Changes in Chinese Standard for Ethanol Gasoline

eviewChanges in Chinese standard for EthanolGasolineZhang Xin; Zhang Yongguang(Research Institute of Petroleum Processing, SINOPEC, Beijing 100083)Abstract: At the beginning of the tests on application of ethanol gasoline in 2001, Chinese government promulgated a national standard gB 18351-2001 Ethanol Gasoline for Motor Vehicles". Thstandard specifies three kinds of ethanol gasoline, namely E10 (90 RON),E10(93 RON)and E10(95RON). There were ethanol gasoline grades(90 ron and 93 RoN) and conventional unleaded gaso-line( 97ron) available in the areas where tests were carried out. vehicle owners were worried aboutthe harmful action of ethanol to their vehicles because of lack of knowledge regarding ethanol fueland they only refueled their cars with conventional 97 RoN unleaded gasoline. This idea might causeunnecessary costs to customers and could bring about difficulty to the tests as well. Besides, someother technical questions emerged during the experimental application of ethanol gasoline, such aswater content, ethanol content in gasoline, etc. Based on the experiences accumulated during thepplication tests, the national standard gb 18351-2001"Ethanol Gasoline for Motor Vehicles"wasrevised. The revised edition is designated as gb 18351-2004Key words: ethanol gasoline; national standard; application test; motor vehicles1 Backgroundvided a good foundation for the use and production of ethanol gasoline (21In the year of 2000, Chinese government organized relevantunits and institutions to systematically study the feasibility 2 The first Version of GB 18351-2001of ethanol to be used as a component for automotive fuels inChina. Starting from June 2001, China Petrochemical Corpo- The national standard GB 18351 Ethanol Gasoline for Motorration in collaboration with Henan province, and PetroChina Vehicles drawn out in 2001 was basically the same with thein collaboration with Heilongjiang Province, began to pro- present national standard GB 17930 Unleaded Petrolvide ethanol gasoline on domestic market for trial application. (gasoline) for Motor Vehicles. The former has specified theStarting from March 2002, a one-year-long gasohol tests were limits on ethanol content and water content to the qualityconducted in five cities including Zhengzhou, Luoyang and requirements. The ethanol gasoline specification was sepaNanyang in Henan provincc, as wcll as Harbin and Zhaodong rately formulated since some new problems emerged duringin Heilongjiang province [.the storage, transportation and usage of this fuel. Details ofthe two specifications are presented in Table 1Before the application tests were commenced, the researchInstitute of Petroleum Processing(RIPP)under SINOPEC was 3 Problems That Occurred during thedesignated by the government to carry out the research work Experimentson ethanol gasoline, including its physico-chemical properties,its blending performance with gasoline and vehicle test Based Henan province started using ethanol gasoline on June 18on the results of laboratory and performance tests, Ethanol 2001. The State Center of Quality Supervision and Testing ofGasoline for Motor Vehicles, Denatured Ethanol and other Petroleum Products monitored the quality and tested 63specifications or criteria relating to ethanol gasoline were batches of ethanol gasoline from June 2001 to June 2003(31formulated These standards and specifications have proSome problems were found中国煤化工CNMHGChina Petroleum Processing and Petrochemical TechnologyNo. 2. June 2006Table 1 Requirements for gasohol and gasolineGasohol(GB 18351)Gasoline(GB 17930)9oRON 9RON 95ron 0RON9RON95RONRON93+95+90≮931+95(RON+MON)2285≮88本90≮8590Lead, gL9.005≯0005Distillation,℃10%≯70≯70≯12012090%190FBP≯205≯205Residue,v%RP@378℃,kPaFrom Sep 16 to Mar 15≯88≯88From Mar 16 to Sep. 1574≯74Existent gum, mg/100mL≯5Induction period, min480480Sulfur"), m%斗0.10≯0.10Mercaptan content (one of the two requirementsshould be met)Doctor testPass≯0.001≯0.001Copper strip corrosion(③.50℃)Class 1Class iWater-soluble acid or alkaliWater and sedimentWater. m%o牛0.15Ethanol, v%90~105Other oxygen-containing compounds(2)Non-detectableOxygen content, m%0≯27Benzene, vo2.5牛25Aromatic v%040≯40Olefins. vO≯35≯35Notes: (1) The requirement for 0.08 %s (by weight) has been implemented first in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou(startingfrom July 1, 2000). Enforcement of this requirement in the rest of Chinese cities was started from July 1, 2003(2) Other oxygen-containing compounds should not be added But high-carbon alcohoi used as co-solvent is permitted3.1 Octane number giveawayfrom 93.4 to 96.3 with its antiknock index ranging from 87.0 to899The octane number of ethanol gasoline was higher than whatthe specification required with a large surplus. The research 3.2 Vapor pressure on the high sideoctane number of ethanol gasoline (g0) ron) reached the high-est of 95.0 and the lowest of 93. 9 with its antiknock index In a checkup of samples conducted in April 2002, the vaporequating to 88.2 at the maximum and 87.2 at the minimum The pressure of 80% ethanol gasoline samples exceeded the limitresearch octane number of ethanol gasoline(93 RON)ranged of 74kPa. One cause was attributed to the petrol blend itself中国煤化工16HCNMHGReviewthat had a high level of vapor pressure. For instance, the often occurred, even an unqualified rating of Class 2a out-petrol uscd for blending E10(90 RON) had a vapor pressure come appeared sometimes, which seldom happened duringof 64.0kPa and that used for blending E10(93 RON) showed a analysis of conventional unleaded gasolinevapor pressure of 87. 5kPa. Vapor pressure increased furtherwhen petrol was blended with cthanol. The another cause The national standard GB 1835 1-2001 specifies three gradeswas the negligence of the difference between winter and sum- of ethanol gasoline, namely E10(90 RON),E10(93 RON) andmer vapor pressure limits when the petrol blend was provided E10 (95 RON). Besides the three kinds of conventionalgasoline,(with RoN equating to 90, 93 and 95, respectively)3.3 Unstable ethanol contentthere is also a grade of 97 Ron unleaded gasoline available inthe traditional Chinese petrol market. Although the 97 RONThe national standard gB 1835 1-2001 requires the ethanol unleaded gasoline is not included in the national standardcontent to be 9.0%0-10. 5%(by volume). But the standard GB 17930 Unleaded Petrol (gasoline) for Motor Vehiclesrequirement was difficult to be met in actual operation for PetrolChina and Petrochemical Corporation, two major petrolblending ethanol gasoline. Because of crror superposition, producers in China, manufacture it according to their ownwhich was resulted from analysis deviations and mechanic standards to meet the requirements of top grade cars. There-crrors, the cthanol content usually was near on or surpassed fore in the cities where the pilot project was conducted therethe demanded limits 4)wcrc usually two types of gasohol E10(90 RON), and E10(93RON) and a conventional gasoline grade (97 ron) available3, 4 Excess water contentLacking of knowledge regarding ethanol fuel, many vehicleowners only filled their cars with conventional 97 RONThe national standard GB 18351-2001 requires that the water gasoline, because they were worried that ethanol gasolinecontent should be less than O. 15%(by weight). At the begin- would do harm to their vehicles. This caused unnecessaryning of the elo application tests, water containing in ethanol costs to the customers and also brought about difficulties togasoline was more than that required by the specification. the experimentHowever, the status has been improving year by yearWhat is also worth mentioning is that with the emergence of3.5 Other oxygen-containing compounds excess ethanol gasoline in the market some greedy merchants usemuch cheaper methanol instead of ethanol for blending withThe national standard gb 18351-2001 specifies that the oxy- gasoline. Without standard testing techniques, the quality ofgen-containing compound except ethanol should not be their gasoline cannot be guaranteed. Their production of subdetected. But MTBE did exist in E10 products during the first standard gasoline will cause damages to vehicles and therebyperiod of marketing experiment. In 2001, 10 out of 15 batches should be prohibitedof ElO samples were found to contain MTBE. Its content was0. 74%(by volume)on average. This was originated form gaso- 4 Revision of the National Standardline blend which contained MTBE. Sometimes conventional GB 18351gasoline grade(90 RON)containing MTBE was even directlyblended with ethanol to make the e10 with a ron of 93. But Based on the experiences and lessons drawn from the overthe situation has been improved currentlytwo-year-long pilot project. the national standard gB 18351Ethanol gasoline for motor vehicles was revised in 2004 in3. 6 Other problemsorder to deal with problems that took place. The main differ-ences between the revised version and the previous versionDuring the follow-up tests, we found that the copper strip are as followscorrosion of ethanol gasoline was relatively more severe com- The addition of a E10 ethanol gasoline grade(97 Ronpared with that of conventional gasoline. a class I b outcome The ethanol content is changed from 9Ov-105v% to中国煤化工CNMHG17China Petroleum Processing and petrochemical technologyNo. 2 June 200610.0±20v%5 ConclusionsThe limit on other oxygen-containing compounds content ischanged from"non-detectable"to"a maximum of 0. 1m%". On March 17, 2005, The State Development and Reform ComThe prohibition of authorized addition of methanolmission announced that the extensive application of cthanolThe water content is changed from 0. 15m% to 2m%gasoline should start up in the provinces Heilongjiang, Jilin,Liaoning, Henan and anhui, as well as in some parts of HebeiA more dctailed comparison is presented in Table 2Shandong, Jiangsu and Hubei. The revised standard EthanolTable 2 main differences between the standards GB 18351-2001 and GB 18351-2004GB18351-2001GBI8351-200490RON I 93RON 95RON 9oRON 93RON95RON 97RONRON90+93≮95≮9597RON+MON285+88≮9≮85+88+ReportSulfur. m%0.101≯0.081)Water, m%a≯0.15牛0.20Ethanol. v90-10.510020Other oxygen-containing compounds, v%Non-detectable0.1Note: 1)The requirement for 0.08% s(by weight) has been effective in all regions of China starting from July 1, 2003Gasoline for Motor Vehicles will be tested through practice tensive Use of Ethanol Gasoline as Vehicle Fuel. Petroleumon application of ethanol gasoline.Products Application Research, 2003, 21(3): 1-4[3] Wang Jieqing Quality Analysis of Ethanol Gasoline andIts Blends. Thesis of China Petroleum Academy the 5th SymReferencesposium on Petroleum Refining. China Petrochemical Press[1] Wan Shenglong, Li Jun. The Recent Research and Appli- 2005: 647-652cation of Alcohol in Automotive Fuels in China and Foreign [4]Qiao Li, Yang Guoxun. Explanation of Automotive EthanolCountries. Petroleum Products Application Research, 2003, Gasoline Standard Petroleum Products Application Research,21(4.82003,21(3)43472]Qiao Yingbin. Speculation about Problems relating to exThe proposal on Construction of a1.0 Mt/a Ethylene Project at ZhenhaiRefining and Chemical Co. Approved bythe stateOn March 17, 2006 the State Development and reform Com- encompass a large ethylene unit and theermission officially delivered a letter on approval of the pro- plant expansion project. The major project includes ll proposal on construction of a 1.0 Mt/a ethylene project at duction units. THhe production units to be constructed willSINOPEC Zhenhai Refining and Chemical Co. Currently, the feature a large economic scale in contemporary world andpre-construction preparatory work for this project has been high degree of Chinese content, with the total investment infinished and the construction work will be commenced in this project amounting to more than 20 billion RMB2006. and will be finished in 2009. This ethylene project will中国煤化工8HCNMHG