The pressure effect on the wax formation in diesel fuel

The prevention of wax formation under high pressure on new diesel engine requires a good understanding of the behaviour of the paraffin molecules crystallization. In this work a diesel from a Petrogal refinery was investigated under pressure. In particular the melting curve was measured from atmospheric pressure to 100 MPa by an optical technique. The behaviour of the solid phase with the pressure was also investigated up to 50 MPa by filtration. The results obtained show an increase in the diesel cloud point of about 25 8C at the operating pressure of a common rail engine. It is clear from our results that the increase of the diesel cloud point must be taken into account in the development of new diesel engines where the diesel is injected under high pressure. All the results obtained were successfully predicted with a thermodynamic model able to describe multiphase equilibrium. q 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.