What is the CO2 emission per liter petrol?

Answer 1

This discussion will contain approximate values. Plug in the real values for a more accurate answer.

One litre of petrol (gasoline for American readers) weighs about 800 grams.

It is composed principally of carbon and hydrogen with a ratio of 2 carbon per 2 (and a bit) hydrogen or 24 units of mass carbon per 2 units of mass hydrogen.

This means that for every 800 gm (one litre) of fuel you have (24/26)x800 = 738 grams of carbon.

Since 1 carbon atom combines with 2 oxygen atoms each 12 gm carbon combines with 32 gm oxygen to make 44 gm Carbon dioxide.

So for every litre of fuel (which weighs 800gm) you have 738 gm carbon and require 1969 grams of oxygen to combust it.

This produces 738+1969= 2707 grams of CO2.

Answer 2

Burning one litre of Petrol releases 2.36 kg of CO2 (under the 'perfect' fuel/air mixture). I know this sounds unreasonable when one litre of petrol weighs around 0.75 kg, but the majority (over 70%) of the CO2 weight is made up of the oxygen which is consumed from the air and does not originate from the petrol. Scary huh!

Answer 3

I think this depends on how good the engine is, since cars with similar mileage per gallon are quoted as having widely different CO2 emmission rates. Burnt under ideal conditions the figure is very close to 2.3 kg CO2 produced per litre of petrol used. One litre of petrol weighs less than 1 kg however the additional mass comes from atmospheric O2. Differences in result are introduced by many factors including: the quality of the petrol used, how completely the petrol is burnt, the measuring technique, and in an engine the age/efficiency of the engine, etc.

Answer 4

The CO2 emission per liter of petrol burned is approximately 2.31 kg/liter. This value can vary depending on the specific composition of the fuel and the efficiency of combustion.