What takes less energy to process into final product: Gasoline or Diesel?

Question

If I were a developing an Hybid gas/electric low emissions vehicle: wouldn't it be prudent to choose an IC engine that uses less overall energy to make, thus lowering total emissons? So basically which of these two hydrocarbon fuels uses least amount off energy in its processing?

Answer 1

Diesel fuel is less refined than gasoline.  It creates less gaseous emmissions but more solid waste in the form of soot.  So it is better for the atmosphere above, but worse for our lungs. There are also huge amounts of gasoline that need a market. This is why we limit uncontrolled use through taxation.

If biodiesel became efficiently produced and ubiquitous, then you would really be talking.

Imagine semi haulers using gas/biodiesel/battery triple-hybrid engines.  That would be great.

Diesel is very similar to heating oil which is used in central heating. In Europe, the United States and Canada, taxes on diesel fuel are higher than on heating oil due to the fuel tax, and in those areas, heating oil is marked with fuel dyes and trace chemicals to prevent and detect tax fraud. Similarly, "untaxed" diesel is available in the United States, which is available for use primarily in agricultural applications such as for tractor fuel. This untaxed diesel is also dyed red for identification purposes, and should a person be found to be using this untaxed diesel fuel for a typically taxed purpose (such as "over-the-road", or driving use), the user can be fined US$10,000. In India, taxes on diesel fuel are lower than on gasoline as the majority of the transportation that transports grains and other essential commodities across the country runs on diesel.

Answer 2

They're close. Gasoline and diesel are both distilled and fractioned, which takes a lot of energy.  15-20% of a barrel of oil just goes into refining the other 80%.

Now ask about ethanol vs. biodiesel!  They're like night and day.  Biodiesel is a very low-energy process... ethanol is NOT.

Answer 3

Processing of crude oil into fuels that we use in everyday life follows this flow of refining:  

Propane, gasoline and then Diesel.  The Diesel is made form the left overs of the refining process, but Diesel can come from many different sources.  

Diesel can come from renewable energy sources (corn, recycled cooking oils, even fish oil).  With the out-break of bio-diesel facilities and the availiablity and the low emissions involved in making it, the smartest choice would be bio-diesel.

Answer 4

The consensus seems to be that the energy to produce a gallon of diesel fuel is pretty close to the same as to produce a gallon of gasoline.

But that is too simple an answer.  When you refine a barrel of oil, you don't stop with gasoline and throw the rest away.  You refine the whole barrel.  So, in a sense, the energy to refine petroleum cannot logically be broken into individual components.  

I drive a diesel vehicle and it gets more than double the MPG than my old vehicle (my Honda SUV got 17 MPG, my VW gets 43 MPG).  In driving 12,000 miles, I use 279 gallons of diesel whereas I used to use 706 gallons of gasoline.  Since the carbon content of gasoline and diesel are about equal, it seems that my VW reduces CO2 emissions by a factor of 2.5 times.  I can't help but think that the diesel is better in that sense, although there are some particulate emission issues.

Many people don't realize that when petroleum is refined, there is a limit as to how much you can alter the end output.  You will get a maximum amount of gasoline, a maximum amount of diesel or fuel oil and other products.  For example, I read a recent plan by a refinery in Canada to alter its production (at a cost of mllions of dollars) so that it could squeak out an additional 2% of gasoline and diesel fuel because they are more profitable products for the refinery to sell.  

Since a refinery will always get some amount of gasoline when it refines a barrel of oil, it would be fascinating to see what the industry would do if no one consumed gasoline.  Would it dump it, burn it to generate electricity or perform some other magic with it?  My guess is that if gasoline and diesel were no longer used for transportation, we would see the cost of other petroleum products rise to make up the economic difference.  

It is doubtful that we will find a quick or easy way to replace petroleum even if we reduce its use in transportation.  It is also used to make your I-Pod, computer keyboards, all sorts of plastics, pharmaceuticals and just an almost unimaginable array of products we accept as necessary in life.

Answer 5

that's why they call diesel a "fuel oil" cause its a type of oil and gas isn't considered an oil cause gas is so refined and mixed with other stuff that it looses its oil properties so diesel is easier to may than gas also diesel has more energy per unit than gas and less dangerous to handle cause diesel doesn't reach its flash point till around 140 to 160 degs f. when gas will flash at a lot lower temp around -43c

Answer 6

Gasoline is better.  See below:

"To meet the tougher pollution standards, high-tech diesel engines need low-sulfur diesel fuel. Unfortunately, US Department  of Energy modeling has shown this fuel to be more oil- and carbon-intensive than reformulated gasoline.

Making a gallon of diesel fuel requires 25% more oil and emits 17% more heat-trapping greenhouse gases than gasoline reformulated with MTBE. Similarly, diesel requires 17% more oil and emits 18% more heat-trapping gases than gasoline reformulated with ethanol."

-- http://www.grinningplanet.com/2005/04-12...

Answer 7

I like Mr. S' response.  I would go with a Diesel hybrid.  With fossil fuel, it may produce more emissions, but I don't think it will be long before more bio fuels are available.  Brazil is almost 100% self reliant on oil because of their huge bio market.  If you used diesel now, it would have a worse affect now, but in the long run, using bio-fuel, it would stomp the pants off of a gas engine since they get better mileage.

Answer 8

crude oil is refined into several different hydrocarbons for different uses.  its the combination of these various hydrocarbons that suit the application.  some of the same hydrocarbons in gasoline are used to make other components like polymers. the problem is not the processing of the fuel but the emmissions during combustion.  although diesel gets you better gas mileage it combusts with more un-friendly by-products than gasoline, which leads you to the economics/environment/supply/demand debacle.

Answer 9

Kind of a slippery answer.  While Diesel (petroleum based)takes a lot less energy to produce, Gasoline burns a little cleaner.  The problem comes when your engine needs to ignite the fuels.  Gasoline ignites at around -40 degrees Celsius, while diesel has a flashpoint around +143 degrees Fahrenheit.  One of the main environmental problems with gasoline is all the hazardous additives that are put into the "cocktail" when making refined petroleum.  These are what contribute to such wonderful things as acid rain.  Diesel (petroleum based) is form in the early stages of gasoline production.  More of the heavy chemicals remain in the diesel, which contribute to a "sooty" residue (carbon and such).  One of the best recycling of energy for mechanical uses that I've found is using vegetable oil in a diesel engine.  Basically, vegetable oil ignites at around 425 degrees Fahrenheit.  the conversion in a diesel engine still uses petroleum based diesel to start the engine, but once the initial combustion has started solenoids switch the system over to the vegetable oil.  This type of "green" engine creates hardly, if any, pollutants into the air.  And the smell of fried foods from the exhaust makes you very popular with neighborhood dogs!

Answer 10

diesel fuel is less refined then gas.