Alec Taylor
Fuel Additives have a long and sordid past in American business history. The term “Snake Oil” is one that was appropriately given to many of them and in a few places is still used today. Fortunately, the industry has improved dramatically and in most instances the term is pretty archaic. Just as technology in fuel has come a long way in the last few decades so it has with fuel additives as well. You can now easily find effective products that add lubricity to your engines, lower the pour point therefore reducing the risk of freeze ups in winter months and clean your injectors to name a few examples. There are some more robust ones out there that solve a myriad of issues.
What is Important
The first thing you need to ask yourself is what is important to your organization:
- Is it important to attain better fuel efficiency in your vehicles? Many additives will help this by flushing the fuel system of impurities, adding lubricity to the engine and cleaning the injectors. There are a few additives that claim to contain a catalyst to improve combustion that will further improve fuel efficiency.
- Does lowering your emissions and potentially reducing the number of regenerations appeal to you? A number of additives address this situation by improving combustion so that there are less unburnt hydrocarbons being expelled into the exhaust. If you have any type of DPF or DEF system installed there will be less to be caught and the number of regenerations needed will be diminished—sometimes significantly.
- How about better lubrication for your engines or flushing your injectors and removal of varnish and carbon buildup? What we are really talking about here is the basic function that most higher end fuel additives perform. Namely, they have detergents and lubricators—the detergents to clean the injectors and remove varnish and carbon buildup, and lubricators to lubricate the injectors and upper cylinder heads.
- Removal of algae and other biologic growth? You only need to get caught once to realize that an algae bloom in your tanks can prove to be a major headache. There are a few additives that are designed to remove biologics specifically. There are also a couple of comprehensive additives that have a biocide included to make sure that no biologics grow in the tanks.
- Fuel stabilizers or anti-corrosives? While most people think of stabilizers in regard to storing fuel the fact is that a good stabilizer will not only do that but will also dissipate sludge that will form along the lining of the tanks. Anti-corrosives also protect the inside of the tank and the fuel lines and are an absolute must to eliminate long-term maintenance issues.
Use and Cost
Once you decide what you want your additive to do you can then look into other factors such as ease of use and cost:
- An interesting but seldom mentioned attribute of additives is concentration level. They range from a 32-ounce bottle treating from 100 to 2,500 gallons. Most heavy-duty comprehensive additives are generally administered in anything from 1/1000 to 1/10,000 ratios. This can mean the difference between using a 5-gallon pail or a small 1/2-gallon jug to treat the same 5,000-gallon drop.
- The cost of a good fuel additive usually revolves around the ingredients. Most additives are either alcohol or glycol based. Some have large amounts of kerosene or ether. Others are more complex and are sometimes referred to as Organic Metallic compounds. These tend to be comprehensive products that perform many roles and are more concentrated. Generally speaking a single-use type product is far more expensive than one that performs a multitude of tasks although there is a pretty wide range of costs with these powerhouse additives as well. You need to shop around and do your homework before committing to an additive as costs can vary wildly.
There are many additives that adequately solve singular problems or issues but the best “bang for the buck” seems to come with those that simultaneously address a number of issues. Generally speaking, the cost to treat a gallon of fuel using one of these can range from 3 cents and up. An Organic Metallic compound can be used in any hydrocarbon based fuel and is often mixed in a 1:10,000 ratio. One of these use as their main ingredient a catalyst that decreases combustion point of Diesel fuel by 200 degrees (150 in gasoline) thereby providing a more thorough burn which yields more power, better fuel efficiency and decreased emissions. Some will also increase engine lubricity and clean the injectors, have stabilizers, anti-corrosive agents, biocides and de-mulsifier of water. Most of the these cost between 4 and 8 cents per treated gallon of fuel making it an excellent value proposition when one considers the versatility of the Organic Metallic Compounds.
Alec Taylor is Vice President of Fuel Ox (Hackettstown, NJ). He can be reached at (844) 8-FUELOX visit www.fuelox.com.