While diesel was and still is the most sought after fuel used to propel high capacity vehicles like trucks and buses, its demand in passenger car segment has seen a sharp rise in the last decade. Although gasoline and diesel both are considered as standard fuels, in comparison, the benefits of diesel cannot be overlooked. The continuous rising fuel costs and rising environmental concerns have made many countries take steps to make the optimum use of diesel engine and its technology to act as a saviour.
Diesel fuel can only be used in a diesel engine. A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that works on the principle of compression ignition. In compression ignition the air is taken in the compression chamber and is compressed to such a high pressure that the temperature inside the compression chamber rises to exponential levels. The fuel, when injected into the compression chamber causes the fuel to self ignite because of the high temperature of the air inside the chamber; this ignition is the force behind a moving car.
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In today’s world, diesel engines are far more advanced, powerful and fuel efficient than those that were found on the road some time back. The use of technologies like TDI (Turbocharged Direct Injection) and CRDI (Common Rail Direct Injection) have helped diesel engines take a giant leap towards lesser emissions and lower noise levels along with a much needed refinement.
The most important benefit of a diesel engine lies in its capability to generate much more power in the same amount of gasoline spent. Diesel allows a vehicle to travel a distance that is 30 more as compared to a gasoline powered vehicle. Energy content in diesel is higher as compared to diesel; this makes the engine output of diesel better than gasoline. Thus, cars which run on diesel use less fuel and emit fewer pollutants in the air then gasoline.
Traditionally diesel engines were synonymous to noisier engines, but because of much research and development done in this area to create better diesel engines, modern diesel engines are so quiet that they are virtually unrecognisable from the inside of the car. In addition diesel engines can easily be changed to engines running on bio diesel or recycled cooking oil. Usually build to handle increased pressure, a diesel engine is at least 10 more fuel efficient then a gasoline counterpart. Recent popularity of diesel engines are largely credited to rising gasoline costs and interestingly in Europe where gasoline costs are comparatively higher, 40 of the total cars sold each year are diesel powered cars which comes to around 5 million cars in a year.
Though diesel engines have a long way, one must note that in spite of advanced diesel engines which facilitate less carbon dioxide emissions, diesel engines are not free from smog and toxic particulates commonly known as soot. The soot levels that the modern diesel engines produce are still higher than the levels produced by gasoline engines. However, the future of diesel fuel largely depends on its ability to be looked as a long term solution to real world emission problems and long term reduction of pollution.
