Composition-Explicit Distillation Curves for Mixtures of Gasoline and Diesel Fuel with γ-Valerolactone

Abstract

Interest in the domestic production of bioderived fuels, sparked by the high cost of petroleum crude oil, the potential of supply disruptions, and fears about climate change has led to consideration of fluids to replace or extend conventional petroleum derived fuels. While ethanol as a gasoline oxygenate and extender has received a great deal of attention, this fluid has numerous problems such as aggressive behavior toward engine components and a relatively low energy content. Many other fluids have been considered as oxygenates for gasoline, such as the butanols, ethers, and other alcohols. For diesel fuel, oxygenates have included glycol ethers, glycol esters, carbonates, acetates, and ethers. Some of these oxygenates and extenders can be made from biomass and are thus renewable and in some cases can decrease the overall carbon dioxide budget. One new renewable fluid being considered as both a gasoline and diesel fuel oxygenate is γ-valerolactone. In this paper, we present a characterization of selected mixtures of γ-valerolactone in both gasoline (mixtures of 10, 20, and 30%, vol/vol) and diesel fuel (1 and 2.5%, vol/vol), performed with the advanced distillation curve metrology. This method features: (1) a composition explicit data channel for each distillate fraction (for both qualitative and quantitative analysis); (2) temperature measurements that are true thermodynamic state points that can be modeled with an equation of state; (3) temperature, volume, and pressure measurements of low uncertainty suitable for equation of state development; (4) consistency with a century of historical data; (5) an assessment of the energy content of each distillate fraction; (6) trace chemical analysis of each distillate fraction; and (7) corrosivity assessment of each distillate fraction. We discuss the effect of γ-valerolactone on the vapor−liquid equilibrium (volatility) of the mixtures.