Explaining Different Fuel Types
Fuel is our livelihood of our transportation system as it powers anything from cars and airplanes to motorboats.
There are several different types of fuel that are used and as the world goes green, there are also alternative fuel types being used to prevent harm to the environment.
Petroleum
Petroleum is still the number one fuel source used to power industrial nations. Petroleum, Petrol as we know it, is also known as crude oil found in all the large reservoirs in the earth.
Petrol needs to be taken to a refinery where it is turned into usable forms such as gasoline. It is used to power cars such as Land Rover, aircrafts, motor cycles and so on.
Diesel fuel
Diesel fuel is a liquid fuel used in diesel engines. Diesel powered cars generally have a better fuel economy than equivalent gasoline engines and produce less greenhouse gas emission.
Diesel produces higher energy per-litre and is a 20% – 40% better fuel economy achieved by modern diesel engine automobiles. It also emits 10% – 20% less greenhouse gas than its comparable gasoline vehicles.
Diesel is almost exclusively used for combustion engine of self-powered rail vehicles, engines for propeller-driven aircrafts and of course the diesel powered automobiles typically using less fuel like the economical Land Rover fuel consumption.
Ethanol
There are two blends of ethanol: one which is 85% ethanol and 15% unleaded gas, and another which is 90% ethanol and 10% unleaded gas which are not widely available.
The first blend of ethanol is covered under manufacturer warranty for every automobile sold in the United States and is used for flexible fuel vehicles.
Methanol
Methanol is made from natural gas, but can also be made from fermenting biomass. The blend is 85% methanol and 15 % unleaded premium gas. It is not widely available.
Biodiesel
Biodiesel is a substitute fuel for diesel made from biomass. This is a blend of 85% petroleum diesel fuel and 20% biodiesel. This kind of fuel can be used in any power unit that runs on diesel.
Kerosene
Kerosene is thin oil made from petroleum or shale oil. It is usually called paraffin and is widely used to power jet-engine aircraft and sometimes rockets. However, it is most commonly known to be used as a heating fuel and for paraffin lamps and fire toys such as poi.