EN 590 is a standard published by the

European Committee for Standardization The European Committee for Standardization (CEN, french: Comité Européen de Normalisation) is a public standards organization whose mission is to foster the economy of the European Single Market and the wider European continent in global tr ...

that describes the physical properties that all automotive

diesel fuel Diesel fuel , also called diesel oil, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a result of compression of the inlet air and t ...

must meet if it is to be sold in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

and several other European countries. Based on 98/70/EG it allows the blending of up to 7%

fatty acid methyl ester Fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) are a type of fatty acid ester that are derived by transesterification of fats with methanol. The molecules in biodiesel are primarily FAME, usually obtained from vegetable oils by transesterification. They are used ...

biodiesel with 'conventional' diesel - a 7:93 mix.

History

The EN 590 had been introduced along with the

European emission standards The European emission standards are vehicle emission standards for pollution from the use of new land surface vehicles sold in the European Union and EEA member states and the UK, and ships in EU waters. The standards are defined in a ser ...

. With each of its revisions the EN 590 had been adapted to lower the sulphur content of diesel fuel - since 2007 this is called ultra low sulphur diesel as the former function of sulphur as a lubricant is absent (and needs to be replaced by additives).

Generally applicable requirements and test methods

GOST R 32511-2013

Winter Diesel

The standard EN 590 puts diesel fuel into two groups destined for specific climatic environments. For the "temperate" climatic zones the standard defines six classes from A to F. For the "arctic" climatic zones the standard defines five classes from 0 to 4.
Petroleum Refining: Crude oil, petroleum products, process flowsheets von Jean-Pierre Wauquier, pages 215 and 216 Many countries in Europe require diesel fuel to meet a specific class in winter times. In Central and Western Europe the Winter Diesel (Winterdiesel, diesel d'hiver) must meet Class F conditions at least from the beginning of December to the end of February. During a transitional period (mostly October and April) a lower Class must be met. In the Scandinavian countries the Winter Diesel (Vinterdiesel) must meet Class 2 conditions. Some mineral groups offer both types commonly known as Winter Diesel (Winterdiesel, diesel d'hiver) and Arctic Diesel (Polardiesel, diesel polaires).

References

External links