Which one of the following is known as cetane? (a) Hexadecane (b) Heptadecane (c) Octadecane (d) Nonadecane

Cetane is the common name for hexadecane, a straight-chain alkane hydrocarbon with the chemical formula C16H34 [2]. It consists of 16 carbon atoms and 34 hydrogen atoms [3]. In the context of fuel chemistry, hexadecane serves as a primary reference fuel for diesel engines. It is assigned a cetane number of 100 because it ignites very easily under compression, representing the high end of the ignition quality scale. Other alkanes like heptadecane (C17), octadecane (C18), and nonadecane (C19) follow the same homologous series formula (CnH2n+2) but are not referred to as cetane. Hexadecane is a colorless, hydrophobic liquid found naturally in some foods like black walnuts and is used extensively in laboratory and industrial standards for measuring ignition delay [3].

Sources

1. [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexadecane
2. [3] https://docs.nrel.gov/docs/fy17osti/67585.pdf