Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel, invented the ‘Diesel’ engine.

Diesel: the names comes from Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel (18 March 1858 – 29 September 1913).

Gas oil/diesel oil: did you know….?? 

Diesel: the names comes from Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel (18 March 1858 – 29 September 1913). He was a French born/German inventor and mechanical engineer who invented the ‘Diesel’ engine, which burns gas oil or: ‘Diesel’ fuel.

A diesel engine is typically a 4-stroke internal combustion engine

The diesel engine in a car, bus or truck is typically a 4-stroke internal combustion engine, however larger diesel engines in ships burning heavy fuel oil are likely running a 2-stroke cycle. The diesel engine is an auto-ignition engine, meaning that the fuel is not ignited by means of a spark (like a gasoline/petrol engine), but by means of a so called spontaneous auto-ignition of the fuel. The high compression of the intake air in the engine during the compression cycle results in the high temperature of the compressed air acting as the auto-ignition source for the fuel.

The combustion quality of the gas oil/diesel oil fuel is based on the time delay between the injection of the fuel, and the start of the ignition. This is expresses as cetane number. A shorter delay produces a higher cetane number and vice versa. 

The cetane number is measured in a standardised test engine, the CFR Cetane Number engine, using two reference fuels: n-cetane, a good paraffinic gas oil/diesel oil fuel component (cetane number: 100) and methyl naphthalene, a poor quality aromatic gas oil/diesel oil fuel component (cetane number: 0). Next to the cetane number, a diesel engine test method, the calculated cetane index (CCI) is also available as a reference for the ignition quality of gas oil/diesel oil fuels.