Abstract
This research article discloses how a uniquely structured fuel additive can easily be mixed with commercially available diesel fuel to produce an extremely stable nanoemulsion fuel. Even when using an ultralow dose (125 ppm), the additive still creates a large and catalytically active surface area using billions of nanosized water droplets (4 nanometers). No metallic or organometallic compounds were used. When used in heavy duty diesel engines, treated fuel significantly improves vehicle fuel economy. Extensive verification testing was carried out using multiple fleets of heavy duty diesel trucks operating for up to two years under “real-world” driving conditions. Testing used 538 heavy duty trucks and 15 different vehicle fleets. Test vehicles used 475,000 litres of treated fuel and covered a total of 14 million kilometres. Fleet testing was supervised by one of the premier European testing agencies (TNO Quality Services BV). Raw fuel economy data was collected and analyzed by an independent consulting agency andd showed a combined average weighted fuel savings of 9.7%. Diesel engine CO2 emissions are one of the many contributory causes of global warming. Unfortunately, new engine fuel economy technologies can take 10 years to have a 50% impact (typically 5% per year, as older vehicles are slowly replaced with new models). However, using the additive would immediately improve the combustion properties of fuel being used in these vehicles with the potential to reach up to 90% of the entire diesel vehicle population within about 60 days.
Highlights
Additive Development. e additive was developed as a concentrate able to produce relatively stable emulsion structures when mixed with diesel fuel. is presented some serious technical challenges since any emulsion is inherently a dynamic system with stability issues depending upon such things as ambient temperature cycles during storage, turbulence while being stored in a vehicle fuel tank, and high shear forces when being injected through an injector spray nozzle [11]: (i) Emulsion storage stability was achieved by manipulating the relative proportions and quantities of the key ingredients used to produce the additive
As can be seen below, a reasonable basis exists to conclude the most likely reason for fuel economy improvements is due to surface catalytic action of the additive droplets on fuel combustion: (1) classic “steam explosions” generated by water emulsion droplets within the fuel increases turbulence and promotes enhanced fuel atomization [11], this would not give enough of a benefit to account for the average 9.7% improvement in fuel economy [17]. is seems likely since most modern heavy duty diesel engines already have extremely high fuel injector pressures designed to promote atomization, turbulence, and improved air/fuel mixing
In order to achieve significant environmental CO2 reductions, any fuel additive that improves vehicle fuel economy must be widely used. is requires an additive that can be dosed at any major fuel distribution terminal and has been proven to be safe and easy to use with no fuel storage, delivery, or infrastructure changes and requiring no vehicle modifications of any kind
Summary
Received 3 April 2020; Revised 23 June 2020; Accepted 4 July 2020; Published 18 July 2020. When used in heavy duty diesel engines, treated fuel significantly improves vehicle fuel economy. Extensive verification testing was carried out using multiple fleets of heavy duty diesel trucks operating for up to two years under “real-world” driving conditions. Testing used 538 heavy duty trucks and 15 different vehicle fleets. Test vehicles used 475,000 litres of treated fuel and covered a total of 14 million kilometres. New engine fuel economy technologies can take 10 years to have a 50% impact (typically 5% per year, as older vehicles are slowly replaced with new models). Using the additive would immediately improve the combustion properties of fuel being used in these vehicles with the potential to reach up to 90% of the entire diesel vehicle population within about 60 days
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