Effectiveness Of Fuel Additives

FUEL ADDITIVES EFFECTIVENESS

Types of Fuel Additives

Fuel additives include to chemical substances that are added to gasoline, diesel, kerosene and other fuels in order to improve some elements of the fuel such to reduce emissions and to improve combustion. There are many fuel additives and they include acetone, nitrous oxide, oxyhydrogen, silicone, fuel injector cleaners, octane boosters and butyl rubber. The gasoline additives include antiknock agents, oxygenates, antioxidants and lead scavengers.

Effectiveness of Fuel Additives

It is worth pointing out that when the prices of oil go up the number of tools for oil saving also rises too. There are numerous fuel additives available in the market nowadays but consumer protection agencies warn that the customers should be beware. Moreover, even for the additives that work, the benefits have been found to be small (Sch fer & Van Basshuysen, 2013).

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched an investigation against Green Foot Global a company that sells a fuel additive called EnviroTabs which it claimed that it saves fuel usage, reduced emissions and thus saves the customer money. However, the product was found to be worthless and the company was forced to refund over $800000 to the customers. The company had branded the product as the Worlds 1^st Multivitamin for your engine . Every affected consumer is expected to receiver a minimum refund of about $33.

The FTC has asked consumers to be suspicious of the products that claim that they improve fuel efficiency and reduce fuel emissions. The commission has recorded that there are few products that work and even those that work only provide minimum protection. Moreover, some of the fuel additives even damage the engine rather than improving efficiency and offering savings.

However, some of the highly rated mechanics have asserted that the fuel additives are not completely worthless. The owner of Moon Valley Motor Care, which has been highly endorsed by customers, says that the product has received positive feedback from customers who have witnessed fuel savings. Dawn Dimarco, the owner of this product says that a fuel additive is more of a preventive product since it saves one from the cost of fuel injection replacement. Fuel additives are recommended especially for older cars because it helps to reduce the carbon build up.

However, other mechanics say that they see the additives to be unnecessary. According to Brandt Lucido who owns an automotive shop in Dallas says that the fuel that is sold has additives in them. He says that it has been a long time he replaced an injector clog because of carbon build up and thus he sees the sold additives as completely unnecessary (Ravi & Subramanian, 2013).

Conclusion

According to FTC there are better ways to save on fuel usage and reduce emissions. First one needs to watch the speed carefully and avoid idling in order to save on the fuel. Moreover, it is important to keep the proper pressure on the tires and ensure that they are rightly aligned. Also minimizing the weight on the vehicle helps to minimize the fuel cost.

References

Ravi, S., & Subramanian, R. (2013). Diesel fuel additives: An overview. International Review of Mechanical Engineering (IREME), 7(4), 698-704.

Sch fer, F., & Van Basshuysen, R. (2013). Reduced emissions and fuel consumption in automobile engines. Springer Science & Business Media.