How long does gasoline "keep"?

[headborg 1]

i need to know...if production was to stop and the only supply of gasoline around the country was that which is in the tanks.......how long before it "varnishes" or goes bad? and what could be done to make it usable again?

[Krissy Phaserman 0]

I didn't find an expiration date, but it does go bad.

 

Stability

 

Yes, Gasoline does have an expiration date. When gasoline is stored, gums will form, the result of copper-catalyzed reactions of the unsaturated HCs. Antioxidants and metal deactivators are added to slow this down, but after six months the fuel has degraded enough to be no longer good for use. Another problem with gasoline aging is many of the performance and octane additives such as aromatic hydrocarbons evaporate and leave a fuel that delivers less performance than fresh fuel.

Edited September 16, 2004 by Krissy Phaserman

[headborg 1]

thank you Krissy

[VaBeachGuy 12]

I don't know an exact answer for this either but I can tell you this, it's best not to keep it for extended peroids of time (A year or longer) especially if you keep it in the device or vehicle that uses it. The additives that it was refined with till begin to gum up and will completely clog up the fuel lines.

 

There are additives (STP) that you can add to it to help it keep longer though.

[headborg 1]

Thanks guys...I guess the Road Warrior Films...didn't take these facts into account, I was wondering...I left some in a chain saw one time...... :wacko:

[ussacclaim 0]

How about filling your vehicle's gasoline tank? Should you let it get pretty low to get rid of most of the old stuff?

[BlueCrystal 0]

I ask my husband this question. Daniel drives a fuel hauler for a living. Currently he delivers disel fuel to truck stops but before that he resupplied gasoline stations. My husband response is that gasoline is good for a year after that you had to dispose of it and nothing you do to it can make it reusable after it gets that old. I hope this helps.

[BlueCrystal 0]

In speaking further to Daniel I've learn that gasoline with any additives in it such as alcohol tend to breakdown far sooner and is only good for around 90 days but is suppose to burn cleaner.

[headborg 1]

In speaking further to Daniel I've learn that gasoline with any additives in it such as alcohol tend to breakdown far sooner and is only good for around 90 days but is suppose to burn cleaner.

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WOW ...Thanks......ok so what does he say about Diesel? how about kerosene? isn't gasoline made from straining or filtering kerosene? This makes my story I'm writing really tough..no automobiles after a year, and the power grid down after just 6 months.

[Yillara Skye 1]

Here is a little bit of information on Petroleum compounds in general.

Composition

The component chemicals of petroleum are separated by distillation. Products based on refined crude oil include kerosene, benzene, gasoline, paraffin wax, asphalt, etc.

 

Strictly speaking, petroleum consists entirely of aliphatic hydrocarbons, those composed of nothing but hydrogen and carbon.

 

The four lightest hydrocarbons — CH4 (methane), C2H6 (ethane), C3H8 (propane) and C4H10 (butane) — are all gases, boiling at -107°C, -67°C, -43°C, and -18°C, respectively (-161°, -88°, -46°, and -1° degrees F).

 

The chains in the C5-7 range are all light, easily vaporized, clear naphthas. They are used as solvents, dry cleaning fluids, and other quick-drying products. The chains from C6H14 through C12H26 are blended together and used for gasoline. Kerosene is made up of chains in the C10 to C15 range, followed by diesel fuel/heating oil (C10 to C20) and heavier fuel oils as the ones used in ship engines. These petroleum compounds are all liquid at room temperature.

 

Lubricating oils and semi-solid greases (including Vaseline®) range from C16 up to C20.

 

Chains above C20 form solids, starting with paraffin wax, then tar and asphaltic bitumen.

I am sorry if some of the information in the quote above is confusing for some people.

Basically there are ranges of Hydrocarbon compounds that are blended to create gasoline, then a different grouping that make kerosene, and yet another to make Diesel, and Vaseline(and stuff like it) contains some of the longest carbon chains.

THese numbers do overlap, so a compound used to make one, may be used to make another

 

Actually, this is a pretty good thread headborg. Since I was looking up the constants of boiling point, density, etc on various chemicals that I had tested for a lab report (in other words...perfect timing). In this lab we were testing various hydrocarbons, including white gasoline, napthalene(read as: mothballs), toluene, etc (including setting most of them on fire to test for how clean they burn). The length of time gasoline can keep was one of the questions raised by one of my classmates. THe answer was the same as the ones already posted: one year.

 

  In speaking further to Daniel I've learn that gasoline with any additives in it such as alcohol tend to breakdown far sooner

He is correct. The alcohol (Ethanol) affects the general make up of the gasoline compound. Ethanol will cause the gas to burn cleaner, as he had said...mainly because ethanol by itself is a clean burning chemical.

 

Looking up sites concerning this, I came across this site which might help telling the differences between chemicals for any interested.

What is the difference between...

 

 

Here are a couple other links taht might help

Long time storage

Gas/diesel storage

Edited September 18, 2004 by Yillara_Soong

[headborg 1]

WOW thank you...so how hard would it be to refine down the heavier Oils say in small quanity( in a survival scenario) to keep small generators running....so VGB and the other mods could keep the servers up and running...assuming to communications and web could be kept up?

[Yillara Skye 1]

WOW thank you...so how hard would it be to refine down the heavier Oils say in  small quanity( in a survival scenario) to keep small generators running....so VGB and the other mods could keep the servers up and running...assuming to communications and web could be kept up?

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Actually, I was reading about the fact that in one episode of Mr. Wizard he actually showed how to refine oil from its crude base (I have watched quite a few episodes, but never saw this one though). However, the people that did the article on this website say that one should not attempt to do such a thing. That is unless, you had a lot of experience in the petrol business, and had have a chemical engineering degree. So, my best bet is that it would not be particularly something someone could safely do in their backyards...even in a scenario where there is no power and gasoline runs out.

 

This is the link that I had read this on.

Ask A Scientist

Edited September 18, 2004 by Yillara_Soong