Diesel fuel is produced from various sources, the most common being petroleum. Other sources include biomass, animal fat, biogas, natural gas, and coal liquefaction.

Petroleum diesel, also called petrodiesel is the most common type of diesel fuel. It is produced from the fractional distillation of crude oil between 200 °C (392 °F) and 350 °C (662 °F) at atmospheric pressure, resulting in a mixture of carbon chains that typically contain between 8 and 21 carbon atoms per molecule.

The important properties which are used to characterize diesel fuel include cetane number (or cetane index), fuel volatility, density, viscosity, cold behavior, and sulfur content. Diesel fuel specifications differ for various fuel grades and in different countries.

The principal measure of diesel fuel quality is its cetane number. A cetane number is a measure of the delay of ignition of a diesel fuel. A higher cetane number indicates that the fuel ignites more readily when sprayed into hot compressed air. European (EN 590 standard) road diesel has a minimum cetane number of 51. Diesel fuel is more efficient than gasoline because it contains 10% more energy per gallon than gasoline. But there are a few kinds of diesel fuel: Standard diesel fuel (sometimes called diesel oil) comes in two grades: Diesel #1 (or 1-D) and Diesel #2 (or 2-D). The higher the cetane number, the more volatile the fuel. Most diesel vehicles use fuel with a rating of 40 to 55.

Diesel fuel keeps the world economy moving. From consumer goods moved around the world, to the generation of electric power, to increased efficiency on farms, diesel fuel plays a vital role in strengthening the global economy and the standard of living. The major uses of diesel fuel are:

On-road transportation
Off-road uses (e.g., mining, construction,)
Farming
Rail transportation
Marine shipping
Electric power generation
Military transportation

DIESEL D2 GASOIL GOST 305-82 SPECIFICATION

　

	COMPONENT	UNIT	MIN.	MAX.
1	Density@ 20 deg	C Kg / m		0.870
2	Color			2.0
3	Flash point, PMCC	Deg C (°C)	57	62
4	Kinematic viscosity @20 deg	CST	3.0	6.0
5	Pour point	deg C (°C)	(*)	-10.0
6	Cloud point	Deg C (°C)	(*)	5.0
7	Mercaptan sulphur			0.01
8	Acidity	Mg / 1000		Cm 5
9	Loadine number	g /100g		6
10	Ash	%wt		0.01
11	Total Sulphur	%wt	0.02	0.05
12	Copper Corrosion	3hrs @50 deg C	(typical)	1A
13	CCR on 10% residues	%wt		0.20
14	Cetane index		45
15	Distillation range;
16	-50% Recovered Volume	deg C (°C)		280
17	-90% Recovered Volume	deg C (°C)		360
18	-Bacteria MBC	Fibre / it		500
19	-Bacteria CFU	Fibre / it		1000

20	(*) Summer from March-Oct	(PP-5.0 degrees C)
21	Summer from March-Oct	(CP-0.0 degrees C)
22	Winter from Nov-Feb	(PP-10.0 degrees C)
23	Winter from Nov-Feb	(CP-5.0 degrees C)