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CETANE NUMBER
The cetane number is a measure of how readily
the fuel starts to burn (autoignites) under diesel engine conditions. A fuel with a high cetane number starts to burn shortly after it is injected into the cylinder; therefore, it has a short ignition delay period. Conversely, a fuel with a low cetane number resists autoignition and has a longer ignition delay period. Although the cetane number of a fuel is assumed to predict its ignition delay in any engine, the actual delay represented by the cetane number is valid only for the single cylinder engine in which it was measured. The fuels performance in other engines may differ. A fuels ignition delay is determined by its chemistry. In a warm engine, the delay is independent of the physical characteristics, such as volatility and viscosity of the fuel. Increasing the cetane number improves fuel combustion, reduces white smoke on startup, and tends to reduce NOx and PM emissions. NOx seems to be reduced in all engines, while PM reductions are engine-dependent. These cetane number effects also tend to be non-linear in the sense that increasing the cetane number produces the greatest benefit when starting with a relatively low cetane number fuel. Cetane number also varies systematically with hydrocarbon structure. Normal paraffins have high cetane numbers that increase with molecular weight. Isoparaffins have a wide range of cetane numbers, from about 10 to 80. Molecules with
many short side chains have low cetane numbers;
whereas those with one side chain of four or more carbons have high cetane numbers. Naphthenes generally have cetane numbers from 40 to 70. Higher molecular weight molecules with one long side chain have high cetane numbers; lower molecular weight molecules with short side chains have low cetane numbers. Aromatics have cetane numbers ranging from zero to 60. A molecule with a single aromatic ring with a long side chain will be in the upper part of this range; a molecule with a single ring with several short side chains will be in the lower part. Molecules with two or three aromatic rings fused together have cetane numbers below 20. CETANE NUMBER AND OCTANE NUMBER Cetane number (diesel fuel) and octane number (gasoline) both measure the tendency of the fuel to ignite spontaneously. In the cetane number scale, high values represent fuels that readily ignite and, therefore, perform better in a diesel engine. In the octane number scale, high values represent fuels that resist spontaneous ignition and, therefore, have less tendency to knock in a gasoline engine. Because both scales were developed so that the higher numbers represent higher quality for the respective use, high cetane number fuels have low octane numbers and vice versa. Hexadecane (cetane), cetane number = 100 1-Methylnaphthalene, cetane number = 0