The Instability of Storage of Middle Distillate Fuels: A Review

Abstract

The author reviews the research studies that have been so far carried out and reported in the literature on the stability of middle distillate fuels. The emphasis is mainly given to understand the stability of diesel fuels. It has been divided into five principle sections: (a) Introduction, (b) Methods for Determination of Fuel Stability, (c) Mechanism of Degradation, (d) Composition of Total Gum, and (e) Current Status of Methods to Improve Fuel Stability. The introduction provides information of in-stabilization of distillate fuel that depends on the various blending streams of middle distillates in the introduction part. In the second section the author elaborate the methods so far used to determine the instability of middle distillate fuels. The third section serves the elaborated mechanism of degradation, the role of chemical composition of distillate fuels, and the responsible components in distillate fuels that impart in degradation of distillate fuels. The fourth section comprises the composition of material formed during degradation and the fifth section of reveals the current status of methods used to improve the stability. In combination, these five sections would provide a ready reference source of data available in the literature on diesel fuel stability.

Keywords:

• degradation
• fluidized catalytic cracking
• middle distillate
• stability
• Vis-breaking