A Literature review on fuel stability studies with particular emphasis on diesel oil

This paper reviews the research that has been reported up to the end of 1988 on the stability of liquid fuels. The emphasis in this review is to develop an understanding of the principal factors that control the stability of liquid fuels, particularly diesel fuels. The problem of instability in fuels is becoming of increasing concern and is likely to become exacerbated with the development of alternative fuel sources such as synfuels from shale, coal, and tar sand. Details of the chemical nature of the degradation products, the mechanism by which they are formed, the specific agents responsible for their formation, the methods of control the stability by specific processing or treatment, and characterization or testing methods can be found in published works and it is the aim of this paper to review this literature.