Comparison of Diesel Fuel Oxygenate Additives to the Composition-Explicit Distillation Curve Method. Part 4: Alcohols, Aldehydes, Hydroxy Ethers, and Esters of Butanoic Acid

Abstract

There is a great deal of interest in formulating oxygenated diesel fuels that produce low-particulate emissions. In this paper, the fourth in a series of papers on the properties of mixtures of diesel fuel with oxygenating additives, we present the volatility, as measured by the advanced distillation curve, of diesel fuels with potential fuel additives: butanal, pentanal, methyl butanoate, ethyl butanoate, 1-propanol, 1-butanol, 1-pentanol, 2-ethoxyethanol, and 2-butoxyethanol. As observed in earlier studies of oxygenate additive mixtures, the more volatile additives cause significant early departures from the distillation curves of diesel fuel, while the less volatile additives act more to displace the entire distillation curve. We also note that oxygenates with higher heat capacities caused greater variability among distillation curves. This is probably due to the onset of film boiling in the distillation flask. We present the results for the initial boiling behavior and the distillation curve temperatures and track the oxygenates throughout the distillations. These data will aid in determining the suitability of these types of compounds as oxygenates.