We often hear the words “high quality diesel fuel». What are the criteria which define fuel quality? Cetane number is the most important parameter. It defines the ability of the fuel to ignite. In essence, it indicates the rate at which the pressure grows in piston engines when fuel ignites from pressure.
Higher cetane number means faster ignition, uniform growth of pressure and regular smooth engine running.
The theoretical range of cetane number is 0 to 100. Zero is the cetane number of alphamethylnaphtalene, 100 is the cetane number of hexadecane (cetane).
The logical question is can cetane number be increased? Large amounts of low quality diesel are often kept in storage. They could be used as fuel without damage to the engine and fuel system.
Additives are used for practical increase of cetane number. The most popular are thionitrites, amyl nitrates, acetic peroxide.
Cetane number is increased by using amyl nitrite. If 1.5% of the substance is added to diesel fuel with cetane number of 26 to 55, the parameter grows by four points on average.
To use additives with large volume of fuel, special equipment is required, since most of the existing mixing methods cannot ensure homogeneity and stability of the finished product.
The USB type blending system by GlobeCore is designed for mixing of any two to five liquid streams, in particular, low quality diesel fuel with additives. This equipment is designed for oil refineries and filling stations.
A feature of the unit is that the use of injection and hydrodynamic shock allows to increase cetane number of diesel fuel and keep the mix stable to at least 180 days.
Modern hydrodynamic (stream) systems have proven themselves to be reliable in industrial operation as economic, precise and stable units for production of high quality motor fuel at optimal cost.
In the process of blending, the flow rate of each component is constantly adjusted to ensure consistent product quality as per the formulation.
The economy and profit margin, compared to the existing mixing methods, allow to accelerate return on investment by 60% per year and make the project reach break even point in less than a year.