[Peakoil] Saudi crude can't replace Libyan

[X]

Dear Tony 



By "energy density" I mean heat of combustion per unit mass of fuel. The following table (from Wiki) illustrates the general trend as you increase the length of a hydrocarbon chain. 


















 Fuel
Megajoule per kilogram (MJ per kg)








Methane
55.50







Ethane
51.90







Propane
50.35







Butane
49.50







Gasoline
47.30







Kerosene
46.20







Paraffin
46.00







Diesel
44.80







Coal (Anthracite)
27.00







Coal (Lignite)
15.00







Wood
15.00







Peat (dry)
15.00







Peat (damp)
6.00









 









Combustion of the short chain alkanes liberates relatively more energy per unit mass - which is critical when you are trying to get an aircraft off the ground.    

Cheers

X



From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au
Subject: Re: [Peakoil] Saudi crude can't replace Libyan
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2011 19:52:17 +1100
To: ludlow at live.com.au; peakoil at act-peakoil.org




On 01/03/2011, at 7:47 AM, X wrote:Avgas, I believe. Aviation fuel must be as energy dense and as light as possible. I suspect the specifications for aviation fuel would be much stricter than for terrestrial transport - where you can get away with heavier substitutes and additives. 
 The energy density would be much the same and the density. While it might be a fraction lighter in deensity it is more a matter of the higher temperature it burns at and the lower temperature of the fuel tanks although I am guessing a bit.
Tony

Phone: 02 6241 7659, Mobile: 04 3365 2400, Skype: antonybbarryEmail: tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au, antonybbarry at me.com, antonybbarry at gmail.comhttp://www.facebook.com/people/antonybbarryhttp://tony-barry.emu.id.au




 		 	   		  
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