TITLE:
Quality Improvement of Sudanese Petrodiesel Fuel by Furfural
AUTHORS:
Christina Yacoub Ishak, Elfatih A. Hassan, Mohamed Ezeldin
KEYWORDS:
Sudanese Petrodiesel, Furfural, Khartoum Refinery
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Analytical Chemistry,
Vol.8 No.5,
May
22,
2017
ABSTRACT: The main objective of this project is quality improvement of Sudanese petrodiesel fuel by the use of furfural. The Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry GC/MS technique was performed to analyze organic compounds for marked petrodiesel fuel before and after treatment by furfural, physicochemical characteristics of petrodiesel fuel were investigated before and after treatment according to American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), characteristics include: density, distillation, cloud point, viscosity, ash content, micro carbon residue, water content, flash point, colour, copper strip corrosion, sulfur content and calculated cetane number. Elements composition of petrodiesel sample has been determined by Inductively coupled plasma (ICP). The furfural showed high ability in extraction of aromatic, cyclo and branched hydrocarbons, a total of 81 organic compounds that exhibit a negative effect on quality of petrodiesel have been removed by furfural. All physicochemical characteristics of petrodiesel fuel were improved within permissible limits assigned by ASTM. The furfural has shown no effect on colour of Sudanese Petrodiesel, which cetane number has increased from 54.46 to 58.36. The concentration of Na, Mg, Ca, Fe, Al and As have been decreased after treatment by furfural, these results have led to decrease of ash content.