More lies from the oil companies

"Was Avgas a kerosene base?" You cannot turn kerosene into high octane fuel by adding lead or anything else. To upgrade kerosene to gasoline, you need to run it through more advanced refining processes. Simplistically, crude oil contains many different "fractions" of products including fuel oils, gasoline, propane, etc. The simple first step refining process uses a fractionator to separate the crude into the various "natural" products. Advanced refining tools can upgrade heaver products to lighter products (such as gasoline) by cracking the molecules and adding hydrogen and removing sulfur.
Technologies such as Fluid Catalytic Cracking were developed during world war II to provide aviation gasoline to keep our fighter planes and bombers in the air since there was a shortage of gasoline. Without upgrading technology we may not have been able to win the war. Of course it costs capital to build the advanced plants and operate them, thus these fuels are generally more expensive.
 
jtybt15 says,

Just paraphrasing...They thought that lead was the worst thing in gas. Lead was added as an octane booster and because it was so cheap. The oil companies knew catalytic converters could be used in the refining process but it would cost too much and was not compatible with catalytic converters.

I don't think anyone has yet figured out how to us catalytic converters in the refining process to improve the octane of the fuel. I think we have an anachronism here, lead was added to gasoline in 1919 long before anyone knew anything about catalytic converters for autos. See below:

"In 1919, Dayton Metal Products Co. merged with General Motors. They formed a research division that set out to solve two problems: the need for high compression engines and the insufficient supply of fuel that would run them. On December 9, 1921 chemists led by Charles F. Kettering and his assistants Thomas Midgley and T.A. Boyd added Tetraethyl lead to the fuel in a laboratory engine. The ever present knock, caused by auto-ignition of fuel being compressed past its ignition temperature, was completely silenced. Most all automobiles at the time were subject to this engine knock so the research team was overjoyed. Over time, other manufacturers found that by adding lead to fuel they could significantly improve the octane rating of the gas. This allowed them to produce much cheaper grades of fuel and still maintain the needed octane ratings that a car’s engine required."

"Another benefit that became known over time was that Tetraethyl lead kept valve seats from becoming worn down prematurely. Exhaust valves, in early model cars, that were subject to engine knocking tended to get micro-welds that would get pulled apart on opening. This resulted in rough valve seats and premature failure. Lead helped fuel ignite only when appropriate on the power stroke, thus helping eliminate exhaust valve wear and tear."

Also the discovery was important since, unless you speak German, we are fortunate that lead was added to the fuel for our fighter planes during WW II to help win the war. see below from WIKI about Avgas:

"The particular mixtures in use today are the same as when they were first developed in the 1940s, and were used in airline and military aero engines with high levels of supercharging; notably the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine used in the Spitfire and Hurricane fighters, Mosquito fighter-bomber and Lancaster heavy bomber (the Merlin II and later versions required 100-octane fuel), as well as US-made liquid-cooled Allison V-1710 engines, and numerous radial engines from Pratt & Whitney, Wright, and other manufacturers on both sides of the Atlantic. The high octane ratings are achieved by the addition of TEL ..."
TEL is the abbreviation for the chemical formula for Tetraethyllead (common name tetraethyl lead), abbreviated TEL, is an organolead compound with the formula (CH3CH2)4Pb.
 
Lots of good info there Kev. I didn't think the enviromentalists ever had the knowledge to work out the processes needed to go from the leaded gas era to the present. Why is it that they don't point to Brazil as a country that uses (I think) 100% alcohol from sugar cane for all their auto fuel needs.
 
jtybt, FYI
Brazil stopped using 100% alcohol for all their vehicles soon after the brutal dictator left office. Ethanol from sugar cane is much more efficient than from corn ethanol or cellulosic materials especially if you have cheap labor harvesting the sugar cane. I don't know if they still import ethanol from the US but they were in the past importing from the US while exporting ethanol to California, where ethanol from corn does not satisfy their green objective. Tell me how that makes sense. http://www.ethanolrfa.org/exchange/entry/the-ethanol-shuffle/

The president even approved a loan to Petrabras to grow their offshore drilling and promised to buy their oil.
Offshore Brazil has been a hot spot for offshore oil exploration, From what I know they now primarily use a blend of fossil oil and ethanol in their autos.

From Forbes:
Petrobras is a vertically integrated oil and gas company, which operates in both the upstream and downstream segments of the industry. The Brazilian multinational energy giant is one of the largest companies in Latin America by annual sales revenue. Its operations account for a large majority of the total oil and gas production in Brazil. Last year, Petrobras’ average daily oil production in Brazil was 1,931.4 thousand barrels per day, an estimated 90.9% of Brazil’s total oil production. We currently have a $21/share price estimate for Petrobras, which values it at almost 10x our 2014 diluted EPS estimate of $2.1 for the company.

According to Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites/afontev...cord-highs-as-it-maxes-out-refining-capacity/

"Still, Petrobras is seeing incredible demand for its energy products, and this is showing in its downstream operations. Utilization capacity at its refineries in Brazil was 99% in the second quarter, as oil processing increased 10% to 2.092 million barrels per day; Brazilian fields, the company noted, were responsible for 81% of processed crude. As the company has increased production in the first half of the year, it managed to reduce oil product imports 19%, its trade balance closing with a deficit of 400,000 barrels per day, a 264% increase over the first six months of 2012.

The message that Brazil runs only on ethanol is not accurate, although often touted by some politicians.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top