbon atoms link together in chains of different lengths. Hydrogen molecules of different lengths have different properties and behaviours. The different chain lengths have progressively higher boiling points, so that they can be separated out by distillation. This is what happens in an oil refinery. Each hydrocarbon component with its own boiling point separates out neatly when the petroleum is heated.
The crude oil obtained from the oil wells is heated to above 400 degree Celsius. The oil starts evaporating and is made to pass through a fractionating column. As the vapour rise, they cool. As they cool, different components condense which are then separated out by collecting funnels. The gradual cooling of the vapours along the tower height means that vapours with higher boiling points are collected at higher levels in the tower. Gases do not liquefy at such temperatures and are removed at the top of the tower.
The crude oil obtained from the oil wells is heated to above 400 degree Celsius. The oil starts evaporating and is made to pass through a fractionating column. As the vapour rise, they cool. As they cool, different components condense which are then separated out by collecting funnels. The gradual cooling of the vapours along the tower height means that vapours with higher boiling points are collected at higher levels in the tower. Gases do not liquefy at such temperatures and are removed at the top of the tower.
HWhat is diesel and how is it different from petrol?
Petrol and Diesel oil are two separate fractions of crude oil. Petrol is lighter, more volatile, and contains hydrocarbons with 4 to 10 carbon atoms per molecule.
Diesel oil is heavier, less volatile, but with greater lubricity, and contains hydrocarbons with 10 to 20 carbon atoms per molecule.
Diesel oil is heavier, less volatile, but with greater lubricity, and contains hydrocarbons with 10 to 20 carbon atoms per molecule.
Why can't you use diesel in a petrol engine and vice versa?
A diesel engine is a compression-ignition engine, while a petrol engine is a spark-ignition engine. A diesel engine uses very high compression to create the very high temperatures in which diesel oil will burn.
A petrol engine uses a spark to ignite the volatile petrol-air mixture. An engine designed for one fuel will not burn other fuel. Moreover, the diesel fuel system uses the lubricity of the fuel to lubricate the pumps and injectors.
A petrol engine uses a spark to ignite the volatile petrol-air mixture. An engine designed for one fuel will not burn other fuel. Moreover, the diesel fuel system uses the lubricity of the fuel to lubricate the pumps and injectors.
What does the octane number mean?
Octane number is a measure of the anti-knock properties of an engine. Knocking is caused by self-ignition in the engine's cylinders, which happens when the petrol/air vapour mixture in the cylinder ignites before the spark is passed by the spark plug. This premature ignition pushes against the crankshaft instead of with it, producing a knocking sound. Knocking causes the engine to overheat and lose power, and it can damage the engine in the long run.
The way to avoid knocking is to use petrol with a sufficiently high octane number. The higher the octane number, the more resistant the petrol is to the self-ignition that causes knocking.
The way to avoid knocking is to use petrol with a sufficiently high octane number. The higher the octane number, the more resistant the petrol is to the self-ignition that causes knocking.
Why was lead ever added to petrol and why was its use disallowed?
Adding certain lead compounds to petrol was an effective and cost-efficient way to increase the petrol's octane number. Lead is known to be toxic to humans, and its use in petrol has been phased out across the world. Lead emissions also impair catalytic convertor efficiency.
Does diesel have an octane number?
The answer would be a big No. Diesel engines do not have spark plugs and depend on the fuel igniting itself by compression, unlike petrol engines. The measure of a diesel fuel's ignition quality is called the cetane number, which indicates the readiness of a diesel fuel to ignite spontaneously under the temperature and pressure conditions in the combustion chamber of an engine. The higher the number, the shorter the delay between the fuel injection and ignition.
Should you use branded premium fuels?
Branded premium fuels are fuels that have been treated with carefully chosen multi-functional additives that clean your engine.
Over a period of time, components such as the fuel injectors, fuel intake valves and parts, and the combustion chamber tend to slowly accumulate carbon deposits that choke the engine's performance. This leads to high fuel consumption, high emissions and drivability problems.
This could be even more pronounced in the new-generation engines that feature multi-point fuel injection as the engines are very sensitive to even slightest changes.
Branded premium fuels contain additives that not only effectively remove these harmless deposits but also retain the cleanliness. This results in better overall engine performance, including easy starting and smooth idling, better pick-up and acceleration, reduced emission, elimination of engine knocking and most importantly a return to higher levels of fuel efficiency and power delivery.
This could be even more pronounced in the new-generation engines that feature multi-point fuel injection as the engines are very sensitive to even slightest changes.
Branded premium fuels contain additives that not only effectively remove these harmless deposits but also retain the cleanliness. This results in better overall engine performance, including easy starting and smooth idling, better pick-up and acceleration, reduced emission, elimination of engine knocking and most importantly a return to higher levels of fuel efficiency and power delivery.
Fuel Trivia:
- It takes about 20 metric tons of ancient organic matter to make one litre of petroleum.
- The amount of fossil fuel burned in a 1997 totals 97 million billion pounds of carbon.
- The above mentioned number is an equivalent to more than 400 times "all the plant matter that grows in the world in a year," including vast amounts of microscopic plant life in the oceans.
- The amount of plants that went into fossil fuels we have burned since the Industrial Revolution began (in 1751) is equal to all the plants grow on earth over 13,300 years.
