It meets the requirements of the specification of South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) SANS 342 automotive diesel fuel standard.

The Gerotek vehicle test facility of South African defence acquisition, disposals and research and develop-ment agency Armscor, in audited results from tests carried out from September to December last year (using a Samil 100 truck with an eight-ton load), showed it produced an increase in fuel efficiency, which reached 8% at 80 km/h after 1 500 km. “It” is DiesoLIFT, a diesel fuel additive developed by US company International Fuel Technology (IFT) and being marketed in South Africa and the rest of Africa, including Egypt, by South African company FTL Fuel Technologies (FTL).

(Black-owned company African Women’s Investments – Awvest – has a 26% shareholding in FTL.) FTL’s chairperson is Dion Fried-land, best known in this country for the chain of Dion’s stores he founded (but sold some 20 years ago) – today, he is a mainly US- but still partly South Africa-based investment fund manager. And Friedland is an ardent evangelist for DiesoLIFT – “this is a great product; I would not be associated with it if it was not,” he affirms.

DiesoLIFT is a surfactant (a surface active agent), which is a category of chemical compounds which share the properties of soaps and detergents. It is this which distinguishes IFT’s product from most other fuel additives, which are predominantly based on hydrocarbons. Surfactants have a ‘dual- affinity’ character – that is, one end of a surfactant molecule aligns itself to one chemical environment, while the other end aligns itself with another such environment. This means that surfactants tend to settle in boundaries between different chemical environments or phases.

When surfactants find themselves in a uniform chemical environment, those parts of their molecules phobic to that environment come together, while the remaining regions of their molecules, attracted to that environment, point outwards – this behaviour creates stable structures known as micelles.

Concering DiesoLIFT, the consequences are that, when placed in diesel fuel, the product attaches itself to, and so coats, the surfaces of the fuel system and engine. This reduces wear, and so reduces maintenance costs on engines, injectors and pumps. It also increases lubricity, which improves efficiency.

As a detergent, the product also acts to constantly clean the fuel system and engine, and prevent detrimental deposits in the fuel; the result is again increased efficiency.

IFT’s additive also holds water (and ethanol) molecules distributed throughout the fuel, enhancing uniform combustion and preventing phase separation; this is called cosolvency – of course, any water that has already separated in the fuel tank must be drained before introducing the product.

The company also states that it has been proven to prevent microbial contamination in fuel systems and storage tanks. Because it coats the surfaces of the engine and fuel system, and because it cosolves free water, the product also inhibits corrosion.

Its greatest effect, however, is to reduce the overall surface tension of the fuel; this enhances the atomisation of the fuel in the engine, leading to a more complete burn, so improving power output.

Not only does this improved fuel burn lead to fuel economy, it also reduces toxic emissions from the engine (which are the result of incomplete combustion), and because less fuel is used over time, it further reduces the greenhouse gas emissions produced by the engine.

All these results add up to reduced costs. The product has been tested by various agencies and transport companies around the world.

With regard to the SABS, the results of its SANS 342 test (in which it tested a mixture of one part of additive to 600 parts of fuel) show that DiesoLIFT does not change the fuel to which it is added.

The Gerotek tests established that fuel efficiency increases over time; when the additive is first introduced, the benefit is minimal – because it is cleaning the fuel systems; the dirt it cleans out ends up in the filters, which must be replaced. It is after new filters have been fitted (in the case of the Gerotek tests, after the Samil had travelled 620 km following the original introduction of the additive) that improvements occur.

From 620 km to 860 km, fuel efficiency rises by 3,9% (at a speed of 60 km/h) to 4,1% (at 80 km/h).

From 860 km to 1 500 km, the improvement is 5% (at both speeds); from 1 500 km to 3 000 km, it is 5,5% for 60 km/h, and 8% at 80 km/h. In the US, IFT recently won a contract to supply DiesoLIFT to Texas-based transport company Skinner Transportation, which transports bulk and liquid cargoes with a fleet of 140 over-the-road trucks.

In Africa, FTL was awarded an exclusive marketing and distribution agreement in May 2005, and made an initial purchase order for 34 t of the additive.