Different Types of Fuel

Fuel is used to power anything, from cars to airplanes to toy motor boats. It is the lifeblood of our transportation system. As our technology advances, society is able to use several natural and man-made sources to power our vehicles. This article will explore the different types of fuel and their properties.

Petroleum
Petroleum is still the number one fuel source used to power industrial nations. Petroleum is also known as crude oil. It is found in large reservoirs throughout the Earth. Petrol is usually taken to a refinery that turns it into usable forms, such as gasoline. It is usually bought in barrel units. Petroleum prices rose from less than $20 a barrel in 1996 to more than $150 by June 2008.

Natural Gas
Natural gas refers to methane-based gas found in coal beds. It can also be found in landfills, bogs and marshes because of special organisms called methanogens. Before being used as a fuel, natural gas must go through extensive processing to remove all of the other associated chemicals until only the methane is left.

Hydrogen Fuel
There are chemical reactions that can also produce energy that can be used as fuel. Hydrogen fuel is one example. Oxygen and hydrogen are combined in a proton exchange fuel cell. When the two are chemically combined, they can produce electricity that is used as fuel, creating water and vapors as a byproduct.

Straight Vegetable Oil

A fast food restaurant leftover, straight vegetable oil (SVO) can also act as a fuel. Special fuel tanks reduce its high viscosity to make it flow better. This fuel cannot be run through standard engines. They must be converted to handle filtered vegetable oil. This includes modifying engines to run at 150 degrees F and 120 degree fuel temperatures.

Ethanol
Ethanol is a naturally occurring gas that is usually found in small parts with other natural gases. However, ethanol can also be manually produced and used as fuel. Ethanol production includes the fermentation of corn stalks or sugar cane. Although ethanol burns cleaner than traditional gasoline, costs are equivalent to gasoline and fuel efficiency is more than a third less efficient.

Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)

Natural gas is, well, natural gas--the same stuff that heats your stove or your house. It is largely produced domestically in the United States; it can be imported through pipelines or as a cryogenic (supercold) liquid on special tanker ships, but because this is a lot harder than pouring crude or refined oil into a tanker or a pipeline, we haven't built up an import dependency for natural gas as we have for petroleum. (Interest in imported natural gas is growing, however, as domestic production has lagged behind increasing demand for this clean fuel.)

Aviation fuel
Aviation fuel is a specialized type of petroleum-based fuel used to power aircraft. It is generally of a higher quality than fuels used in less critical applications, such as heating or road transport, and often contains additives to reduce the risk of icing or explosion due to high temperatures, among other properties. Most aviation fuels available for aircraft are kinds of petroleum spirit used in engines with spark plugs, i.e. piston and Wankel rotary engines, or fuel for jet turbine engines, which is also used in diesel aircraft engines. Alcohol, alcohol mixtures and other alternative fuels may be used experimentally, but alcohol is not permitted in any certified aviation fuel specification. Avgas is sold in much lower volumes, but to many more individual aircraft, whereas jet fuel is sold in high volumes to large aircraft operated typically by airlines, military and large corporate aircraft.

Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock normally occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure. Coal is composed primarily of carbon along with variable quantities of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, with smaller quantities of sulfur, oxygen and nitrogen.

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Prepared By:ANIRUDH MEHTA th Class : 5 Roll No. : 5