Gasoline Volatility Research Articles

Effect of dimethyl carbonate addition on ethanol–gasoline fuel blend

The growing need for renewable and environmentally friendly sources of energy has motivated a lot of researchers to direct their efforts to meet these challenges. The use of renewable additives to gasoline, such as ethanol and methanol, has been a successful solution. However, blending ethanol into gasoline has some drawbacks, including increased gasoline volatility and significant changes in the distillation curve. This study investigated the effects of blending the eco-friendly dimethyl carbonate (DMC) with various concentrations into ethanol-gasoline fuel blend (E10) on some volatility parameters and octane number, which have not been previously reported in the literature. The fuel samples were formulated by mixing E10 with (0.0%, 2.0%, 4.0%, 6.0%, 8.0%, and 10.0%) of dimethyl carbonate. The main properties of the fuel samples were measured such as distillation curve, and octane number. The distillation process was carried out in accordance with ASTM-D86 while vapor pressure was measured in accordance with ASTM-D5191. The obtained results revealed interesting outcomes that may spark the interest of refineries in this promising fuel additive. Addition of DMC to gasoline-ethanol blend was found to have insignificant impact on the volatility of fuel. The results demonstrate that addition of ethanol to gasoline causes a significant decrease in T50 by about 20 °C, while addition of 10 volume percent of DMC to E10 causes an increase in T50 by about 2 °C. The obtained results showed also that the addition of 10 vol% of DMC to E10 fuel blend considerably increases the RON and MON by about 4 and 3.5 points, respectively.

Standard-Compliant Gasoline by Upgrading a DTG-Based Fuel through Hydroprocessing the Heavy-Ends and Blending of Oxygenates

Methanol-to-gasoline (MTG) and dimethyl ether-to-gasoline (DTG) fuels are rich in heavy aromatics such as 1,2,4,5-tetramethylbenzene, resulting in low volatilities due to a lack of light ends, increased emission tendencies and drivability problems due to crystallization. Approaches addressing these issues mainly focus on single aspects or are optimized for petroleum-based feedstocks. This research article introduces an upgrading strategy for MTG and DTG fuels through hydroprocessing (HP) heavy-ends and applying a sophisticated blending concept. Different product qualities were prepared by HP heavy gasoline (HG) and Fischer-Tropsch wax using commercially available Pt/HZSM-5 and Pt/SAPO-11 catalysts in a fixed-bed reactor. The products were used for blending experiments, focusing on gasoline volatility characteristics. Accordingly, methanol, ethanol, methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), and ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE) were evaluated in a second blending experiment. The results were finally considered for preparing blends meeting EN 228. HP of HG was found to improve the amount of light-ends and the vapor pressure of the DTG fuel with increasing reaction temperature without, however, satisfying EN 228. The front-end volatility was further improved by blending methanol due to the formation of near-azeotropic mixtures, while ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE) considerably supported the mid-range volatility. A final blend with an alcohol content of less than 3 vol.%, mostly meeting EN 228, could be provided, making it suitable even for older vehicles.

Evaporative quality of Nigeria’s gasoline: truck loading perspective

Gasoline emits volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that contribute to ground-level ozone formation with adverse health effects. Gasoline evaporation also results in economic losses. Hence, there is a need to understand the extent of avoidable economic losses and environmental damage. Furthermore, it becomes pertinent to investigate effective channels for reducing the emission of VOCs by preventing leakage during trucking and improving the regulation of gasoline evaporative quality (such as vapour pressure). This study focused on emissions during the truck loading of gasoline at petroleum depots in Nigeria. Gasoline evaporative emissions depend on ambient temperature, gasoline volatility, control of leakage and recovery systems. This study determined the VOC emission factor and the equivalent gasoline losses under different conditions. The results from the analyses showed that the higher the evaporative quality of the gasoline, the greater the VOCs emitted into the environment—with adverse health implications. Specifically, as much as 8510 tonnes of VOCs are issued annually from the truck loading of gasoline in Nigeria. Consequently, the country loses approximately 0.058% of total truck-out gasoline to evaporation and leakages during truck loading alone. This study provides evidence that a reduction in vapour quality with efficient recovery and control regulations would reduce VOC emissions and equivalent gasoline loss by 97.67%.

Improvement of combustion performance and emissions in a gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine by modulation of fuel volatility

In this paper, five real distillate gasoline fuels with different 50%v distillation temperatures marked as G#1, G#2, G#3, G#4 and G#5, respectively, were used to investigate the effect of fuel volatility on the performance and emissions of a gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine. The indicated thermal efficiency, regulated and unregulated gas emissions and particulate matter (PM) emissions were tested under different loads. The results show that the fuels with different volatility had significant influence on combustion and emissions. When fueled with G#1, G#2 and G#3, respectively, the indicated thermal efficiency increased obviously. The HC emissions and CO emissions decreased while NOx emissions increased with the increase of gasoline volatility. Improving fuel volatility can effectively inhibit PM emissions. The total number of PM for G#1 was at a low level, especially at 4 bar (<105 #/cm3) and 6 bar (<106 #/cm3) and much lower than that for G#5. In addition, the fuels with low T50 had obvious advantages in methane, ethane, isopentane, ethylene, propylene and acetylene emissions.

Crude oil and gasoline volatility risk into a Realized-EGARCH model

This paper disentangles oil volatility risk to two components. The first component is attributed to crude oil, while the second is related to gasoline. This disentanglement serves the purpose of investigating the extent to which crude oil and gasoline are complementary in impacting return and variance residuals. The Realized-EGARCH model of Hansen et al. (J Appl Econom 29(5):774–799, 2014) is used to test the hypothesis that stock markets show some delay in incorporating oil information. This study shows that both crude oil- and gasoline-based information impact stock markets contemporaneously in a complementary fashion. Unlike the underreaction hypothesis, which is suggested as an explanation to the negative lagged effect of crude oil price change on return, the sequential information hypothesis explains better the ways information about oil is disseminated among U.S. industry portfolios.

Sources of Particulate Matter Emissions Variability From a Gasoline Direct Injection Engine

Particulate matter (PM) emissions from gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines are a concern due to the health effects associated with ultrafine PM. This experimental study investigated sources of PM emissions measurement variability observed in previous tests and also examined the effect of ethanol content in gasoline on PM emissions. Some engine operating parameters (fuel and oil temperature, positive crankcase ventilation filtration) and test conditions (dilution air conditions) were studied and controlled but could not account for the level of measurement variability observed. Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) measurements of gas phase hydrocarbon emissions provided evidence that changes in fuel composition were responsible for the variability. Exhaust emissions of toluene and ethanol were correlated positively with PM emissions, while emissions of isobutylene correlated negatively. Exhaust emissions of toluene and isobutylene were interpreted as markers of gasoline aromatic content and gasoline volatility, respectively. Tests conducted with gasoline containing added toluene (10% v/v) supported this hypothesis and led to the overall conclusion that the PM emissions variability observed can be attributed to changes in the composition of the pump gasoline being used. Tests conducted with gasoline containing added ethanol (10% and 30% v/v) found that increasing ethanol fuel content increased PM emissions at the steady-state operating condition utilized.

Oil vs. gasoline: The dark side of volatility and taxation

This paper investigates the relation between gasoline volatility and crude oil volatility. The objective is to examine whether the so-called asymmetric relation between gasoline and oil prices still holds for volatility, particularly, when considering the taxation effect. The approach hinges on the Volatility Threshold Dynamic Conditional Correlation (VT DCC) model. An application to the U.S. WTI oil volatility and the U.S. premium gasoline volatility is provided from 1990 to 2015. The main results reveal that oil volatility influences gasoline volatility, but without any form of asymmetry. The role of taxation seems to particularly affect the volatility of volatility for gasoline.

PAIN AT THE PUMP: IS THERE AN ASYMMETRIC INFLUENCE OF OIL VOLATILITY ON GASOLINE VOLATILITY IN FRANCE?

We investigate, for the first time, the relationship between gasoline volatility and crude oil volatility. We aim to examine if the so-called asymmetric relationship between gasoline and crude oil prices holds for volatility. The approach employed is based on the asymmetric dynamic conditional correlation model as applied to the US WTI oil volatility and the French Super Carburant 95 gasoline volatility from 1990 to 2014.The results reveal that gasoline volatility tends to be overreactive to changes in crude oil volatility. Moreover, it appears that the government taxation policy might amplify the gasoline volatility

Hydrodeoxygenation of the Angelica Lactone Dimer, a Cellulose‐Based Feedstock: Simple, High‐Yield Synthesis of Branched C7–C10 Gasoline‐like Hydrocarbons

AbstractDehydration of biomass‐derived levulinic acid under solid acid catalysis and treatment of the resulting angelica lactone with catalytic K2CO3 produces the angelica lactone dimer in excellent yield. This dimer serves as a novel feedstock for hydrodeoxygenation, which proceeds under relatively mild conditions with a combination of oxophilic metal and noble metal catalysts to yield branched C7–C10 hydrocarbons in the gasoline volatility range. Considering that levulinic acid is available in &gt;80 % conversion from raw biomass, a field‐to‐tank yield of drop‐in, cellulosic gasoline of &gt;60 % is possible.

Hydrodeoxygenation of the Angelica Lactone Dimer, a Cellulose‐Based Feedstock: Simple, High‐Yield Synthesis of Branched C7–C10 Gasoline‐like Hydrocarbons

Dehydration of biomass-derived levulinic acid under solid acid catalysis and treatment of the resulting angelica lactone with catalytic K2 CO3 produces the angelica lactone dimer in excellent yield. This dimer serves as a novel feedstock for hydrodeoxygenation, which proceeds under relatively mild conditions with a combination of oxophilic metal and noble metal catalysts to yield branched C7 -C10 hydrocarbons in the gasoline volatility range. Considering that levulinic acid is available in >80 % conversion from raw biomass, a field-to-tank yield of drop-in, cellulosic gasoline of >60 % is possible.

Catalytic modification of pyrolysis products of nitrogen-containing polymers over Y zeolites

Pyrolysis products of nitrogen-containing polymers have been transformed at 500 °C over NaY and ultra stable HY (HUSY) zeolite on-line and analysed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. HUSY was found to be an effective catalyst converting nitrogen-containing compounds into a series of well-defined aromatic hydrocarbons. Almost all nitrogen-content of the pyrolysis oils including amines, amides and nitriles have been successfully eliminated over HUSY; only traces of aliphatic nitriles in the range of 3–8 carbon atoms still remained in some of the pyrolysis oils. The uniform composition of the converted pyrolysis oil offers the possibility to gain pure aromatic feedstock from plastics waste. NaY proved to be an effective catalyst for cracking the heavy oil components of polymer pyrolysates to gases and to compounds of gasoline volatility, nevertheless it was not active for denitrogenation. Thermal treatment of deactivated zeolite has been carried out to study catalysts regeneration. By means of regeneration at 500 °C in air flow for 8 hours the activity of NaY has been completely recovered, while in the case of HUSY a slight decrease of activity was observed after the same treatment.

Conversion of the volatile thermal decomposition products of polyamide-6,6 and ABS over Y zeolites

Thermal decomposition products of polyamide-6,6 (PA-6,6) and acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene copolymer (ABS) have been converted over Y zeolites at above the temperature of thermal decomposition of these polymers. On-line pyrolysis–gas chromatography/mass spectrometric (Py–GC/MS) analysis revealed the nature of chemical reactions of the pyrolysis gas and oil components taking place over protonic and sodium Y zeolite. Selected TG–MS ion curves of polymer and zeolite mixtures indicated the changes due to the catalytic conversion of the thermally produced products in to compounds of high volatility. The experimental results demonstrate that protonic Y zeolite (HUSY and NH 4Y) denitrogenate the pyrolysis oil components and transform the hydrocarbon part of their molecules into aromatic compounds. Over sodium Y zeolite (NaY) pyrolysis product molecules of low volatility are cracked to gases and to compounds of gasoline volatility, but no denitrogenation occur. The aromatizing and hydrogenating activity of NaY zeolite is considerably lower, than that of protonic Y zeolites.

Common Industry Exposure in Seemingly Unrelated Commodities

We propose and document robust evidence of cross-market return, volatility, and volume interactions among futures contracts written seemingly unrelated commodities exposed to a common industry. On the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, we find such evidence in natural rubber (NR), aluminum (AL) and gasoline (GA) futures markets, which are complementary commodities heavily consumed by Japan's automobile industry. Our VAR results indicate that (i) for shorter dynamics, NR and GA volatility both influence AL volatility; GA volume affects NR volatility and volume; the GA market is immune to both NR and AL trading activities; (ii) for longer dynamics, AL volume affects both NR volume and GA volatility; NR volume influences GA volume. These results are robust to lag-specifications, volatility measures and are consistent with full BEKK-GARCH estimates. Further analysis using the silver contract, TOCOM and TOPIX transportation indices, shows that a commodity market factor cannot explain our result. Our results offer insights into how commodity and equity markets relate at an industry level.

Efficient Reduction of Gasoline Volatility through Ultrasonic Atomization

Being relatively volatile components of a commercial gasoline, hydrocarbons whose carbon number ranges from four to six, C4 to C6, were effectively removed by ultrasonic atomization. The ultrasonic frequency was 2.4 MHz, and the voltage applied to the oscillating unit was 24 V. More than 60% of C4 and C5 hydrocarbons were removed during 900 s of operation. In regard to the energy requirement for the separation, ultrasonic atomization needs only about half the energy required for evaporation. This finding is interpreted as a result of the phase change of liquids; the input energy was effectively utilized for the removal of light hydrocarbons. Operation at ambient temperature is advantageous for making use of a difference in vapor pressure among hydrocarbons.

New evidence on the asymmetry in gasoline price: volatility versus margin?

AbstractThis paper examines recent evidence on the role that gasoline margins and volatility play in the asymmetric response of gasoline prices to changes in oil prices at different stages of distribution process. In a regression model with margins, we find that margins are statistically significant in explaining asymmetry between crude oil and spot gasoline prices, spot gasoline prices and wholesale gasoline prices, and wholesale gasoline prices and retail prices. In a regression model with input volatility, we find evidence that volatility is responsible for asymmetry between wholesale gasoline prices and retail gasoline prices. When both, gasoline margins and gasoline volatility are included in the regression, we find evidence supporting margins, the search theory, volatility, the oligopolistic coordination theory and an explanation of asymmetry.

On-Board Generation of a Highly Volatile Starting Fuel to Reduce Automobile Cold-Start Emissions

The on-board distillation system (OBDS) was developed to extract, from gasoline, a high-volatility fuel for exclusive use during the starting and warm-up periods. The use of OBDS distillate fuel results in much improved mixture preparation, allowing combinations of air/fuel ratio and ignition timing that are not possible with gasoline, even with a fully warm engine. The volatility of the distillate is a function of the parent fuel volatility; however, the variability in distillate quality can be diminished via manipulation of the OBDS operating conditions. Thus, it is possible to develop aggressive starting calibrations that are relatively immune to variations in pump gasoline volatility. The key benefits provided bythe OBDS fuel relative to standard gasoline were found to be (1) improved mixture preparation allowing a 70% reduction of cranking fuel requirements, elimination of air-fuel mixture enrichment during the warm-up period, and significant extension of warm-up ignition timing retard; (2) a 57% decrease in catalyst light-off time, (3) emissions reductions over the FTP drive cycle of 81% for regulated hydrocarbons (NMOG); (4) emissions index (NMOG) approaching that of SULEV/PZEV vehicles; and (5) an apparent 1% increase in fuel economy over the FTP drive cycle.

Modeling and forecasting petroleum futures volatility

Forecasts of oil price volatility are important inputs into macroeconometric models, financial market risk assessment calculations like value at risk, and option pricing formulas for futures contracts. This paper uses several different univariate and multivariate statistical models to estimate forecasts of daily volatility in petroleum futures price returns. The out-of-sample forecasts are evaluated using forecast accuracy tests and market timing tests. The TGARCH model fits well for heating oil and natural gas volatility and the GARCH model fits well for crude oil and unleaded gasoline volatility. Simple moving average models seem to fit well in some cases provided the correct order is chosen. Despite the increased complexity, models like state space, vector autoregression and bivariate GARCH do not perform as well as the single equation GARCH model. Most models out perform a random walk and there is evidence of market timing. Parametric and non-parametric value at risk measures are calculated and compared. Non-parametric models outperform the parametric models in terms of number of exceedences in backtests. These results are useful for anyone needing forecasts of petroleum futures volatility.

96/06756 Gasoline volatility — do we really need Vapour Lock Index within EN228?

96/06756 Gasoline volatility — do we really need Vapour Lock Index within EN228?

Reduction of variation in the gasoline blending process —A case study

In an attempt to reduce the release of gasoline vapors into the atmosphere, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has placed restrictions on the volatility of commercial gasoline. In particular, they have set an upper specification limit on the gasoline's volatility as measured by the Reid vapor pressure (RVP). Exceeding the EPA's upper specification limit may result in a fine to the refiner. While there is no lower specification limit imposed by the EPA, lower RVP values require greater production costs. This article describes the efforts of one refiner to meet the EPA requirements with minimum economic disbenefit. Various statistical tools were used during this effort. The paper demonstrates a variety of successful SPC applications in the continuous process industry.

Achieving Acceptable Air Quality: Some Reflections on Controlling Vehicle Emissions

Motor vehicle emissions have been and are being controlled in an effort to abate urban air pollution. This article addresses the question: Will the vehicle exhaust emission control and fuel requirements in the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments and the California Air Resources Board regulations on vehicles and fuels have a significant impact? The effective control of in-use vehicle emissions is the key to a solution to the motor vehicle part of the urban air pollution problem for the next decade or so. It is not necessary, except perhaps in Southern California, to implement extremely low new car emission standards before the end of the 20th century. Some of the proposed gasoline volatility and composition changes in reformulated gasoline will produce significant reductions in vehicle emissions (for example, reduced vapor pressure, sulfur, and light olefin and improved high end volatility), whereas others (such as substantial oxygenate addition and aromatics reduction) will not.