A New Method for Estimation of Automobile Fuel Adulteration 357
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
A new method for estimation of automobile fuel adulteration 357 A new method for estimation of automobile fuel adulteration 16X Anil Kumar Gupta and R.K.Sharma A new method for estimation of automobile fuel adulteration Anil Kumar Gupta and R.K. Sharma Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering National Institute of Technology Kurukshetra-136 119 India 1. Introduction Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the air pollution has been on the rise due to fast increasing use of fossil fuels. In particular, the automobile sector has emerged as a major consumer of fuel oil and a major contributor to air pollution. In developing countries like India, China, Brazil the automobile industry is expected to grow at a faster rate in coming years (Veloso, Kumar 2002) accompanied by proportional increase in the air pollution. The problem is essentially global in nature as the tail pipe emissions of automobiles result in an increase in the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere leading to global warming. Adulteration of automobile fuels i.e. gasoline and diesel, leads to increased tailpipe emission and the consequent ill effects on public health. The primary cause of adulteration is the greed fueled by differential tax system (World Bank reports July 2002, September 2001, December 2001, CSE India report March 2002). For example, in south Asia, gasoline is taxed most heavily, followed by diesel, kerosene, industrial solvents and recycled lubricants, in that order. The fact that adulteration of gasoline by diesel and that of diesel by kerosene, is difficult to detect, combined with the differential tax structure makes such adulteration financially alluring, even though it is illegal. Mixing kerosene with diesel does not lead to an increase in tailpipe emission, but contributes to air pollution indirectly in South Asia. The diversion of kerosene for adulteration drastically brings down its availability, to the poor households, who turn to bio-mass for the purpose of cooking. This leads to an increase in the indoor air pollution and consequent ill effects on health. For the prevention of adulteration, monitoring of fuel quality at the distribution point, therefore, is highly essential. In the Indian context, the gasoline is adulterated by mixing diesel and diesel is adulterated by mixing kerosene. This is because these types of adulterations when limited to small volume percent are difficult to detect by the automobile user. The expected adulteration percentage is 10 % to 30 % by volume in both the cases. Less than (10%) adulteration is financially unattractive, while more than 30% adulteration is likely to be easily detected by the user from the degradation of the engine performance caused by the adulterated fuel. To check the adulteration effectively, it is necessary to monitor the fuel quality at the distribution point itself. The equipment for this purpose should be portable and the measurement method should be quick, capable of providing test result within a very short 358 Air Pollution time. The measuring equipment should also be preferably inexpensive (as a large number of as an indicator of extent of adulteration. However as evident from Table 1, the viscosity of such units would need be simultaneously deployed) and easy to use. the fuel shows a considerably stronger dependence on the % adulteration and therefore should be a preferred parameter to be calibrated against % adulteration. 2. Methods for estimation of Fuel Adulteration Evaporation Test (ASTM D3810): The American Society for Testing and Materials International (ASTM International) has The evaporation techniques are capable of detecting very low concentrations (1-2%) of diesel developed and documented the test methods for most of the widely used materials in gasoline and fairly low concentrations (5%) of kerosene in gasoline. However this is including petroleum products. Many ASTM tests for the gasoline and diesel have been basically a laboratory technique and is not suitable for field use. standardized and documented. Some of these tests involve determination of physical and chemical properties while others provide a measure of suitability of the fuel for use in Distillation Test (ASTM D86): automobiles from the point of engine performance / air pollution generated. Though no test This technique exploits the difference in the boiling points of different liquids comprising is specifically designed to measure the adulteration of petrol by mixing diesel or diesel by the fuel sample. Accurate distillation data for uncontaminated fuel is essential for mixing kerosene, some tests namely Density test, Evaporation test, Distillation test, comparison and precise results. The technique, however, is not suitable for field use as the Chemical Marker test, Gas Chromatography may be used to determine the adulteration of measurement set up is generally bulky and measurement process is time consuming. fuel also. However, none of these methods are suitable for adulteration test in the context mentioned in section-1, as pointed out below. Gas Chromatography (GC): Density Test (ASTM D4052): GC is powerful laboratory tool which can be used to detect hydrocarbon based adulterants. Hydrometers and digital densitometers are used to measure the density of the fuel sample. However it requires an experienced technician to operate the equipment and interpret the The reported densities of gasoline, diesel and kerosene at 150C are in the ranges 0.74-0.75 results. It is an effective method for detection of adulterants in gasoline and diesel but Kg./L, 0.835-0.855 Kg./L and 0.79-0.80Kg./L respectively. The adulteration causes a change would require easily portable, robust and user friendly equipment which may be operated in the density which can be correlated with the adulteration. The method has the advantage by an inexperienced operator also. that densitometer provides very good accuracy but suffers from the disadvantages that (i) densitometers are expensive and need a controlled environment (for correct operation) Adulteration Estimation/Detection using Optical Fiber Sensor: which is unlikely to be available in the field at the distribution point and (ii) the change in A technique for detection/estimation of adulteration of petrol/ diesel by kerosene using density is very small even for high level of adulteration as reported in the literature and optical fiber sensor has been reported by Roy S. (1999). The technique exploits the change in reproduced below. refractive index and therefore the evanescent absorption of monochromatic light in petrol/diesel when the same is adulterated by mixing kerosene. Optical fiber acts as a wave guide for light if the cladding has a lower refractive index than Kinematic Diesel and Kerosene Density at that of fiber material. When the light is reflected from the interface of the fiber and the Viscosity at No. Proportions 15°C cladding (or any other material surrounding the fiber), the field associated with the light 40°C (v/v) (g/ml) wave extends beyond the interface into the surrounding medium. The amplitude of this (Cst) field decreases exponentially with distance from the interface. If the surrounding material 1 Pure Diesel 0.8456 2.63 absorbs some part of the light propagating through the fiber, the power received at the other 2 Prescribed Level 0.82-0.86 2 to 3 end of the fiber would be less by the amount absorbed by the surrounding medium. This 3 85:15 0.8400 2.33 idea has been implemented in the experimental set up shown below (Roy S. 1999). 4 75:25 0.8390 2.16 The light source in fig. 1 is a He-Ne laser which is coupled with the optical fiber through a lens. The length of the fiber within the vessel containing the fuel under test is unclad so that 5 65:35 0.8321 1.89 the fiber is directly in contact with the absorbing medium that is, the fuel under test. The 6 50:50 0.8304 1.83 received power is measured by the power meter. 7 25:75 0.8234 1.5 Table 1. Density and kinematic viscosity of diesel fuel and adulterant kerosene at different proportions (reprinted from Sh. R. Yadav, et.al, 2005). Similar results for density variation in gasoline and diesel as a function of % adulteration by diesel and kerosene respectively has also been reported by Sharma and Gupta-2007. Therefore the overall sensitivity of this method is rather poor if the change in density is used A new method for estimation of automobile fuel adulteration 359 time. The measuring equipment should also be preferably inexpensive (as a large number of as an indicator of extent of adulteration. However as evident from Table 1, the viscosity of such units would need be simultaneously deployed) and easy to use. the fuel shows a considerably stronger dependence on the % adulteration and therefore should be a preferred parameter to be calibrated against % adulteration. 2. Methods for estimation of Fuel Adulteration Evaporation Test (ASTM D3810): The American Society for Testing and Materials International (ASTM International) has The evaporation techniques are capable of detecting very low concentrations (1-2%) of diesel developed and documented the test methods for most of the widely used materials in gasoline and fairly low concentrations (5%) of kerosene in gasoline. However this is including petroleum products. Many ASTM tests for the gasoline and diesel have been basically a laboratory technique and is not suitable for field use. standardized and documented. Some of these tests involve determination of physical and chemical properties while others provide a measure of suitability of the fuel for use in Distillation Test (ASTM D86): automobiles from the point of engine performance / air pollution generated. Though no test This technique exploits the difference in the boiling points of different liquids comprising is specifically designed to measure the adulteration of petrol by mixing diesel or diesel by the fuel sample. Accurate distillation data for uncontaminated fuel is essential for mixing kerosene, some tests namely Density test, Evaporation test, Distillation test, comparison and precise results.