- Effect of 10 % Ethanol on Motor Gasoline quality Parameters

– A 2007 Study data

Effect of 10 % Ethanol on Motor Gasoline has been studied for Samples representing most of the Indian refineries in the Country during Oct 2007.  Motor Gasoline samples from IOCL refineries from Gujarat, Mathura, Panipat, Barauni, Guwahati, Bongaingaon, Haldia, BPCL Mumbai, HPCL Mumbai, HPCL Visag,  MRPL, KRL have been blended with 5% & 10 % Ethanol which is available today at supply locations and being used for  blending.

 Effect on following properties is observed:

 1)     Oxygen Content :  Theoretically oxygen content due to 10 % ethanol addition shall be 3.5 % Oxygen against the present Oxygen Content specification of 2.7 %.

2)     Density at 15 Deg C :   a)  Additive property and Density increases with addition of ethanol. Density of ethanol as per BIS Specification  is 795.6 Kg/m³ at 15 deg C compared to Motor Gasoline density  710-770  (BS-II) and 720 – 775 (BS-III)  Kg/m³  . Variation range observed is 2.7 – 5.1 Kg/m^3. .

 3)     Distillation E70  :  Distillation evaporation % at 70 deg C is affected drastically.  With addition of 10% ethanol in Motor Gasoline E70 increase in the range 16 – 22 % V. 

 4)     Distillation E100 : Distillation evaporation % at 100 deg C is affected in the range of plus 3 – 7 % V.

5)     Distillation E180  - is practically not affected.

 6)     FBP – Slightly on lower side due to dilution of lower boiling Ethanol.  ( about 2 to 5 deg C).

7)     RVP  -  RVP increase is in the range of 7 -11 kPa.  This is slightly more than 5 % Ethanol.

 8)     VLI  -  In view of E 70 value increasingly considerable more compared to 5 % ethanol addition, impact in VLI is much more.  With the range for RVP and E70 given above, increase in VLI comes to 180 – 264.

9)     RON. :  RON increase is in the range of 3.2 to 4.5 numbers on 10% blending.

10) Sulphur Content :  Benefit in Sulphur content is upto 14 ppm in BS –III MS and 49 ppm in BS –II MS.

11) Aromatics/Benzene content :  Benefit in Benzene content is upto 0.09 % V BS –III MS and 0.29 % V in BS –II MS.    Aromatics  dilution is  by  4 %V.

Refinery-wise data are given below :

 1)          Density at 15 deg C  Kg/m³

S.N.	Refinery	Density at 15		Remarks
		Unblended	Gasoline with 10 % E
1	Panipat	739.5	743.7
2	Mathura	735.6	739.1
3	Gujarat	751.0	754.9
4	Haldia	747.7	751.1
5	Guwahati	767.2	771.3
6	BRPL	760.4	764.6
7	Barauni	749.9	754.0
8	HPC Vizag	727.5	732.6
9	MRPL	755.6	758.3
10	KRL	724.7	729.7
11	HPC Mumbai	756.7	759.6
12	BPC Mumbai	744.1	748.8

2)          Distillation

S.N.	Refinery	Distillation Parameters
		Unblended					Gasoline with 10 % E
		E 70		E100	E150	FBP	E 70	E100	E150	FBP
1	Panipat	23		50	-	185	42	56	98	183
2	Mathura	28		54	92	190	48	59	92	186
3	Gujarat	21		54	95	186	43	59	96	181
4	Haldia	19		46	87	205	38	51	88	202
5	Guwahati	13		47	96	191	32	54	97	189
6	BRPL	11		49	-	164	30	55	-	163
7	Barauni	13	48		98	187	32	53	98	185
8	HPC Vizag	27	54		97	185	47	57	98	184
9	MRPL	21	53		98	182	43	57	98	177
10	KRL	34	62		98	187	50	66	98	184
11	HPC Mumbai	20	51		90	186	42	57	92	182
12	BPC Mumbai	24	54		91	181	42	58	92	179

3)          RVP, kPa at 37.8C

S.N.	Refinery	Density at 15		Remarks
		Unblended	Gasoline with 10 % E
1	Panipat	57	68
2	Mathura	56	67
3	Gujarat	45.9	54.5
4	HPC Vizag	41.4	48.2
5	MRPL	46	54
6	KRL	54	62

4)          RON

S.N.	Refinery	RON		Remarks
		Unblended	Gasoline with 10 % E
1	Panipat	88.8	93.3
2	Mathura	91.6	95.2
3	Gujarat	92.9	96.4
4	Haldia	91.0	94.8
5	Guwahati	88.5	92.9
6	BRPL	88.5	92.8
7	Barauni	89.2	93.4
8	HPC Vizag	90.0	93.2
9	MRPL	89.6	94.1
10	KRL	89.0	93.0
11	HPC Mumbai	93.2	96.8
12	BPC Mumbai	92.0	96.0

R J Patel
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