Up for discussion...

Hi JDJep98,

I have been reading some of Mr. Laporte's rhetoric. Acetone may very well work to reduce surface tension, and thus improve particalisation (reduce fuel particle size) and enhance combustion. I have no background to know if it does nor not.

But, One thing about acetone is it disolves water. This makes me question if its bio-degradable. Kinda hard for a microbe to stay alive when its being chemically dehydrated! If not bio-degradable, this could be the main reason Big Oil is not going to add it to gasoline. Does anybody know about acetone bio-degradibility?

The last non-biodegradable fuel aditive added to gasoline has been disasterous. There are even remote communities that have had to be abandoned due to this additive - MTBE. Other communities have had to find new drinking water sources due to MTBE leakage into ground water sometimes at great expense. The Oil companies have amazingly quietly been going around and paying these people off.

Ethanol is primarily added to gasoline for the same reason MTBE was. To add oxygen containing liquid coumpond to the gasoline, which helps to radicalize the gasoline during combustion and reduce HydroCarbon emisions. Fortunately, unless you are a Muslim, a little Ethanol in the ground water is not going to bother you, if it even makes it to the ground water. Most Americans have more Ethanol in the mouth wash each morning, and a good fraction have even more in beverages. After the MTBE problems, Ethanol became dominent. MTBE was originally favored by Oil Companies as it could be produced from Petroleum, as friends who work in Oill Company Research have communicated to me.

Its conceivable that MTBE might even provide the same benefits as Acetone, and that Big Oil has "been there, done that" with disasterous results! I do not know, however.

If Acetone has a positive effect, and is not bio-degradable, then to include it in vehicle fuel would require a secondary storage tank that is above-ground (cement bunker) storage. This would permit ready inspection of leakage and the cement bunker would reduce the effects of vehicle collisions into the tank. The gas station would then have to meter it into the car's fuel tank with the gas. Remember, allot of gas stations are like right next door to residential and high population buisnesses.

An alternative would be to have a secondary tank on the vehicle, and have fuel distributers sell it in plastic bottles. This would be similar to window washer fluid situation.

 

:blink: I believe this belongs in "Fred's House of Pancakes"