CAN ACETONE RADICALLY INCREASE MPGS?, Update 5/1/05 - the test has begun !!

I am posting this to this board not only to inform readers of these interesting facts (?), but also in the hope that some of the "high end" mechanical minds that visit this thread will give me some feedback before I dump any acetone in the tanks of any of my cars:

Please read the article at this link:

http://pesn.com/2005/03/17/6900069_Acetone/

here is the full text content (the article has more than text):

Acetone In Fuel Said to Increase Mileage
Readily-available chemical added to gas tank in small proportion improves the fuel's ability to vaporize completely by reducing the surface tension that inhibits vaporization of some fuel droplets.

by Louis LaPointe
Adapted by Sterling D. Allan and Mary-Sue Haliburton
with LaPointe's permission for Pure Energy Systems News



Acetone (CH3COCH3) is a product that can be purchased inexpensively in most locations around the world, such as in the common hardware, auto parts, or drug store. Added to the fuel tank in tiny amounts, acetone aids in the vaporization of the gasoline or diesel, increasing fuel efficiency, engine longevity, and performance -- as well as reducing hydrocarbon emissions.

How it Works

Acetone
A colorless, volatile liquid with a sweet odor. It is considered the least toxic solvent in industry. It can occur naturally. It is used in the production of lubricating oils, chloroform, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, paints, varnishes and lacquers. If present in water, it is more likely to volatilize or biodegrade before bioaccumulating or adsorbing to sediments. Acetone will also readily volatilize and biodegrade in soil. It is also a common laboratory contaminant, so its presence in a sample does not always indicate its presence in the environment. Synonyms - Dimethylketone and 2-propanone.
-- Environmental Terms Glossary
(U.S. Military)


Complete vaporization of fuel is far from perfect in today's cars and trucks. A certain amount of residual fuel in most engines remains liquid in the hot chamber. In order to be fully combusted, the fuel must be fully vaporized.

Surface tension presents an obstacle to vaporization. For instance the energy barrier from surface tension can sometimes force water to reach 300 degrees Fahrenheit before it vaporizes. Similarly with gasoline.

Acetone drastically reduces the surface tension. Most fuel molecules are sluggish with respect to their natural frequency. Acetone has an inherent molecular vibration that "stirs up" the fuel molecules, to break the surface tension. This results in a more complete vaporization with other factors remaining the same. More complete vaporization means less wasted fuel, hence the increased gas mileage from the increased thermal efficiency.

That excess fuel was formerly wasted past the rings or sent out the tailpipe but when mixed with acetone it gets burned, though the engine still thinks it is running straight gas.

Additive: changes the specifications of the base it is added to

Acetone allows gasoline to behave more like the ideal automotive fuel which is PROPANE. The degree of improved mileage depends on how much unburned fuel you are presently wasting. You might gain 15 to 35-percent better economy from the use of acetone. Sometimes even more.

How Much to Use

Add in tiny amounts from about one part per 5000 to one part per 3000, depending on the vehicle -- just a few ounces per ten gallons of gas. This comes to between 0.0003 % to 0.0025 % acetone maximum or approximately 1/15th of one-percent. Note that is around .78 cc per liter or one ounce per 10 gallons. Not more than three oz. per 10 gallons.





After you first find the best gasoline in your area, then try the acetone amount for your car per ten gallons, and if you are happy with your newfound mileage, you might want to try stopping the use of acetone for a couple of tanks. Watch the drop in mileage. It will amaze you. That reverse technique is one of the biggest eye openers concerning the use of acetone in fuel.

In a 10-gallon tank of gasoline, use one to three ounces of pure acetone to obtain excellent mileage improvements. In a ten-gallon tank of diesel fuel, use from 1 to 2 ounces of acetone. Performance goes up too. Use about a half-teaspoon of acetone in the fuel tank of a 4-cycle lawnmower or snowblower. Or you can apply it with an eyedropper.

Where to Get Acetone

The pure acetone label is the only additive suggested and is easily available from most drug stores in 16-ounce plastic bottles and in one-gallon containers from some large fleet farm supply stores. But any acetone source is better than none. Containers labeled acetone from a hardware store are usually okay and pure enough to put in your fuel. We prefer cans or bottles that say 100-percent pure. The acetone in gallons or pints we get from Fleet Farm are labeled 100 % pure. The bottles from Walgreen say 100 % pure. Never use solvents such as paint thinners or unknown stuff in your gas. Toluene, benzene and xylene have been okay if they are pure but may not raise mileage except when mixed with acetone. However the aromatics also raise octane.

Adding Acetone to Your Tank

When you fill up with fuel, note the number of gallons added, then calculate the right amount of acetone to add. Less is more. Remember all gasoline is different. Some will work better than others in the presence of acetone which is strictly a vaporization tool, rather than a fuel additive that alters combustion. The car computer still thinks it is running straight gasoline. None of your settings are altered. None of your engine parts are affected. Check out ScanGauge for an inexpensive MPG device.

Some stores sell acetone in metal cans of various sizes, which are safe to keep indoors. However, it is difficult to pour from these cans, which have a flat top and short neck from which spillage is inevitable. In any case, while handling acetone, you should be wearing rubber gloves.

One option is to get a small graduated cylinder (available from science supplies store or some pharmacies). The small ones have larger intervals between markings so that it is easier to fill them to the level desired. The narrow cylinder can be held to the neck of the can to catch all drips. Then from the cylinder you can pour neatly into the tank. The small pouring spout suitable for laboratories prevents drips onto the paint.

Being etched with neat lines at each milliliter, these graduated cylinders are also good for measuring precise amounts -- in ounces or milliliters.

Additional Benefits

In addition to increased mileage acetone added to fuel boasts other benefits such as increased power, engine life, and performance. Less unburned fuel going past the rings keeps the rings and engine oil in far better condition.

A tiny bit of acetone in diesel fuel can stop the black smoke when the rack is all the way at full throttle. You will notice that the exhaust soot will be greatly reduced and your truck or car runs smoother.

Acetone can reduce hydrocarbon emissions up to 60 percent. In some older cars, the HC readings with acetone in a 1986 GMC went from 440 PPM to 195, as just one example. Though mileage gains taper off with too much acetone, hydrocarbon emissions are nevertheless greatly reduced. Pure acetone is an extremely clean burning fuel that burns in air with a pretty blue, smokeless flame.

Acetone reduces the formation of water-ice crystals in below-zero weather which can damage the fuel filter. Change that fuel filter every year to protect injectors.

There are no known bad effects and every good reason to use acetone in your fuel. I have never seen a problem with acetone, and I have used ACETONE in gasoline and diesel fuel and in jet fuel (JP-4) for 50 years. I have rigorously tested fuels independently (with burns all over me) and am considered an authority on this important subject.

Cautions

Acetone and Your Engine
Acetone is known to deteriorate cheap plastics and other substances. While the components in a car's fuel system should be of high quality, and thus immune to any deleterious effects from exposure to acetone, be aware that "ideal" is not always the case in practice. Be advised that not all systems have been tested against acetone. Until such thorough testing has been accomplished and certified by a accredited authority, you assume your own liability for experimentally testing acetone in your particular system.

Keep acetone away from painted surfaces, such as the paint on your car under the gas tank opening. Acetone is the key ingredient in paint remover. In addition to paint, fuels, including acetone, gasoline alone can also dissolve asphalt and most plastics.

Never allow skin contact with it. It may damage clothing as well. Don't breathe it. Keep children away from all dangerous chemicals. Read the directions on the container.

Acetone is a highly flammable liquid, as is gasoline. Do not expose it near a flame or spark. Acetone should be stored outside, with proper ventilation, not inside your house. Gasoline and/or acetone will dissolve cheap plastics, so be sure the container you store it in will not deteriorate. Read all the precautions on the labels.

No Issues with the Engine Parts

I have soaked carburetor parts in acetone for months and even years to see if there is any deterioration. Any parts made to run with gasoline will work with acetone just fine. I presently have parts soaking in 1, 2, 5, and 10 % acetone/gasoline mixes as well as just gasoline. That is 20 to 200 times too much just to be sure. The 30R7 rated parts are in perfect condition. All my tests have been run with Texaco gasoline. I tested the gas stations in my area to FIRST find the best gasoline BEFORE putting acetone in the tank. But I have no idea from a pragmatic view what other gasolines do except that when I attempt to use them, my MPG drops like a rock. So for purely monetary reasons, I run the best available gasoline. When my dyno is built this summer, I will test all the gasolines in my area and publish the results on the web. I hear from engineers out West that Chevron gas is very good. I used it and it was fine during trips to California. I attach more credence to engineers who report things of interest to me because of their training and knowledge of testing methods. You may want to look up Science and Testing Methods in my site.

Contrast with Alcohol

In contrast, alcohol has been shown to be corrosive in an engine, yet they put THAT into gasoline. Alcohol in general is anti-mileage. Alcohol is no good in fuels. In Brazil, millions of engines and fuel systems were ruined by alcohol. Yet they are talking of doubling the amount of alcohol in gasoline.

Furthermore, alcohol increases surface tension, producing the opposite effect from acetone. Alcohol in fuel attracts water. This hurts mileage because water acts like a fire extinguisher. Some cars may run badly and even quit due to the incombustible nature of the water-laden fuel. We know of a dozen cars that recently stopped running due to water in the alcohol and gas mixture. In my Neon, it frequently has cut the MPG in half on trips when I take pot luck at the pump.

In below-zero weather, the water and alcohol can form abrasive, icy particles that may damage fuel pumps and clog injectors.

Has Not Been Warmly Received

Questions asked of someone in the petroleum industry regarding ACETONE will often automatically trigger a string of negative reactions and perhaps false assertions. We may have heard them all. The mere mention of this additive represents such a threat to oil profits that you may get fabricated denials against the successful use of acetone in fuels.

The author has never found any valid reason for not using acetone in gasoline or diesel fuel. Plus it takes such a tiny amount to work. No wonder they fear this additive.

Political Action

You might Email this article to your government representative. After sufficient data has been collected, and that data supports the conclusions presented here, ACETONE should be ordered by Federal Law to be present in all fuels. While you're at it, request that vehicles be equipped with a MPG read-out to make it easier for consumers to know what is and is not working to improve their mileage.

If You Want to Do Independent Testing

For those of you who like to see the data yourself, there is a great little device available to check your exact gas mileage and more. See ScanGauge for an instrument that fits any car 1996 or newer. And some 1995 models. It measures your real-time MPG, inlet and coolant temperatures and many more details as you drive. This inexpensive tool should end a lot of debate over what works for mileage and what does not. We use the TRIP function to average the MPG at a steady 50 MPH both ways.

Since the fuel from every gas station is different from the next, the MPG performance will also vary. Then there exist a wide variety of additive choices at the terminals that affect quality. Also other variables in the cars performance such as warm external temperature versus cold external temperature, using the AC or not, headlights or not, incline of drive, etc. Try to eliminate as many of these variable as possible in your comparative testing.

Be consistent where you buy your gasoline because different gasolines vary tremendously. The best gas and the worst gas in your neighborhood will likely have a 30-percent spread in mileage. Same for diesel fuel. In my experience with repeated test results, I found that Texaco, Chevron and Canadian Shell deliver excellent gasoline mileage. Try to keep down the number of variables wherever you gas up by using the same station, same pump, same grade or same octane before testing. This is important.

Incidentally, in almost all cases, the lowest octane is best for mileage. Most modern vehicles do not have high enough compression to justify using high octane fuels. The testing indicates best mileage is usually obtained with 85 or 87 octane gasoline. Too much octane causes a loss of power and economy. BUT too little octane causes the same things plus knocking. Listen carefully to your engine for tell-tale knocks or clicks when you start out from a light. The best mileage points to the correct octane when the engine is properly tuned. See your owners manual.

The ScanGauge enables you to notice differences and then check variations with and without acetone added in various proportions. Roughly 1/20 to 1/10 of one percent. On the dyno I never exceeded 1/4 of a percent. There was no point.

Report Your Findings

PES Network Inc. has created an index page at PESWiki where you can report your findings. PESWiki is a publicly editable website where you can post a summary of your results, or create a full page, with all the details you wish to report, with images and links to video or spreadsheet data.

Other Additives Exist

There are of course other additives that improve mileage (which also have had less than a favorable reception by the petroleum industry). Certain octane improvers for example also aid mileage. We recently proved that Carb Medic from Gunk can raise mileage when 3 oz. are used with 2 oz. of acetone per 10 gallons of gasoline, even in cold weather. Acetone seems to help cars start easier in winter.

Many products claiming to improve mileage are expensive and do not really help much. Others are fakes. For instance, a SMOOTH flow of air into a carburetor or injector is far better for mileage than turbulent air. Turbulence is bad. Yet many people deliberately introduce turbulent air into their engines. There are many silly myths floating around the car industry to fool the average person. Another is that cold intake air improves mileage. NO. Warm air improves mileage.

Test for yourself. Take a mileage check for each and every tank of gas or diesel fuel like we do. Your actual mileage is NOT that of a single tank full but the average of perhaps five tanks. To be accurate, you should not miss any checks. This takes discipline to get reliable results. Someday your car will do it for you with a factory MPG gauge on the dash. But for now, YOU ought to keep tabs on your mileage for all our sakes.

# # #

SOURCES

The above story was adapted with permission from a story reported at:
http://www.lubedev.com/smartgas/additive.htm


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Follow-up
From: Louis LaPointe
March 19, 2005

Something that might be added:

In early 2004, a SmartGas reader in New York State filled three bottles with: pure acetone, part acetone/part gasoline and straight gasoline. Into these he placed O-rings, pump diaphragms, plastic fittings, hose parts and other neoprene/n-buna stuff. He duped my experiments from back in the 50s. Months later he told me the pure acetone bottle was slightly darkened and some vinyl parts swelled. Dave had carefully marked all the parts beforehand. He dried the parts to mike them again and noted after six months that the growth was about two-percent to five-percent in the bottles with gasoline, which was well within limits. Almost unnoticeable. He put the stuff back into the respective bottles where it may still be today. Dave has a background in physics and engineering. I suggest testing parts as mentioned above, in 1, 2, 5, and 10 % mixes of gasoline and acetone. This is up to 200 times more concentrated than what we use in real life. No sense being ridiculous.

He believes that everyone should do their own testing and not listen to the prejudiced opinions or words of others. There is way too much misinformation out there.

When using acetone, I often add one of several other mileage additives into my 16 oz. Walgreen's plastic acetone bottle which stays in the trunk so as not to carry a large quantity container in case I get rear-ended. I am building a dyno facility to further test all the mileage additives and get perfect mixture figures to appear on the site this summer, I hope. Meanwhile the ScanGauge is being used daily by numerous persons across the U.S. running acetone and various carefully devised mixes and lubricants. Some oils can improve mileage substantially, notably Torco Oil.

Using the ScanGauge at 50MPH, my best mileage was 48-52 in my Neon a few weeks ago. Then I stopped the acetone to do some reverse testing. The next four tanks of the same Texaco gas showed 42-43, 37-38, 33-34, 30-31. No acetone when each tank was filled at half-full. The drop was about 20 MPG overall. Recent tests at a steady 50 MPH show 61-63 MPG in the Neon. People report OVER 62 MPG in Toyota Prius vehicles with a tiny bit of acetone in the gas. The other person with me each time wrote down the results. Single source reporting is not a good idea.

Clear thinking guys want us to get off the Middle Eastern Oil. It is a national crisis. But to confirm this specific additive takes procedural knowledge, not undisciplined views or flash opinions. That makes engineers the best source of information of what goes on out there. The less controversy the better, if possible.

I finished a science article on the SmartGas.net site--how to go about testing. It concerns induction and the Scientific Method.

Thanks to all, Lou LaPointe


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Interesting article. Anyone going to try it?

This reminds me of the invention Smoky Yunick came up with in the mid 80s; it heated gas to a vapor then ignited it. The testing proved it made huge gains in mileage, power and drivability.

Then you never heard about it, I am sure a big oil company or auto manufacturer paid him off and the invention disappeared.

subscribing.

too bad I don't have a spare car to test this on, but if anybody cares to do some scientific tests with a beater and post the results, I'm very curious esp. regarding how well engine, fuel line, and fuel pump components hold up over the long term.

I'm gonna try it in my boat -- the '93 Caddy.

interesting, sounds too good to be true.. subscribed.

Marked, very very interesting.

*SIGH*.....I hate when crap like this gets posted.

The long and the short of it is that you shouldn't trust what you read in the article. WAY too many inconsistences and is highly suspicious.

The author has no established credibility and the methods and tactics used to argue his points border from sketchy to downright misinformation.

The fact is we don't use this in vehicles today, IF it so good at increasing gas milage AND amazingly enough also reduces emissions. Then why the HELL are we not using it in every grade of gas now????

Simple there are two possible reasons. Either it has been studied by independent and credentialed labs and found to provide no improvement in MPG, or the same labs have tested it and found that there are unacceptable consequences to using it in the car. Maybe it destroys the fuel system over time, maybe it emits toxic gases. Who knows.....

If you use this you use it at your own risk. I wouldn't without trusted and reliable analysis and this is FAR from that.

I'll try to go into greater detail about the individual flaws in the article later...it will take time.

Acetone's base is from Toluene (aka rocket fuel) which is an aromatic hydrocarbon.

Regular pump gas already has a certain percentage of aromatic hydrocarbons in there. There are lots of octane boosters that contain Toluene so throw one of those in there and see how much gain you really get. I'm pretty sure it has a pretty high octane rating. Most things with high octane ratings don't burn too well when cold. So it's doesn't seem likely to help with cold weather starts. F1 cars burn a higher percentage of aromatic hydrocarbons, but i think they need assisted starting and a heat source just to burn the fuel. Here's a page with some F1 fuel info.

http://www.f1technical.net/article19.html

Acetone may very well decrease the surface tension of water as the author suggests but the real question is, will it do the same to your oil? Disassembled engine components soaking in an acetone bath tells you only that acetone does not attack aluminum or steel. It gives no indication as to the impact to the engine system as a whole and I doubt we'll see an oil analysis.

My post is purely speculation but I can guarantee that there would be one heck of a racket if you lost the protective oil film in VTEC.

One fact is gasoline is made with alcohol and alcohol will hurt gas mileage. Alcohol absorbs moisture. Do you really think that the oil companies want people to know ways to save gas or "real" additives that will improve gas mileage dramatically? I don't think so. And Toluene (acetone) is used in fuel injector cleaner. So, I'll try this on my Civic and see what happens. I think, being that it is such a diluted amount (only a quarter of a percent in my tank), the worse it could do is completely clean my injectors and all the carbon buildup. Who knows if it will work, we'll see.

No this isn't about the oil companies....if this REALLY worked as advertised it would have been mandated by the EPA or CARB LONG ago. Since it reduces both emmissions and improves MPG it would be a natural way to reduce pollutants in the environment. IF it works as claimed.

Acetone has been around for decades and the author claims that he's been using it for 50 years. If this worked as advertised we would have seen it's adoption duing the fuel crisis of the 70s(Highest gas prices EVER reported).

Acetone wasn't adopted because it either

A. Doesn't live up to the claims when conducted by independent labs with real competence.

Or

B. Provides some real negative that would offset any potential advantage that could be gained. Considering the claimed advantage this negative would have to be pretty serious.

The question is....Are you willing to take the risk to find out? I wouldn't.....

Oh and BTW.....

whenever you see the following type of statement in any article you know it's the biggest fraud in the world...

Anything with real evidence and real fact will never say 'Ignore the doubters and do it anyway" Instead it will simply provide the evidence to contradict the doubts that people present. The only time that people say...'Oh ignore all those fools trying to say it doesn't work it DOES trust me...try it yourself...I'll even give you a 30 day moneyback guarantee", is when they don't have true undisputed evidence to back up their claims. They often have very questionable 'proof' that won't hold up under intense review.

I'd like to hear RR's thoughts on this.

Two things come to mind after reading this:

1) Acetone does not intrinsically add any energy value to fuel. It’s heat of vaporization is low compared to the branched alkanes and aromatics in gasoline.

2) If you go with the author’s claim that acetone lowers surface tension of water, fine maybe it does if there is significant water present, that is to say MOSTLY water and nothing that would actually combust in our engines. But there is very little water in normal gasoline (H2O saturation point at ambient conditions ~500ppm). The H-bonding and van-der-walls forces in H20 and possible in alcohols are very weak and I really doubt have any appreciable affect on the atomization of the fuel.

Forget this and move on. If you are really looking to put something in your tank then go with the lowest % ethanol fuel you can find and sleep better.

ChE

Hi Folks...yes I'm a real, card carrying organic chemist (hey, no nerd jokes!), so I feel compelled to reply. I would like to keep this as brief and to the point as possible:
don't put acetone (or other flammable solvents from the hardware store) in your car. They have properties that (for the most part) that make them unsuitable for everyday running in automobile engines. There are some internal combustion engines that can accommodate a wide range of fuels, etc., but the typical car engine is not of this type.
Also, please lock this thread...there is so much mis-information and nonsensical scientific gibberish, it makes me ill.

Ok, Ok I'll stop my rant...just go out and drive now...I will too!

As much as I may want to lock it, everyone is behaved so far. Feel free to Debate if you wish.

There won't be any Acetone near my cars.

Toluene and acetone are not the same chemical coumpound.

Some solvents found in hardware stores are major constituants of gasoline, but I agree the safest and easiest way to go is to buy a good grade of gasoline.

News Flash: Maybe Smoky Yunick disappeared because he was a smoker.

Well -- the downside of putting some into my '93 caddy which runs only on premium and gets 12 mpg overall is that the car gets ruined...




wait;



that's not such a downside - I would have to get rid of the car and drive my civic or Insight instead !!! I would save lot's of money in gas one way or another.

you could always just add moth balls (napthalene) to your gas tank if you wanted a cheap way to raise the "octane". just a thought for those of you who use acetone.

Kyle R

ANTI PRE-IGNITION ADDITIVES
WHEN USING PETROL . . .

We have three additives in Methanol, Acetone and Benzole (Benzene) and all of them are introduced with the main object of reducing Detonation by increasing in effect the Octane rating of the total fuel. Pre-ignition in general should not present a problem when using as basic fuel petrol.

Acetone in Petrol. Can be used up to 100 percent but with the nominal 10 percent will give an increase of 3 points rather than 5.

The major difference from Methanol being that due to the higher calorific value of Acetone, the consumption does not increase so much, but still provides a higher octane rating.

EASIER STARTING ADDITIVES
WHEN USING PETROL . . .

Acetone is the only safe additive to use, its function being that it increases the volatility of the mixture, without reducing the basic fuel properties too much. Up to 5 percent being quite enough to use.

ACETONE (Dimethyl Ketone) CH3COCH3
is a highly volatile, highly inflammable, water-clear liquid with a strong, sharp, characteristic odour. Miscible with all the chemicals listed here, and water.

As a basic fuel acetone appears to have all the required characteristics, these in general Iying midway between methanol and petroleum. An exception is its very high anti-knock rating which approaches that of methanol. Other uses are as an additive to other fuels, notably to methanol to reduce pre-ignition sensitivity and promote easier starting under low temperature conditions, up to 10 percent for this purpose.

Acetone
Metals: Resistant.
Polythene: Cracks (long term).
Paints: Most attacked severely.
Perspex: Attacked.
Neoprene: Some attack.
Low flash point presents considerable fire risk. Extinguish with dry powder or CO2.

This post has been edited by 2quick4u on Apr 13 2005, 08:14 PM

subscribing....

BTW:

here is a link to a page where results from those who have tried adding acetone has been reported:

http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Ace...ations_the_Same

as an aside, the "scanguage" (see: http://www.pureenergysystems.com/store/ScanGauge/index.html ) initially looked like a good gizmo to have, BUT then I noticed that it records things in its memory that could be detrimental.

I wonder how many people are getting improvements simply because they've been running cheap gas for so long they're just clogged with gunk.