Thursday, March 19, 2009

Nitrogen Enriched Gasoline???

I'm assuming that anybody reading this blog (both of you) would have had the same reaction as me - total shock that anybody would thing that nitrogen in gasoline would do anything of any value. Besides, nitrogen is already the largest component in the cylinder when ignited (the inlet air is ~ 79/21 nitrogen/oxygen, and the oxygen/gasoline ratio is about 13:1) so whatever small amount that could be solubilized and/or dispersed in gasoline would be a very small amount indeed. (Now nitromethane, that's a different story.) Nonetheless, Shell has just introduced nitrogen enriched gasoline.

Reading the press releases, you eventually find that the nitrogen is part of a (new) cleaning system. That's all fine and nice, but how does that become "nitrogen enriched gasoline"? Note that there is not a trademark on the "nitrogen enriched gasoline", it is simply the generic "nitrogen".

Is the Shell marketing department really so technically inept? Why not claim instead "hydrogen enriched gasoline"? The mind reels from it all.

5 comments:

Ψ*Ψ said...

Surely Shell employs some chemists--wonder what they think of it?

Anonymous said...

I did a lot of research on this topic, and my article might interest you and your readers to know there is 5x the epa standard of detergent in shell's new fuel. I also go into explain the science behind it, and the additive is nothing more than bio diesel.

Article:Nitrogen Enriched Gasoline Explained

John said...

Thanks for the comments, the link to your article and the links in it. There still seems to be considerable speculation on what it is, but you certainly put it better than I that the approach Shell took is getting them lots of backlash.

Anonymous said...

nice article. I would love to follow you on twitter.

John said...

I'm trying to work that out now, and will post appropriately when it happens.