The research development on the cetane improver for diesel fuel

The recent research development on the cetane number (CN) improver for diesel fuel are reviewed. These cetane number improvers are mainly nitrogen containing compounds, mixed alkyl nitrate and oxygencontaining compounds, In addition, the composition and application of clean diesel fuel additives are also discussed. The using performance and structure of several CN improver which are mainly the compounds of containing nitrogen have been compared in this paper. The using performance of these compounds was improved and their danger was decreased after the mixed alkyl nitrate and pure alkyl nitrate had been used together. The results show that there were obvious composite effects when 50% 2 - ethoxy, ethyl-alkyl nitrate and 50% isooctyl alkyl nitrate was used together as CN improver. Under the same increasement of CN, the adding amount of the mixed alkyl nitrate was less than that of pure alkyl nitrate, which can save the cost. The CN improver of oxygen containing compounds can decrease the environmental pollution as well as improve the burning of diesel because its compositions was only composed of three elements of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.