What is petrol?
In the United States to say "what is petrol?" is a legitimate question, since it's a term not readily used. In most British Commonwealth countries except for Canada, however, the question "What is petrol?" might brand you as a foreigner in the country.
Petrol is a short term for "petroleum spirits" and is used in the same way that people in the United States and Canada use the term "gas" for "gasoline". The question stated "What is petrol?" would be understood as "What is gasoline?" in the U.S. The word ‘petrol' was registered as early as 1892 in Great Britain as a trade name by British wholesalers Carless, Capel & Leonard and was used in reference to the refined product. Although petrol was never registered as a trademark, other distributors used the term Motor Spirits until the 1930's. At one time Petrol was a brand name of a treatment for head lice. The danger of fire and of dermatitis eliminated this use for petrol.
Petrol or gasoline is a petroleum-derived liquid mixture of hydrocarbons, benzene and iso-octanes, which form the fuel in internal combustion engines. This does not include diesel fuel or liquid petroleum gas.
To describe what petrol is chemically, you could provide the chemical formula for one or more hydrocarbon molecules along with additives, whichs help the performance of the fuel. Most hydrocarbon molecules contain between 5 and 15 carbon atoms for each molecule, arranged in sometimes intricate patterns including straight line, branched and single and double rings. Many of the hydrocarbons in gasoline are actually considered hazardous substances, including benzene, toluene, naphthalene and trimethylbenzene. These various additional hydrocarbons must be added to the distilled or straight run petrol for effective performance.
Even though one would think petrol was pretty standard, at least in a particular refinery, in fact, each batch of the fuel is likely to be slightly different in make-up and performance. The crude oil that the petrol was derived from and the grade of petrol can make a tremendous difference in the chemical composition. The determination of what petrol is can thus vary slightly even in one day.
Many countries are tightening the limits of petrol aromatics such as benzene and the olefin contact. This is forcing refineries to tighten up their quality control processes and also to change processing steps in order to reduce the content of benzene.
Petrol may also have organic ethers added deliberately. On the other hand petroleum distillers do not want contaminants such as sulfur compounds in the petrol as this may corrode the engine. Petrol used for aviation fuel has a different mixture of hydrocarbons than does that of automobile fuel.
The United Kingdom is well down the list of petrol consumption by country, with a usage of 1,722,000,000 per day, compared to consumption for the U.S. 20,030,000 daily usage
Since over 84 percent of petrol is used for fuel of internal combustion engines, the other 16 percent is used in the production of plastics and other non-fuel products.
Petrol is a short term for "petroleum spirits" and is used in the same way that people in the United States and Canada use the term "gas" for "gasoline". The question stated "What is petrol?" would be understood as "What is gasoline?" in the U.S. The word ‘petrol' was registered as early as 1892 in Great Britain as a trade name by British wholesalers Carless, Capel & Leonard and was used in reference to the refined product. Although petrol was never registered as a trademark, other distributors used the term Motor Spirits until the 1930's. At one time Petrol was a brand name of a treatment for head lice. The danger of fire and of dermatitis eliminated this use for petrol.
Petrol or gasoline is a petroleum-derived liquid mixture of hydrocarbons, benzene and iso-octanes, which form the fuel in internal combustion engines. This does not include diesel fuel or liquid petroleum gas.
To describe what petrol is chemically, you could provide the chemical formula for one or more hydrocarbon molecules along with additives, whichs help the performance of the fuel. Most hydrocarbon molecules contain between 5 and 15 carbon atoms for each molecule, arranged in sometimes intricate patterns including straight line, branched and single and double rings. Many of the hydrocarbons in gasoline are actually considered hazardous substances, including benzene, toluene, naphthalene and trimethylbenzene. These various additional hydrocarbons must be added to the distilled or straight run petrol for effective performance.
Even though one would think petrol was pretty standard, at least in a particular refinery, in fact, each batch of the fuel is likely to be slightly different in make-up and performance. The crude oil that the petrol was derived from and the grade of petrol can make a tremendous difference in the chemical composition. The determination of what petrol is can thus vary slightly even in one day.
Many countries are tightening the limits of petrol aromatics such as benzene and the olefin contact. This is forcing refineries to tighten up their quality control processes and also to change processing steps in order to reduce the content of benzene.
Petrol may also have organic ethers added deliberately. On the other hand petroleum distillers do not want contaminants such as sulfur compounds in the petrol as this may corrode the engine. Petrol used for aviation fuel has a different mixture of hydrocarbons than does that of automobile fuel.
The United Kingdom is well down the list of petrol consumption by country, with a usage of 1,722,000,000 per day, compared to consumption for the U.S. 20,030,000 daily usage
Since over 84 percent of petrol is used for fuel of internal combustion engines, the other 16 percent is used in the production of plastics and other non-fuel products.
