EN 590

Last updated February 20, 2025

EN 590 is a standard published by the European Committee for Standardization that describes the physical and chemical properties that all automotive diesel fuel must meet if it is to be sold in the European Union and several other European countries.

History

The EN 590 had been introduced along with the European emission standards. 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).

emission standard	at latest	sulphur content	cetane number
Euro 1	1 January 1993	max. 0.200%	min. 49
Euro 2	1 January 1996	max. 0.050%	min. 49
Euro 3	1 January 2001	max. 0.035%	min. 51
Euro 4	1 January 2006	max. 0.005%	min. 51
Euro 5	1 January 2009	max. 0.001%	min. 51
Euro 6	1 January 2014

Generally applicable requirements and test methods

Property	Unit	lower limit	upper limit	Test-Method
Cetane index		46.0	-	EN ISO 4264
Cetane number		51.0	-	EN ISO 5165
Density at 15°C	kg/m³	820	845	EN ISO 3675, EN ISO 12185
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons	%(m/m)	-	11	EN ISO 12916
Sulphur content	mg/kg	-	350 (until 2004-12-31) or 50.0	EN ISO 20846, EN ISO 20847, EN ISO 20884
			10.0 (on the 01-01-2009)	EN ISO 20846, EN ISO 20884
Flash point	°C	Above 55	-	EN ISO 2719
Carbon residue (on 10% distillation residue)	%m/m	-	0.30	EN ISO 10370
Ash content	% (m/m)	-	0.01	EN ISO 6245
Water content	mg/kg	-	200	EN ISO 12937
Total contamination	mg/kg	-	24	EN ISO 12662
Copper strip corrosion (3 hours at 50 °C)	rating	Class 1	Class 1	EN ISO 2160
Oxidation Stability	g/m³	-	25	EN ISO 12205
Lubricity, corrected wear scar diameter (wsd 1.4) at 60 °C	μm	-	460	EN ISO 12156-1
Viscosity at 40 °C	mm²/s	2.00	4.50	EN ISO 3104
Distillation recovered at 250 °C, 350 °C	%V/V	85	<65	EN ISO 3405, ISO 23581
95%(V/V) recovered at	°C	-	360
Fatty acid methyl ester content	% (V/V)	-	7	EN 14078

GOST R 32511-2013

Property	Unit	Value
Cetane index		46.0
Cetane number		51.0
Density at 15°C	kg/m³	820-845
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons	%(m/m)	8.0
Sulphur content - type K3	mg/kg	350
Sulphur content - type K4	mg/kg	50
Sulphur content - type K5	mg/kg	10
Flash point	°C	55
Carbon residue (on 10% distillation residue)	%m/m	0.30
Ash content	% (m/m)	0.01
Water content	mg/kg	200
Total contamination	mg/kg	24
Copper strip corrosion (3 hours at 50 °C)	rating	Class 1
Stability no more than	g/m³	25
Lubricity, corrected wear scar diameter (wsd 1,4) at 60 °C	μm	460
Viscosity at 40 °C	mm²/s	2.00-4.50
Distillation recovered at 250 °C, 350 °C	%V/V	65.85
95%(V/V) recovered at	°C	360
Fatty acid methyl ester content no more than	% (V/V)	7.0

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.^[1]

temperate climatic zones
Characteristics	Class A	Class B	Class C	Class D	Class E	Class F	Units
CFPP	+5	0	-5	-10	-15	-20	°C
Density at 15 °C	820 - 860	820 - 860	820 - 860	820 - 860	820 - 860	820 - 860	kg/m³
Viscosity at 40 °C	2 - 4.5	2 - 4.5	2 - 4.5	2 - 4.5	2 - 4.5	2 - 4.5	mm²/s
Cetane index	46	46	46	46	46	46
Cetane number	49	49	49	49	49	49

arctic climatic zones
Characteristics	Class 0	Class 1	Class 2	Class 3	Class 4	Unit
CFPP	-20	-26	-32	-38	-44	°C
Cloud point	-10	-16	-22	-28	-34	°C
Density at 15 °C	800 - 845	800 - 845	800 - 845	800 - 840	800 - 840	kg/m³
Viscosity at 40 °C	1.5 - 4.0	1.5 - 4.0	1.5 - 4.0	1.4 - 4.0	1.2 - 4.0	mm²/s
Cetane index	46	46	45	43	43
Cetane number	47	47	46	45	45

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

↑ Petroleum Refining: Crude oil, petroleum products, process flowsheets von Jean-Pierre Wauquier, pages 215 and 216

External links

Standard Archived 2007-04-30 at the Wayback Machine .
First Texas Energy Corporation
National D2 Diesel

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[1] Petroleum Refining: Crude oil, petroleum products, process flowsheets von Jean-Pierre Wauquier, pages 215 and 216

[1]