What is the organic chemistry makeup of diesel and regular unleaded gas?

Question

What is the organic chemistry makeup of diesel and regular unleaded gas?

Answer 1

Primarily the hydrocarbons in the gasoline and diesel, but also some of the contaminants like sulfur.

Organic chemistry pertains mostly to how carbon works in the life cycle of animals and plants.  All life as we know it is carbon based and needs hydrocarbons like sugar to burn for energy.  Gasoline and diesel are the by products of dead plants and animals (that were not exposed to oxygen) decayed and were converted to fossil fuels.  They are still from organic sources though.

This is why we can grow plants, refine them and create fuel out of them, not just fuel for your body, but for your car as well.  Both consume hydrocarbons.

According to Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_che...

"Organic chemistry is a specific discipline within chemistry which involves the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation (by synthesis or by other means) of chemical compounds consisting primarily of carbon and hydrogen, which may contain any number of other elements, including nitrogen, oxygen, the halogens as well as phosphorus, silicon and sulfur."

According to Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline

"Gasoline can also contain some other organic compounds: such as organic ethers (deliberately added), plus small levels of contaminants, in particular sulfur compounds such as disulfides and thiophenes. Some contaminants, in particular thiols and hydrogen sulfide, must be removed because they cause corrosion in engines. Sulfur compounds are usually removed by hydrotreating, yielding hydrogen sulfide which can then be transformed into elemental sulfur via the Claus process."

According to Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel

"Diesel or diesel fuel (IPA: /ˈdiːzəl/) in general is any fuel used in diesel engines. The most common is a specific fractional distillate of petroleum fuel oil, but alternatives that are not derived from petroleum, such as biodiesel, biomass to liquid (BTL) or gas to liquid (GTL) diesel, are increasingly being developed and adopted. To distinguish these types, petroleum-derived diesel is increasingly called petrodiesel.

Petroleum diesel, or petrodiesel, is produced from petroleum and is a hydrocarbon mixture, obtained in the fractional distillation of crude oil between 200 °C and 350 °C at atmospheric pressure."

Answer 2

The chemical makeup of both are pretty much your basic large hydrocarbon chain. However the specific gravity of each are a little different and the (we all know this ) the volatilty is way different. When cracking crude into its more primary components diesel perks off at a much lower level and is removed for tertiary operations on the naptha base. All gasoline for 15 years has been unleaded but to enhance its no knock (preignition/dieseling) characteristic other exotic blended material have been added . Depending on where and from whom you get your Fuel ,you should know that gasoline costs about 20% more to make but is about 25% cheaper than diesel. My reasoning is that if you have the market and they demand it ,raise the rate till the demand drops out..Well we all know Big trucks use a lot of fuel and without them there is total chaos. So we just keep on spending the big bucks for the Diesel fuel...that same product about 30 years ago was considered a waste from the making of gasoline...Well have a good day...heres a prediction..""".january 8th 2009 diesel prices hit record high of 6.99 per gallon andthousands of independent truckers shut down their bussiness. the effect is far reaching gasoline soars to 5.19 per gallon but is so scarce only one in five stations have any, Their excuse is that there are no trucks out there to haul the gas to the pump ..Hundreds of people are layed off as wal-mart and target close 10% of stores for lack of restocking . Ships from china are clogging the LA harbors and since no more freight can be unloaded until space is made, the domino effect continues, until no-one has basics like canned goods and clothes. Electricity generated by pipline gas is available but fails for the lack of maintenace on the pump stations. Soooner than you think ? well its only a prediction.....from the E

Answer 3

Not really an answer, but have often wondered:

Take Hydrogen and Carbon - mix them up to make a hydrocarbon and you've got something like gas (petrol).

Mix them up to make a carbohydrate and you've got sugar.

Weird, huh?

Answer 4

Both are mixtures of alkanes, but those in diesel are of higher molecular weight -- typically about 12 carbons instead of about 8.