What is Winter Diesel?

What is Winter Diesel?

• Winter diesel is a specialized fuel that was introduced by Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. last year specifically for high altitude regions and low-temperature regions such as Ladakh, where ordinary diesel can become unusable.
  
• Regular diesel contains paraffin wax which is added to for improving viscosity and lubrication.
  
• At low temp. Paraffin wax thickens and blocks the flow of fuel in the engine.
  
• Winter diesel which contains additives to maintain lower viscosity can be used in temperatures as low as -30°C and that besides a low pour point, it had higher cetane rating — an indicator is the combustion speed of diesel and compression needed for ignition.
  
• Anti-gel additives are added to prevent the gel formation.
  
• It has lower sulfur content, which would lead to lower deposits in engines and better performance.
  
• This fuel is BS-VI Grade, Which reduces pollution.
  
• The fuel is now manufacturing is panipath refinery of IOC.

India’s armed forces may soon be using winter diesel for operations in high altitude areas such as Ladakh, where winter temperatures plummet to extremely low as -30° Celsius.