- Cover Page
- Introduction ...
Background Information
o
Characteristics/Properties/Applications
o
Fossil Fuel?
3. Experimental Data …
-Presentation of results
-Statistical Analysis (Accuracy and Precision)
4. Discussion …
-Refer to key properties selected
-Comparison
of result with references
-
Problems & Solutions in testing
o
Environmental Impact of
Fossil fuels
o
Alternatives
5. Conclusion …
- Identification of Unknown sample
- Justification for selection
6. Bibliography …
Introduction:
Fossil fuels are Hydrocarbon compounds mainly contain hydrogen and carbon and it may have some other components, such as nitrogen, oxygen etc. Natural gas, coal, and oil are some examples of the fossil fuels. The formation of fossil fuels took millions of years, some analytical researches said that its about 650 million years. There are three types of fossil fuel depending on the carbon content, as the carbon content increases the volatile decreases. Methane is an example of the volatile compounds while anthracite coal is an example of nonvolatile compounds. Fossil fuels are the most valuable source of energy that the whole world depends on till this day. Electricity, power vehicles, and many other applications are generated from the burning of these fuels. In fact, it formed due to organic remains of prehistoric organisms. Jet fuel, turbine oil, gas oil, transformer oil and gear oil are all crude oil products, which is the main fossil fuel.
According to American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM):
Jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF) is a type of aviation fuel designed for use in aircraft powered by gas-turbine engines.
Turbine oil is
a premium quality circulating oil made from highly refined paraffin base stocks
and the finest additives available. It is specifically formulated to provide
excellent chemical stability, filterability, rust protection and cleanliness.
Gas oil is defined as a type of oil used as a fuel such as car
diesel.
Transformer
oil or insulating oil is usually a highly-refined mineral oil that is
stable at high temperatures and has excellent electrical insulating properties.
Gear oil is a lubricant made
specifically for transmissions, transfer cases, and differentials in automobiles, trucks, and
other machinery.
Tests:
1) Physical appearance: Color, thickness and clearness of the sample.
2) Cloud point: the temperature at which dissolved solids in the oil, such as paraffin wax, begin to form and separate from the oil. (Engineers edge, 2013).
3)
Pour point: the lowest temperature at which a substance will flow under given conditions.
(Wikipedia, 2013).
4) Flash point: The flash point of a volatile material is the lowest temperature at which it can vaporize to form
an ignitable mixture in air.
(Engineers edge, 2013).
5)
Refractive index: measure of the bending of a ray of light when
passing from
one medium
into another.
(Encyclopedia Britannica, 2013). (Figure 1)
6)
Viscosity: an
internal property of a fluid that offers resistance to flow. ( Space grant, 1996).(Figure 2)
7)
Total
Acid Number (TAN): an analytical test to determine the deterioration of
lubricants. (spectroinc).(Figure 3)
i.
Experimental-Data:
-
Different
type of tests were done to be able to determine which unknown we have; Physical
appearance, API gravity, viscosity, flash point, pour point, cloud point,
refractive index and total acidity number.(ASTM).(Tabel-1)
Presentation
of results:
Type
of test
|
Result
|
comments
|
Physical
appearance
|
Clear and
colorless
|
|
API gravity
|
48.9o
|
SG= 0.784
|
viscosity
|
@40oC
1.6 cSt
@100oC
1.1 cSt
|
Low viscosity and very fast to time it
|
Flash point
|
46oC
|
Room: 669mmHg, 23oC
|
Pour point
|
N/A
|
The test was made on a
temperature of -34oC
|
Cloud point
|
N/A
|
The test was made on a temperature of -34oC
|
Refractive
index
|
1.4423
|
@21.5oC reference is 1.3603
|
Total acid
number
|
0.22 mg/g
|
Standard
deviation and precision of viscosity:
S=
%Sr
=
X 100%
Calculating standard deviation @40oC:
X
|
Mean
|
X
- Mean
|
Standard
deviation
|
1.63
|
1.62
|
0.01
|
0.014
|
1.62
|
1.62
|
0
|
0.014
|
1.61
|
1.62
|
-0.01
|
0.014
|
%Sr
=
=
%
If
the percentage is less than 2% than the results are precise.
Calculating
standard deviation @100oC:
X
|
Mean
|
X
- Mean
|
Standard
deviation
|
1.07
|
1.077
|
0.007
|
0.0057
|
1.08
|
1.077
|
0.003
|
0.0057
|
1.08
|
1.077
|
0.003
|
0.0057
|
%Sr
=
=
%
If
the percentage is less than 2% than the results are precise.
Discussion:
Six tests were
applied on our sample, Pour point, Cloud point, Flash point, Viscosity, TAN,
and API gravity. We carried out these test because they are the best accurate,
safe, and easy tests we can do in the lab, Also by doing six different tests we
will be able to identify our sample, otherwise we cannot depend on 2 or 3 tests
only, due to similarity in some properties for the samples.
Our results were
very close from the reference specifications which leaded us to identify our
sample. The pour point and cloud point were not available because the apparatus
we used provide negative temperature up to -34 degrees C, but our sample needed
less than -34 degree C. this guided us to identify our sample earlier, but we must apply the
other tests to make sure about our sample’s identity.
The most critical
problem we faced was measuring time of flow in viscosity experiment. It was
very fast especially at 1000C. This problem can be solved by running
the test at different conditions (Lower temperature of -200C and -400C).
There was another
technical issue while using auto titration device. We could have solved this
problem by using a new and simple device which students could deal with it
easily.
According to
Green Energy Choice “Fossil fuels are the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world,
contributing 3/4 of all carbon in atmosphere” (DISCOVERING
FOSSILS, 2002). So the
pollutants are increasing day after day. It causes serious problems over time
such as global warming.
In a way of saving our environment and
trying to survive we need to figure out some other alternative sources of
power. The best one especially in our region is the solar power, it provides a
great power to run electricity and many other applications. Some car companies
in Germany made cars that work only by solar power. Unfortunately, it’s not so
efficient but we wish it will develop very soon. Also solar power causes no
pollution at all, and its renewable source of energy. In addition nuclear power
is another solution for our problem, however it has some pollutions but it can
be treated to get rid of hazardous. Moreover, wind energy is very useful source
of energy, it can provide sufficient power to run turbines to provide
electricity, and also it causes zero pollution. Nowadays experiments are done
on the hydrogen reactors. Theoretically, hydrogen reactors are very safe and
cheap, because all what you need is water to get the hydrogen atoms from it.
The idea is to convert the energy that come out from cracking one hydrogen atom
into useful forms. The challenge is to control the series of explosions that
will happen due to the cracking of the atom. Till this day this problem
couldn’t be solved, But we wish it works in the next few years because it’s
very cheap and it provides a huge amount of energy.
Conclusion:
Finally we
identified our sample depends on the results we got comparing to the reference
specification. Our sample was Jet fuel, this was earlier shown after doing pour
and cloud point, but we had to complete all tests to be sure about our
decision.
The API gravity
for jet fuel is the closest for our sample. Also as we expect for the jet fuel
to have a low flash point we had the flash point at low temperature. In
addition as I referred before, cloud point and pour point was the most
important indicator for us. Jet fuels must have a very low pour and cloud
points because high in the sky the temperature drops.
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