Diesel, a light oil product, a mixture of complex hydrocarbons (the number of carbon atoms is about 10-22). It is a diesel fuel, which is mainly produced by crude oil distillation, catalytic cracking, thermal cracking, hydrogenation, petroleum coking and other processes. Formed, it can also be made by shale oil processing and coal liquefaction. It is divided into two major categories: light diesel (the boiling point range is about 180-370 ° C) and heavy diesel (the boiling point range is about 350-410 ° C). It is widely used in large vehicles, railway locomotives, and ships.

The most important use of diesel is the diesel engine for vehicles and ships. Compared with gasoline engines, diesel engines have high thermal efficiency and low fuel consumption. Diesel has low energy consumption, so some small cars and even high -performance cars also use diesel.

On October 27, 2017, the list of carcinogens released by the International Cancer Research Agency of the World Health Organization was preliminarily organized. Diesel and mild fraction were in the three types of carcinogens.