page_title: Diesel fuel
section_title: Chemical composition
hierarchical_section_title: Diesel fuel / Chemical analysis / Chemical composition
caption_attribution_description: English: Diesel spill on a road.
context_page_description: Diesel fuel in general is any liquid fuel used in diesel engines, whose fuel ignition takes place, without any spark, as a result of compression of the inlet air mixture and then injection of fuel. Diesel engines have found broad use as a result of higher thermodynamic efficiency and thus fuel efficiency. This is particularly noted where diesel engines are run at part-load; as their air supply is not throttled as in a gasoline engine, their efficiency still remains very high.
  The most common type of diesel fuel is a specific fractional distillate of petroleum fuel oil, but alternatives that are not derived from petroleum, such as biodiesel, biomass to liquid or gas to liquid diesel, are increasingly being developed and adopted. To distinguish these types, petroleum-derived diesel is increasingly called petrodiesel in some academic circles. Ultra-low-sulfur diesel is a standard for defining diesel fuel with substantially lowered sulfur contents. As of 2016, almost all of the petroleum-based diesel fuel available in the UK, mainland Europe, and North America is of a ULSD type.
context_section_description: Petroleum-derived diesel is composed of about 75% saturated hydrocarbons (primarily paraffins including n, iso, and cycloparaffins), and 25% aromatic hydrocarbons (including naphthalenes and alkylbenzenes). The average chemical formula for common diesel fuel is C₁₂H₂₄, ranging approximately from C₁₀H₂₀ to C₁₅H₂₈.
caption: Diesel does not mix with water.
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