chief3 - 6-1-2013 at 01:42
Suppose one has a large amount of cheap Diesel ... and one wants some gasoline-fuel, which otherwise would be expensive.
Besides the legal questions, which have to be obeyed ... :
==> Theoretically it might be possible to transform the Diesel to something similar to gasoline ... and at least useful in any modern engine.
What would be the best way for any garage -chemist ... ?
==> No high pressures available ...
==> but some hight temperatures by burning part of the fuel ...
Which way: Heating with steam ? Coking at 500 [Celsius] ? Distilling with steam over some catalyst ?
vmelkon - 10-1-2013 at 19:32
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk0WrtA8_T8
I believe you want to do catalytic cracking. The video mentions 500 °C and zeolite is the catalyst. Perhaps some other catalyst can be used as well.
IIRC, diesel is mostly C9 and C10 linear alkane molecules, therefore, cracking them would make shorter chain linear alkanes such as hexane, heptane,
octane and also some alkenes (ethene, propene).
You should also know that gasoline is a complex mixture. I'm not exactly sure what is in it by I have distilled it and others have as well. There
seems to be lots of spots where the temperatures just hovers around and then rises to the next hydrocarbon's bp and hovers there, then rises to the
next, etc.
How are you going to match what is offered at the gas pumps?