1. Autos  What is Cetane?  Learn More About Cetane, the Cetane
Number Test and Engine Performance   2008 Chevrolet Silverado
photo - 2008 Chevrolet Silverado picture  2008 Chevrolet
Silverado 3500HD  photo © General Motors  Cetane is a colorless,
liquid hydrocarbon (a molecule from the alkane series) that
ignites easily under compression. For this reason, it was given
a base rating of 100, and is used as standard measure of the
performance of compression ignition fuels, such as diesel fuel
and biodiesel. All the sundry hydrocarbon constituents of diesel
fuel are measured and indexed to cetane's base 100 rating.  What
is Cetane Number?  Similar to the octane number rating that is
applied to gasoline to rate its ignition stability, cetane
number is the rating assigned to diesel fuel to rate its
combustion quality. While gasoline's octane number signifies its
ability to resist auto-ignition (also referred to as pre-
ignition, knocking, pinging, or detonation), diesel's cetane
number is a measure of the fuel's del