What is Octane Number?

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Octane number of gasoline indicates the content of carbon chain of C8 (octane)

contained therein, similar to the Cetane number for diesel fuel as a measure of
fuel quality despite having a different understanding. In the case of combustion,
octane rating will determine the fuel ability to not ignite spontaneously in the
combustion chamber. Spontaneous ignition means with the compression process
without any sparks from spark plugs air and fuel mixture burn by itself. The
occurrence of spontaneous combustion is characterized by the occurrence of
knocking in the engine and can cause engine damage. Fuel does not burn
completely but explode.

The octane number is determined by comparing the characteristics of a gasoline

to isooctane (2,2,4-trimethylpentane) and heptane. Isooctane is assigned
an octane number of 100. It is a highly branched compound that burns smoothly,
with little knock. On the other hand, heptane, chain a straight, unbranched
molecule is given an octane rating of zero because of its bad knocking properties.

Straight-run gasoline (directly from the refinery distillation column) has anoctane
number of about 70. In other words, straight-run gasoline has the Same knocking
properties as a mixture of 70% isooctane and 30% heptane, although actually it is
a complex mixture of over 500 hydrocarbons. Many of these compounds are
straight-chain alkanes. Cracking, isomerization, and other refining processes can
be used to Increase the octane rating of gasoline to about 90. Anti-knock agents
may be added to further increase the octane rating. Fuel octane requirements for
gasoline engines vary with the compression ratio of the engine.
Some of the octane number for fuel:

87 → Gasoline standards in the United States

88 → Gasoline Premium unleaded
92 → Gasoline standards in Europe, Pertamax (Pertamina product)
94 → Premix-TT (Pertamina product)
98 → PertamaxPlus (Pertamina product)