×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Refinery Base Octane Levels

Refinery Base Octane Levels

Refinery Base Octane Levels

(OP)
I was curious what base octane that refineries in the U.S. run to. I had always assumed that the base octane was 87 and ethanol additions got you to mid grade gasoline. But now, with ethanol in most everything, do the refineries produce something like 85 octane as the base fuel and boost it to 87 with ethanol?
Replies continue below

Recommended for you

RE: Refinery Base Octane Levels

Various components have various octanes; Today, inline ,computerized blending is generally used. In the "good old days" , a tank would be filled then tested. The interesting part is that the blending/octane is not linear; that is half of a 100 octane component mixed with half of a 70 octane component may give an 87 octane component. Then there is summer and winter octanes , plus high altitude and low altitude octanes; meanwhile keep the Reed vapor pressure in range. It was never as simple as you imagined.
And now ,either congress has a bunch of chemical engineers or they are buying corn belt votes with ethanol and are making specific requirements on gasoline. And in round numbers, for every gallon of ethanol put into gasoline , a additional gallon of oil must be imported (to produce the corn/methanol); Not to mention the 30% loss of energy/gal of ethanol vs gasoline.  

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members! Already a Member? Login



News


Close Box

Join Eng-Tips® Today!

Join your peers on the Internet's largest technical engineering professional community.
It's easy to join and it's free.

Here's Why Members Love Eng-Tips Forums:

Register now while it's still free!

Already a member? Close this window and log in.

Join Us             Close