Fuel economy and emissions benefits from diesel fuel additives

With the spike in fuel costs during 2008, fuel consumption, and methods to reduce it, has come to the forefront of society, and recognition that inexpensive energy sources for mobile transportation may be a thing of the past. Even though fuel costs did significantly decrease by 75% after this spike [1], they will most likely continue to rise. Improvements to mobile transportation and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions are a major agenda item of the United States and many industrialized nations. New and improved technologies will be developed and employed for future transportation needs of society. However, the existing fleet used in the transportation sector will take years, if not decades, to replace, and there is a need to find technologies to implement that could serve to reduce the fuel consumption from these vehicles.;One example of the present fleet is the United States Department of Defense (DoD), which in 2008 purchased approximately 100 million barrels of diesel and jet petroleum fuels totaling more than 12 billion dollars [2]. A 0.1% reduction in consumption could save millions of dollars for the DoD. Any practical, economical means to reduce the fuel consumption for the DoD may have significant financial rewards. Additionally, reducing battlefield fuel consumption will result in reduction of support troop exposure in combat zones. Enhancing combustion is one way to increase fuel economy in vehicles, and using fuel additives may be an economical means to do this.;This study evaluated the effect five different additives had on the fuel consumption and emissions from three heavy-duty and one medium-duty diesel engines. The testing was completed in an engine dynamometer test cell following a variety of test cycles. None of the additives could reliably show a reduction in brake specific fuel consumption for three of the engines, and one engine demonstrated less than a 1.0% reduction. Likewise, no significant changes in emissions measurements were identified, with the exception that one additive exhibited reductions in brake specific particulate matter for two of the engines