Diesel fuel and engines are often favored for their efficiency, long life and low maintenance costs. Diesel fuel's flash point, or lowest combustion temperature, has no bearing on engine performance but is used as a measure for safety.
Diesel fuel is assigned a flash point between 100 and 160 degrees Fahrenheit. The flash point of diesel fuel varies inversely with its volatility. Its higher flash point makes diesel safer to handle and store than gasoline.
Flash point refers to the lowest temperature a chemical liquid will create a combustible mixture of vapor with the air above it. Flash point is a property used to safely handle and use fuel. A chemical liquid can ignite at its flash point without an open flame as an ignition source.
Diesel refers to the kind of fuel that is used in compression ignition engines. The composition of diesel fuel varies from petrochemicals to vegetable oil. The unifying trait is that they can all be used in diesel engines. It is injected as a mist at pressures hundreds of times higher than those gasoline is injected. Paris-born German Rudolph Diesel invented the engine that bears his name in 1892.
