` Improved normal gasoline specifications by adding high-octane number gasoline at (NRC) Baiji

	Al-Noor Journal for Oil and Gas
	https://jnog.alnoor.edu.iq/
` Improved normal gasoline specifications by adding high-octane number gasoline at (NRC) Baiji
M A. Abdulqader1  OA Habeeb2  H A Mahdi3   A M Saleh4,  NM Saleh5
1 Oil Products Distribution Company, (OPDC) Western Authority, Tikrit, Ministry of Oil, Iraq 2 North Refineries Company Baiji (NRC), Ministry of Oil, Iraq3 School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University Technology MARA, Shah Alam, Selangor, 40450, Malaysia4 Renewable Energy Research Unit, Alhawija Technical Institute, Northern Technical University, Mosel, Iraq 5 AL-Hawija Technical Institute, Northern Technical University, Mosel, Iraq
Article information			Abstract
Article history: Received 15 October, 2024 Revised 11 December, 2024 Accepted 11 April, 2025			The aim of this work was to the improvement of regular gasoline specifications by adding high-octane gasoline, then found the mixing ratio to ensure accuracy in the desired octane number. Three samples of gasoline were used (regular gasoline, premium gasoline, super gasoline). The tests were conducted of them by finding its octane number, density, and distillation after and before the addition processes. Moreover, laboratory test results showed that the octane number results before addition were reached 79, 97 and 82 normal gasoline, super gasoline, and premium gasoline, respectively. The results also showed that adding 7500 m3 of super to 30000 m3 of regular resulted in a mixture with an octane number of 82 and an amount of 37000 m3, which indicates the effectiveness of the mixing process. The results recommend the NRC Baiji to adding these amounts to make sure gasoline quality
Keywords: Naphtharegular gasoline premium gasoline, super gasoline  octane number
Correspondence: M A. Abdulqader [email protected]
DOI:                              ©Authors, 2025, College of Engineer, Alnoor University. This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

 

 Introduction

 

The fuel octane number influences the fuel consumption and emission characteristics of vehicles equipped with spark-ignition engines. An assessment of the impact of commercial types of gasoline with varied research octane numbers (RON) on a vehicle's performance can provide significant insights and guidance for future engine and fuel design [1]. The octane rating is the most often used metric for determining the autoignition quality

 

of a fuel. The octane rating is a standard assessment of fuel's autoignition resistance that has been used for decades to assess the fuel's appropriateness for avoiding knocking in SI engines. Traditionally, two separate octane ratings have been employed to assess the anti-knock property of a fuel: the Research Octane  Number (RON) and the Motor Octane Number (MON) [2]. Gasoline is a volatile, flammable liquid   hydrocarbon mixture

derived mostly from the refining of petroleum. The majority of gasoline is  used as fuel in spark-ignition engines, which primarily power automobiles and certain airplanes. Gasoline qualities that affect engine performance include volatility (Reid vapor pressure), octane number, and heat content. Reid vapor pressure (RVP) is one of the gasoline specifications that affect engine performance. Reformulated gasoline rules now protect the environment by minimizing smog precursors and prohibiting tetraethyl lead (TEL) [3].

Liquid hydrocarbons are commonly utilized as fuel in internal combustion engines because of their high volumetric energy density and simplicity of handling, storage, and transport. Gasoline is the most popular fuel for light-duty vehicles and passenger cars. The research octane number (RON), among other vehicle ignition-related qualities, is a key indicator of the quality of light-duty automobile fuels. Because measuring RON is expensive and time-consuming, an alternative cost-effective engine grading approach, such as machine learning, is sought. However, there is a notable nonlinear relationship between the physicochemical qualities of gasoline ingredients and the fuel's RON. The fuel octane number has long been used to indicate the anti-knock performance of gasoline [4].  However, whether octane numbers could capture the real knocking combustion process in practical engines remains unknown [5]. Historically, gasoline knock resistance (or conversely, auto-ignition propensity) has been described by the research octane number (RON) and the motor octane number (MON) [6]. It has since been shown that octane number does not adequately describe knock resistance in modern SI engines [7]. However, the octane index has been implemented as a practical means to utilize RON and MON as well as engine operating parameters to define a more accurate definition of the in the modern SI. The determination of the octane number plays a major role in quantifying the quality of gasoline. The standard method, the international standard ASTM-CFR internal combustion engine, used for this purpose suffers from its high cost and time. Many algorithms have been developed to address the limitations of this method, taking advantage of infrared spectroscopy, which provides easily measurable parameters that can be used to predict the octane number [8].In recent years, gasoline fuel is considered one of the most important fuels in the world, so its specifications have been improved by raising the octane number by adding improvers. However, some of these improvements have been banned internationally and have not been implemented for nearly a decade. However, the alternatives are still few and useless, and the only solution remains to produce high-octane fuel by hardening the operating conditions in the distillation towers and monitoring the efficiency of their work to ensure the production of high-quality fuel. Internal combustion engines need high-quality fuel in order to operate and provide services. Gasoline fuel burns, releasing carbon dioxide gas, which in turn will contribute to environmental pollution [9]. The Northern Biggie Refineries Company produces low-quality gasoline (low octane number gasoline) and it cannot be sold in local markets because it causes environmental pollution, which prompted researchers to find an alternative fuel that included mixing imported gasoline (high-octane number gasoline) with local gasoline in order to improve its quality, which will ignite by leaving a smaller percentage of carbon dioxide gas. Thus, we have contributed to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, contributing to preserving the environment and creating a green environment. To achieve the aim of this study the scope and limitation of this study it was focused on the limitations of this study required improving the specifications of regular gasoline and premium gasoline based on the octane number only, not studying other specifications such as density and distillation points, because the octane number is the ruling test at North Refineries Company (NRC) Baiji. This study will be of great importance in terms of the accuracy of the results, specifically in the warehouse department and the laboratory and quality control department in the North Refineries Company (NRC) Baiji. Therefore, this study will avoid random mixing ratios and the resulting negative consequences such as a decrease in the mass number or vice versa [10]. It will also save time and increase the profits of North Refineries Company (NRC) Baiji. The main objectives of this research are to rid the mixing of light naphtha produced from Baiji refineries with imported high-octane gasoline according to pre-studied proportions to production of normal gasoline fuel. Moreover, this study focused on the improvement of regular gasoline specifications by adding high-octane gasoline, then investigation the mixing ratio to ensure accuracy in the desired octane number.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Materials and methods

2.1 Gasoline samples preparation

The gasoline samples sample were brought from north refineries company NRC Baiji as a material employed in this work. Table 1 shown  the materials were subjected in this reserch, such as regular gasoline sample (local prodact), super gasoline (imported product).

2.2 Materials and methods

 

In this research were found the physical properties of gasoline products (regular and super). This study included taking samples from products (kerosene and gas oil), and specifications were calculated. Moreover, the specifications and octane number calculating after and before addition processes at Baiji refinery, the (Alsumod refinery). The instruments were used in this experiment to improve the local gasoline sample has low octane at NRC Baiji via mixing high and low octane number gasoline fuel as listed in Table 2, tanks of gasoline and CFR machine. Laboratory tests were conducted on petroleum products at the laboratory of the Oil Products Distribution Company, Western Authority, Salahuddin branch (OPDC). The physical properties of gasoline samples (regular and super) were investigated. These laboratories testes included specific gravity (sp.gr) was carried out according to ASTM D 4052 [11] and distillation according to ASTM D86  [12]. However, the distillation test included (initial boiling point (I.B.P), end boiling point (E.B.P) total distillation (T.D), residue volume ml, and loss volume ml).

    2.3 Calculations processes

    The additions processes were calculated to verify the octane number to be reached. The octane number of regular gasoline fuel (lower than 82) was increased by adding a super gasoline fuel (more than 82) to raise the octane number during the Equation 1.

 

 

 

(1)

 

When:

82 is a constant number.

RON Lower is a lower octane number fuel (regular).

RON Higher is a higher-octane number fuel (premium).

Q is a quantity of fuel before addition process (regular).

Table 1: Materials were use in this study

 

Products	Octane number	Source
Regular gasoline	79	Local product
Super gasoline	97	Imported product

 

Table 2: Insrumens were use in this study 

Instruments	Function	Source
Cylinder	Sp.gr test	NRC Baiji
Thermometer	Sp.gr test	NRC Baiji
Hydrometer	Sp.gr test	NRC Baiji
Zeltex	Octane number tester	NRC Baiji

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1 : The CFR machine was used in this study                                Figure 2: Spiscific gravity test of

 

Results and discussions

Improvement of specific gravity

       Table 3 shows the specific gravity of regular gasoline was (0.7400) before the addition process for regular to premium gasoline, the specific gravity of regular gasoline was (0.7100) [13]. Conversely, the new product gasoline has a specific gravity (0.7200). This means the Sp.gr has been improved, it will be use as a better fuel. Gasoline consists of various hydrocarbon components such as alkanes, olefins, aromatics, paraffins, and naphthalene, with boiling points ranging from 60 to 200 °C [14]. The specialty of gasoline lies in its various constituent components so that its physicochemical properties vary widely [15]. Gasoline is a type of fossil fuel used for an internal combustion engine (ICE) as well as a spark-ignition engine [16].

     3.2 Improvement of octane number

     The octane number of gasoline fuel was investigated as in Table 4.  The quantity (30000 m³) of the regular low octane number local gasoline product reached (79) was Developed ro to the high-octane number according to the equation (1) by adding the (7500 m³) of the regular gasoline reached with octane number of (94) then total amount be (37500 m³) as shown in Table 4 [17]. The octane number has been enhancing from 79 to 82 during adding processes which clearly that the fuel will be borne with release small amount of CO₂ imitation [10].

3.3 Improvement of distillation tests

       Table 5 shows the results of the distillation test for the gasoline product before addition, as well as the high-octane gasoline product. Table 5 shown the improvement in the specifications, especially in the initial boiling point and final boiling point, which shows a noticeable improvement in the quality of the product [18]. The results showed the initial boiling point (I.B.P) was improves from 58 to 62 and 64 °C regular gasoline, premium gasoline and super gasoline respectively [19]. The end boiling point (E.B.P) was also improved this finding means the gasoline fuel was enhanced via adding processes [20]

 

 

Table 4: Gasoline quantities, specific gravity and octane number

 

Gasoline fuel	Quantity m3	Sp.gr	Octane number
Regular gasoline	30000	0.7400	79
Super gasoline	7500	0.7100	97
Premium gasoline	37500	0.7200	82

Table 5: Distillation tests of regular, premium, and super gasoline

 

Distillation	Regular gasoline	Premium gasoline	Super gasoline
I.B.P  °C	58	62	64
5%	77	79	77
10%	85	88	85
20%	93	100	99
30%	100	125	115
40%	120	130	125
50%	125	140	135
60%	130	155	150
70%	150	170	165
80%	170	185	180
90%	174	190	188
95%	188	200	198
E.B.P °C	201	210	205
T.D%	98 ml	98	98
Res %	1.8 ml	0.7	0.5
Loss%	0.2 ml	0.3	0.5

   

 

Figures 3, 4, and 5 show the current results of regular  not affected by a visible effect, which indicates the effectiveness

    of the mixing and addition processes. Therefore, mixing gasoline and improving its specifications was a successful mixing [22].  gasoline premium, gasoline, and super gasoline products and the differences among them. These results showed the specification of gasoline products and distillation results [21].The results of the distillation test showed that they were  

 

Figure 3:Disitillation test of regular gasoline fuel                            Figure 4: Distillation test of primimum gasoline

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 5: Distillation test of super gasoline fuel results of this research

 

 

 

4. Conclusion

   In this study have been discussed the effect of the addition of high-octane number fuel to low octane number fuel at (NRC) baiji was successful. This research will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by improving fuel quality and reducing knocking, thus maintaining a green environment. Through the results and laboratory tests dealt with in this study, we recommend were verifying the specifications of locally produced gasoline and imported gasoline. It is necessary to follow the mixing method used in this research. Checking the octane number of the fuel produced after mixing and comparing it.

5. Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank the Oil Products Distribution Company (OPDC), Salahuldeen Branch to support this research. The authors would like to thank Hussain Talib Abood, General Director of (OPDC). The authors would like to express their appreciation to Eng. Adnan A. Khalaf, Head of Salahuldeen Branch (OPDC).

 

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