NREL Updates Cetane Data Used for Development of Energy Efficient Fuels and Engines

Researchers, as well as members of the engine, vehicle, and fuel industries, rely on these numbers to target compounds for development of new fuels capable of greater energy efficiency, cleaner emissions, and maximum performance in diesel engines.

A cetane number is a relative ranking of fuels based on the amount of time between fuel injection and ignition (ignition delay) in a diesel engine. A minimum cetane number is specified in the ASTM standard that defines the quality of diesel fuel sold in the United States.

The recently published Compendium of Experimental Cetane Numbers compiles cetane number data from 62 sources for readers to use in selecting potential compounds and formulas for development of models, tools, and fuels.

In addition to updating information, the new edition provides additional measurements on a larger number of compounds, along with assessment of data quality.

The updated report includes all available single-compound cetane number data found in the scientific literature published prior to March 2014, including:

  • Information on 389 pure compounds

  • 584 measurements, including more than 250 new measurements

  • Expanded discussion of the accuracy and precision of the methods most commonly used for determining cetane numbers

  • Extensive annotation allowing readers to judge the relative reliability of individual results.

“The original report has been cited more than 130 times,” NREL Principal Engineer Robert McCormick said. “We expect that the new edition will continue be used extensively to develop models, target compounds for new fuels, and tools to help predict cetane numbers in the future.”

NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for the Energy Department by The Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

Media Contact

David Glickson Eurek Alert!

All latest news from the category: Power and Electrical Engineering

This topic covers issues related to energy generation, conversion, transportation and consumption and how the industry is addressing the challenge of energy efficiency in general.

innovations-report provides in-depth and informative reports and articles on subjects ranging from wind energy, fuel cell technology, solar energy, geothermal energy, petroleum, gas, nuclear engineering, alternative energy and energy efficiency to fusion, hydrogen and superconductor technologies.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Lighting up the future

New multidisciplinary research from the University of St Andrews could lead to more efficient televisions, computer screens and lighting. Researchers at the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and…

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Partners & Sponsors