A number of tests are available to measure low temperature properties of fuels for diesel engines and to estimate their effect on vehicle low temperature operability. The most conservative measure of a fuel’s low temperature operability is Cloud Point. It is also a reasonable estimate of the low temperature operability limit of fuels that do not contain operability additives. The cloud point is defined as the temperature at which a cloud or a haze of wax crystals starts to appear in the fuel under the test conditions. These crystals can collect in filters and eventually lead to blockage of the fuel system. Fuel additives that improve low temperature operability usually have little impact on cloud point. These additives are used in diesel fuel to prevent agglomeration or modify these crystals in other ways to limit filter blockage.
A number of different manual and automatic options for performing this test have been developed.
The most commonly referred to cloud point test is the manual method (ASTM D2500). In this test, a sample is brought to a temperature at least 14°C above the expected cloud point and free moisture is removed. The sample is then poured into a test jar which is closed with a cork fitted with a thermometer measuring the sample temperature on the bottom of the jar.
The sample is cooled in a cooling bath maintained at a constant temperature (Figure 1) by placing the sample jar into a jacket that had previously been placed into the cooling bath to cool. The sample jar is not placed directly into the cooling bath. An air gap of about 5.5 mm is maintained between the outside of sample jar and the inside of the jacket through the use of a felt or cork disk on the bottom of the jacket and a gasket around the outside of the sample jar.