2 DIESEL FUEL

Chemical properties

clear colourless or dyed liquid

The Uses of 2 DIESEL FUEL

Diesel fuel is used for diesel or semidiesel, high-speed engines requiring a type of fuel that has low viscosity and moderate volatility. The heavier grades are used for railroad and marine diesel engines.

Definition

2 DIESEL FUEL is a complex combination of hydrocarbons produced by the distillation of crude oil. It consists of hydrocarbons having carbon numbers predominantly in the range of C9 through C20 and boiling in the range of approximately 163.degree.C to 357.degree.C (325.degree.F to 675.degree.F).

General Description

Oily yellow-brown liquid. Less dense than water and insoluble in water. Hence floats on water.

Air & Water Reactions

Flammable. Insoluble in water.

Reactivity Profile

May be incompatible with strong oxidizing agents like nitric acid. Charring may occur followed by ignition of unreacted material and other nearby combustibles. In other settings, mostly unreactive. Not affected by aqueous solutions of acids, alkalis, most oxidizing agents, and most reducing agents. When heated sufficiently or when ignited in the presence of air, oxygen or strong oxidizing agents, burns exothermically to produce mostly carbon dioxide and water.

Health Hazard

INHALATION causes headache and slight giddiness. INGESTION causes nausea, vomiting, and cramping; depression of central nervous system ranging from mild headache to anesthesia, coma, and death; pulmonary irritation secondary to exhalation of solvent; signs of kidney and liver damage may be delayed. ASPIRATION causes severe lung irritation with coughing, gagging, dyspnea, substernal distress, and rapidly developing pulmonary edema; later, signs of bronchopneumonia and pneumonitis; acute onset of central nervous system excitement followed by depression.

Flammability and Explosibility

Non flammable

Safety Profile

Low toxicity by ingestion. A skin irritant. Questionable carcinogen. When heated to decomposition it emits acrid smoke and irritating vapors.