[Vwdiesel] NPR: Carmakers revamp diesels as clean machines

[Roger Brown]

Kurt Nolte wrote:
> Stephen Kraus wrote:
>> They also sported a few less than true facts, such as diesel taking 
>> more to
>> make (my understanding was that it takes less oil to make as diesel is
>> almost crude) And diesel can practically run crude oil can they not?
> 
> No, they can't. Not our diesels (or any automotive diesel, even the 
> fabled Mercedes of old) at any rate. Crude oil is simply too viscous to 
> be pushed through our injection systems. Crude can be burned in a diesel 
> designed to take it, same as "bunker" oil that heavy ships burn, but 
> just any old diesel would choke and die in short order.

Depends on the crude.  I once worked in a lab that was doing chemical analysis for some 
syn-fuel research program (late '70s).  They had a wall full of 100's of bottles of crude 
oil from all over the world that were used for test standards.  Some of those crude 
samples from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia looked and smelled almost like diesel.  They were 
crystal clear, slight amber color and much thinner than even cooking oil, amazing stuff. 
On the other hand, some of the samples from other places were so thick and black that you 
needed to scoop samples out of the bottle with a scraper, it would not pour at room 
temperature.

-- 

   Roger