CPB30503- Petrochemicals & Petroleum Refining Technology

Experiment 4: Determination of Reid Vapor Pressure P a g e |1

1.1 OBJECTIVES

2. To determine the Reid vapor pressure of petroleum products

3. To compare the Reid vapor pressure of different petroleum products

2.0 SUMMARY

The objectives of this experiment is to determine the vapour pressure of petroleum

products and to compare the Reid vapour pressure of different petroleum products. Basically,
there are three types of oils that we used to differentiate the vapour pressure. They are
kerosene, petrol and lubricating oil. Meanwhile, the apparatus that was used to determine the
Reid vapour pressure was ASTM D323. The apparatus consist of two chambers which are the
vapour chamber (upper section) and liquid chamber (lower section), pressure gauge and
water bath. Each of the oil were poured into 3 different liquid chamber. When the water bath
reached 37.8C, the vapour pressure apparatus will be placed in the water bath. When the
reading is stable or 5 minutes only then we can take the pressure reading. This step is
performed for 3 times until 15 minutes to achieve the average pressure. Reid Vapour Pressure
is the method to test the measurement and volatility of crude oil and other petroleum
products. RVP is stated in kilopascal. Volatility is the property of a liquid fuel that defines its
evaporation characteristics where the volatility must be high enough to avoid vapor lock,
vaporization loses, air pollution and unsafe storage and handling. The average of RVP for
diesel, kerosene and petrol are 3.0 kPa, 2.3 kPa and 32.7 kPa, respectively. Petrol has the
highest RVP among these three petroleum products, followed by diesel and kerosene, where
kerosene has the lowest RVP. Petrol is a high volatile petroleum product that can vaporize
easily. Thus explained why it has the highest vapour pressure.(Pandey et al., 2004). But,
petrol has a lower viscosity. The lower the viscosity, the higher the RVP. As a conclusion, the
actual value obtained were different with expected RVP value from the theory. It is because
the device was worn out. Hence, does not producing an accurate result. Next, the petroleum
product that was contaminated and influenced the result.
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Experiment 4: Determination of Reid Vapor Pressure P a g e |2

3.0 INTRODUCTION AND THEORY

INTRODUCTION

In chemistry and physic study, volatility refers to the tendency of the

substance to vaporize at given temperature. Volatility is one of importance
characteristic which needed to be assure high enough for the usage. For automotive,
the volatility of fuel need to be acceptable for engine start-up, warm-up, acceleration
and throttle response under normal driving conditions. The substance with high vapor
pressure will vaporize more readily than the substances with low vapor pressure. So
the more volatile the substance will contribute to higher pressure of the vapor in
dynamic equilibrium with its vaporizing substance. The vapor pressure of a substance
is the pressure at which its gaseous phase is in equilibrium with its liquid or solid
phase. It is a measure of the tendency of molecules and atoms to escape from a liquid
or solid. There are two kind of device that can measure the volatility which is Reid
Vapor Pressure (RVP) and the other one is True Vapor Pressure (TVP). Reid Vapor
Pressure (RVP) is a testing method for crude oil, fuel, other refined petroleum
products, and petrochemicals in order to measures the vapor pressure of a substance
(EPA, 2016). RVP also can be defined as the absolute pressure exerted by a mixture,
can be determined 37.8oC and at a vapor to liquid ratio of 4. On the other hand, TVP
is a common measure of volatility of petroleum distillate fuels. It is defined as the
equilibrium of the vapor pressure with condensed phase at a specific temperature. The
different between RVP and TVP is that RVP is more convenient approximation of the
absolute vapor pressure that vaporized at 37.8oC compare to TVP. The main purposes
of this experiment are to determine the Reid vapour pressure of petroleum products
and to compare with another source. The Reid vapour pressure (RVP) was tested on
different types of oil which is petrol, kerosene and diesel in order to determine the
volatility of liquid hydrocarbons.

THEORY

Vapor pressure is very important physical property of volatile liquids. This is

because it is used to determine the vapor pressure at 37.8oC of petroleum products and
CPB30503- Petrochemicals & Petroleum Refining Technology
Experiment 4: Determination of Reid Vapor Pressure P a g e |3

crude oils at above 0oC initial boiling point. At atmospheric pressure, when the liquid
has reached its boiling point, the liquid changes its state from liquid to a gas through
its bulk and its called normal boiling point. The tendency of molecules to escape
from the liquid phase to gases phase depends on the temperature, vapor pressure and
volatility. The higher volatility and higher vapor pressure, will be low tendency of
molecule to escape its phase. Petroleum products are usually grouped into three
categories which are Light distillates (LPG, gasoline, naphtha), Middle distillates
(kerosene, diesel), and lastly Heavy distillates (heavy fuel oil, lubricating oils, wax,
asphalt) which result kerosene and diesel are classified under middle distillate and
petrol is light distillate. The classification of petroleum product distinguish the carbon
contain. Heavy distillate contains high number of carbon than the others. The lower
the number of carbon, which at the top of the fractionating column have lower boiling
points, which means the higher the vapour pressure and the higher volatility of a fuel
by increasing the temperature, which means a highly volatile fuel will vaporize more
at a faster rate than a fuel with a lower volatility. High volatile oil which are
petroleum product at top distillate tend to flame and explode easily than the fractions
at the bottom. The RVP for petrol is typically in the range from 40 to 60 kPa or 6 to 9
psia (Joseph E. Shepherd, 2007).

5.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSONS/ TUTORIAL

RESULTS

Table 1: The Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) of three different of petroleum products
CPB30503- Petrochemicals & Petroleum Refining Technology
Experiment 4: Determination of Reid Vapor Pressure P a g e |4

Time RVP (RVP) of petroleum products (kPa)

(min) Diesel Kerosene Petrol
5 2.8 2.2 32.7
10 3.1 2.4 32.7
15 3.1 2.4 32.6
Average 3.0 2.3 32.7

Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) of petroleum products (kPa) against time (min)
50.0

45.0

40.0

35.0

30.0
Diesel
25.0
Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) (kPa) Kerosene
20.0 Petrol
15.0

10.0

5.0

0.0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Time (min)

Figure 1: RVP (RVP) of petroleum products against time

DISCUSSIONS

Reid vapor pressure (RVP) test measures the pressure of a vapor and liquid mixture in
a closed chamber consist of two chamber of vapor and liquids chamber at one temperature of
37.8 C without first removing the air where it is the common measure of the volatility of
gasoline and defined as the absolute vapor pressure exerted by a liquid at 37.8 oC which
applies to volatile crude oil and volatile non-viscous petroleum liquids, except liquified
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Experiment 4: Determination of Reid Vapor Pressure P a g e |5

petroleum gases that have the ability to vaporize or change the phase from liquid to vapor
when exposed to heat or air at temperature above the boiling point of the petroleum products.
Volatility is the property of a liquid fuel that defines its evaporation characteristics where the
volatility must be high enough to avoid vapor lock, vaporization loses, air pollution and
unsafe storage and handling.

Based on this experiment of determination of RVP of petroleum products that has

been carried out, the main objective is to determine and compare RVP of three different
petroleum products where diesel, kerosene and petrol were tested to determine the volatility
of liquid hydrocarbons. The apparatus of RVP consist of two chambers of vapor and liquids
chamber, pressure gauges and water bath. The water bath was left for about 10 minutes to
reach the desired temperature of 37.8 C. This is because the functions of RVP experiment do
not eliminate air or water vapor from the samples but compares all petroleum products at 37.8
C. Next, the chambers of diesel, kerosene and petrol were set up and put into the water bath.
Then, the readings of RVP for diesel, kerosene and petrol were obtained from pressure digital
meter (kPa) and the readings were recorded for every 5 minutes interval of 5, 10, and 15
minutes until the readings are maintained at a fixed value. The average results are calculated
in order to get the accurate result for diesel, kerosene and petrol.

From the experiment, the readings of RVP for different petroleum products at 5min,
10 min and 15 min were tabulated. Based on Table 1, the RVP for diesel is 2.8 kPa, 3.1 kPa
and 3.1 kPa, while for kerosene, 2.2 kPa, 2.4 kPa and 2.4 kPa and 32.7 kPa, 32.7 kPa and
32.6 kPa for petrol. The average of RVP for diesel, kerosene and petrol are 3.0 kPa, 2.3 kPa
and 32.7 kPa, respectively.

From Figure 1, petrol has the highest RVP among these three petroleum products
which is 32.7 kPa, followed by diesel and kerosene which are 3.0 kPa and 2.3 kPa,
respectively, where kerosene has the lowest RVP. This is due to the higher the vapor pressure,
the higher volatility of the petroleum product by increasing the temperature. For a given
temperature, a highly volatile petroleum product will vaporize more readily at a faster rate
than a fuel with a lower volatility where a highly volatile fuel is more likely to form a
flammable or explosive mixture with air than a low volatile fuel (Pandey et al., 2004). Next,
petrol is more volatile than both diesel and kerosene because of the base constituents and the
additives that are put into it (Demirbas & Bamufleh, 2017). In addition, the viscosity of petrol
is lower than diesel and kerosene. This is due to the lower the viscosity, the higher the RVP
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(Mukov et al., 2014). In contrast, both diesel and kerosene have a high viscosity where it
can vaporize easily and resulted to have low RVP.

By using of RVP test, it allows petroleum engineers to compare different petroleum

products and also to show the effects of performance additives (Riazi, 2005). This test also
measures the potential impact of source of oil on engine performance. In addition, RVP is a
first test or analysis to define the optimal condition and nature of the feedstock (Rd, 2014).
Petroleum products are usually grouped into three categories which are light distillates (LPG,
gasoline, naphtha), middle distillates (kerosene, diesel), and heavy distillates (heavy fuel oil,
lubricating oils, wax, asphalt). This classification is based on the way crude oil is distilled and
separated into fractions. Kerosene and diesel are classified under middle distillate which has
10 to14 number of carbon for kerosene and 14 to 20 carbons for diesel. While, petrol is such
type of heavy fuel oil which contain 20 to 70 carbon contain. The higher the number of
carbon, which at the top of the fractionating column have lower boiling points, which means
on the earlier statement easier to flame and explode than the fractions at the bottom.

Based on the study by Shepherd & Perez (2008),the RVP is a way to measure how
quickly petroleum products evaporate, to determine the gasoline and other petroleum
products blends where the higher the RVP, the faster the evaporation of petroleum products
where more faster petroleum products evaporates, the more harm to the ozone layer. The
expected RVP for diesel is less than 1.38 kPa, less than 0.28 kPa for kerosene while RVP of
petrol is typically in the range from 40 to 60 kPa (Shepherd & Perez, 2008).

Thus, it can be seen that the actual value obtained through the experiment for all
petroleum products of diesel, kerosene and petrol were slightly different with expected RVP
value that were obtained from theory. The slight difference occurred may be because of the
accuracy measurement device was not quite accurate and apparatus was old and harmed.
There must be some leakage while assemble the liquid chamber to the vapor chamber so it
will disturb the volatility of the fuel. Next, the errors might be because of these three
petroleum products was not mixed properly before being used and tested. Then, even though
these petroleum products being mixed and stirred during the experiment test but the
petroleum products used were from recycle where there was might be some impurities and
the diesel was contaminated and there was sediment at bottom of diesel container.
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The recommendation for the future improvement is the petroleum products used must
be the new ones, changes for every test and it must be stirred properly before being used.
Then, the equipment must be checked and test before running the experiment to avoid
systematic errors (errors caused by equipment or machine). Last but not least, the time taken
must be accurate where the readings of the RVP must be taken at constant time interval.

TUTORIAL

1. What is the difference between Reid Vapour Pressure (RVP) ad True Vapour Pressure
(TVP)?
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Experiment 4: Determination of Reid Vapor Pressure P a g e |8

Reid vapour pressure (RVP) measures the vapour pressure, volatile crude oil,
and other volatile petroleum products, except for liquefied petroleum gases. It is
defined as the absolute vapour pressure exerted by a liquid (water bath) at 37.8 C.
While true vapor pressure (TVP) is a common measure of the volatility of petroleum
distillate fuels. It is defined as the equilibrium partial pressure exerted by a volatile
organic liquid as a function of temperature.

2. Discuss the relationship of Reid Vapour Pressure (RVP) between diesel, kerosene,
petrol and lubricating oil.

The higher the vapour pressure, the higher volatility of the petroleum product
by increasing the temperature. Highly volatile petroleum product will vaporize more
readily at a faster rate than a fuel with a lower volatility where a highly volatile fuel is
more likely to form a flammable or explosive mixture with air than a low volatile fuel.

3. Discuss the effects of Reid Vapour Pressure (RVP) on engine performance.

If the Reid Vapour Pressure (RVP) is high, the fuels has a high tendency to
vaporize easily. This is also related to the volatility. Reid vapour pressure measures
the vapour pressure at (100 F). As mentioned earlier, the higher vapour pressure
causes the more fuel to vaporize quickly, and reduce the engine performance and
efficiency by damaging the pistons and also improper combustion.

6.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

CONCLUSION
This experiment was conducted in order to fulfil the objective which to
determine and compare the RVP (Reid vapour pressure) of three different petroleum
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Experiment 4: Determination of Reid Vapor Pressure P a g e |9

products which are diesel, kerosene and also petrol. This experiment also want to
study about the volatility of liquid hydrocarbons. Basically, this experiment was
conducted at temperature of 37.8C inside the water bath. From the result obtained, it
was confirmed that petrol have the highest average RVP value which are 32.7 kPa
followed by diesel which are 3.0 kPa and lastly is kerosene which are 2.3 kPa. The
theory behind the result are actually the volatility of the petroleum product. It was
said that the vapour pressure was affected by the level of volatility. The higher the
vapour pressure the higher the volatility of the petroleum product by increasing the
temperature. This can be explained by a highly volatile petroleum product will
vaporize at a faster rate compare to low volatile fuel. The RVP value also were said to
be inversely proportional to the viscosity. Higher the viscosity, lower The RVP value
it will be. Although the value from the experiment were slightly different from the
theoretical value, this experiment was said to be successful.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The result that were obtained from this experiment was slightly different from
the theoretical value due to some obstacles and error that occur during the experiment.
First problem that has been identified was the measurement device was not quite
accurate and the apparatus was old and harmed. In other to encounter this problem,
the suitable recommendation is that the person in charge of the apparatus should do
the maintenance towards the machine more frequently so that even the machine is old
but the performance of the machine can be maintained. Besides that, the result also
being affected by the leakage while assembling the liquid chamber to the vapour
chamber which disturb the volatility of the fuel. In other to improve the accuracy of
the result, students should ensure the chamber is really closed in order to avoid any
leakage that could occur. The leakage can be detected as the bubble presence around
the surface of the chamber which confirm that there is leakage presence. Furthermore,
in order to ensure this experiment run smoothly, students should read and study the
manual in order to operate the machine. This steps can reduce the time taken to set up
the machine and more effective. Students also should ask for the technician helps if
there are any problems that occur.
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Experiment 4: Determination of Reid Vapor Pressure P a g e | 10

7.0 REFERENCES

Demirbas, A., & Bamufleh, H. S. (2017). Petroleum Science and Technology Optimization of
crude oil refining products to valuable fuel blends Optimization of crude oil refining products
to valuable fuel blends. Petroleum Science and Technology, 35(4), 406412.
https://doi.org/10.1080/10916466.2016.1261162
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Experiment 4: Determination of Reid Vapor Pressure P a g e | 11

Mukov, Z., imek, P., Pospil, M., ebor, G., D, Z. M., I, P. ., ebor, G. (2014).
Density , Viscosity and Water Phase Stability of 1-Butanol-Gasoline Blends. Journal of
Fuels, 2014, 18. Retrieved from http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jfu/2014/459287/abs/

Pandey, S. C., Ralli, D. K., Saxena, A. K., & Alamkhan, W. K. (2004). Physicochemical
characterization and applications of naphtha. Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research,
63(March), 276282.

Rd, B. (2014). Refinery Intermediate Product Literature Review, (582).

Riazi, M. R. (2005). Characterization and Properties of Petroleum Fractions. Statewide

Agricultural Land Use Baseline 2015. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004

Shepherd, J. E., & Perez, F. A. (2008). Kerosene lamps and cookstoves-The hazards of
gasoline contamination. Fire Safety Journal, 43(3), 171179.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2007.08.001

8.0 APPENDICES