Alkylate petrol for outboards?

[jdc]

Yesterday (buying a new lawnmower) I came across their 'recommended' petrol, which is called 'Aspen' and is apparently Alkylate Petroleum (whatever that is). http://www.aspenfuel.co.uk/

It costs the eye-watering price of £18 for 5 litres of 50:1 ready mixed 2 stroke fuel, but does speak highly of itself in its advertising blurb!

Comparatively eco friendly with vastly fewer toxic trace ingredients like Benzine, less NOx emissions etc etc. However I suspect that this is fairly irrelevant as it's transported around in small containers, not to mention a more complex refining process, so probably the green aspect is specious.

The aspect which prompted me to buy some as an experiment for my Mercury 3.3 outboard is that they say it completely eliminates gummy residues in the carburettor, and can be left in the tank for 5 or more years with no degradation, and in fact it may well dissolve some residues already present. Given that I tend to leave the outboard in a dank locker all winter, with whatever old fuel it happened to have, that sounded just what I need!

Has anyone tried it? And are the claims reasonable? That a fool and his money are soon parted I already know! The price isn't that significant as I use maybe 3 litres of outboard fuel a year, for which an extra £2 per litre pales into insignificance compared to maybe 600 litres a year burnt by the car driving to and from the boat, plus about 3 or 400 litres of diesel burnt by the boat.

 

[TimBennet]

It's seen as a replacement in camp stoves for Coleman fuel (which is even more expensive in the UK!).

It certainly doesn't gum things up and lasts if stored for a long time.

 

[MASH]

a fool and his money are soon parted

£18 per gallon? You are bang on with that observation. What sort of idiot would do that - in a lawnmower?

 

[vyv_cox]

It has a parallel with synthetic lubricants. Oil that is distilled from crude oil inevitably includes a range of molecular weights centred on the one that is being aimed for. When these are burnt in the combustion process the heavier ones do not burn fully but leave gums and carbon deposits. Synthetic oils are made in the opposite way, by combining lighter molecules, gases and solvents, into an oil that has a precise molecular weight. Excellent stuff but very expensive and only worthwhile in the best engines (my 4 or 5 litres costs £60).

The alkylate fuel is made in just the same way, combining gases to make a pure fuel without contaminants, either of hydrocarbons or other elements. It will burn more cleanly and form very little in the way of deposits. Might perhaps be worthwhile in certain engines but I would have thought a lawnmower was far too crude to benefit much.

 

[jdc]

To be fair to the man from the lawnmower dealer, his advice was to use normal petrol through the season, only switching to the fancy stuff for the last fill so the mower's not left with normal petrol in it over winter. One could do the same with an outboard: sorry I didn't make that clear in my original post: it's for the outboard (which maybe is also far too crude to benefit!).

 

[VicS]

To be fair to the man from the lawnmower dealer, his advice was to use normal petrol through the season, only switching to the fancy stuff for the last fill so the mower's not left with normal petrol in it over winter. One could do the same with an outboard: sorry I didn't make that clear in my original post: it's for the outboard (which maybe is also far too crude to benefit!).

Reading the info on the website I see they suggest Aspen 2 is not suitable for outboards, which require a special outboard oil. I guess the you could use Aspen 4 and mix in the usual way with a TCW3 twostroke outboard engine oil.

At the "eyewatering price" though I think i will stick to ordinary unleaded

 

[Xcinquemila]

http://seffuels.com/

 

[chewi]

Reading the info on the website I see they suggest Aspen 2 is not suitable for outboards, which require a special outboard oil. I guess the you could use Aspen 4 and mix in the usual way with a TCW3 twostroke outboard engine oil.

At the "eyewatering price" though I think i will stick to ordinary unleaded

or BP Ultimate, which according to BP has no bio-ethanol in it, so will not separate as ordinary unleaded does after only a few weeks.
Petrol is not what it used to be!

 

[EuanMcKenzie]

Alkylate is one of the middle cuts you use to blend petrol, Generally you use a range of components to achieve a blend to the correct octane level and to the british standard. This will have some gummier heavies as well as some light ends.

about 30% of the petrol we make is alkylate and refineries trade it as a component for petrol blending.

Petrol going "off" is caused by the lighter ends evaporating leaving the heavier ends behind. You would do better tipping out your old fuel in the spring and replacing with with fresh stuff

Posher petrol such as shell and BP have additives which clean up the gums and keep your engine clean

Personally, I would just buy a good quality unleaded petrol, and use it before it goes off. I have no idea why your outboard has been designed for such a contrived petrol blend except for the benefit of enhancing their profit by selling you overpriced posh petrol you don't need.

BTW we put ethanol into all our petrol including BP's though I won't admit to exactly where I work.

 

[sailorman]

Alkylate is one of the middle cuts you use to blend petrol, Generally you use a range of components to achieve a blend to the correct octane level and to the british standard. This will have some gummier heavies as well as some light ends.

about 30% of the petrol we make is alkylate and refineries trade it as a component for petrol blending.

Petrol going "off" is caused by the lighter ends evaporating leaving the heavier ends behind. You would do better tipping out your old fuel in the spring and replacing with with fresh stuff

Posher petrol such as shell and BP have additives which clean up the gums and keep your engine clean

Personally, I would just buy a good quality unleaded petrol, and use it before it goes off. I have no idea why your outboard has been designed for such a contrived petrol blend except for the benefit of enhancing their profit by selling you overpriced posh petrol you don't need.

BTW we put ethanol into all our petrol including BP's though I won't admit to exactly where I work.

Who`s diesel fuel would you not use pls

 

[EuanMcKenzie]

We put FAME in ours - we wern't for a long time but the market is favourable now

It depends on lots of factors but generally its whether the blender has the capability to add it. I cant speak for the country

It is too financially beneficial for us not to do so and generally we all only have two systems one for road diesel and one for red diesel so we can't make a non fame brand

We can't make money of we don't add it - Its govenment policy to subsidise the use of it.

Some marine diesel doesn't get it as I don't think you get penalised if you don't - depends where it comes from.

 

[sailorman]

We put FAME in ours - we wern't for a long time but the market is favourable now

It depends on lots of factors but generally its whether the blender has the capability to add it. I cant speak for the country

It is too financially beneficial for us not to do so and generally we all only have two systems one for road diesel and one for red diesel so we can't make a non fame brand

We can't make money of we don't add it - Its govenment policy to subsidise the use of it.

Some marine diesel doesn't get it as I don't think you get penalised if you don't - depends where it comes from.

what about derv what would you not touch with a barge pole

 

[EuanMcKenzie]

we make petrol and diesel for most people up here but not Shell

I don't know if the retailer that makes shell puts FAME in their DERV

 

[sailorman]

we make petrol and diesel for most people up here but not Shell

I don't know if the retailer that makes shell puts FAME in their DERV

Ok lets try another angle
What fuel supplier would you prefer in your diesel car

 

[EuanMcKenzie]

I put ASDA in mine or occasionally Sainsbury

Occasionally I'll treat myself to a tank of Shell to clean the system through

I have no concern in running fuel with FAME in it. It turns over enough to be not an issue.

Money no object - Shell or BP

 

[sailorman]

I put ASDA in mine or occasionally Sainsbury

Occasionally I'll treat myself to a tank of Shell to clean the system through

I have no concern in running fuel with FAME in it. It turns over enough to be not an issue.

Money no object - Shell or BP

i was told to use shell or bp put through a few tank fulls even the very expensive shell stuff. it made no noticeable difference in performance or mpg

 

[EuanMcKenzie]

its the same base fuel manufactured to a british standard just with their own additive added

Shell claim their fuel burns better imp[roving economy and what is in their additives is their corporate secret so it might have something wonderful in it. But its parts per million

It works on some cars I believe

Cant tell with mine

 

[charles_reed]

its the same base fuel manufactured to a british standard just with their own additive added

Shell claim their fuel burns better imp[roving economy and what is in their additives is their corporate secret so it might have something wonderful in it. But its parts per million

It works on some cars I believe

Cant tell with mine

And sometimes it doesn't, remember those red faces @ Shell when all those Cavaliers had burnt heads? I think it was Strathclyde Police leading the charges!!

In fact with outboards it's the gummy deposits of the 2-stroke oils which cause the problems. Best contained by always stopping the motor by shutting off the fuel tap and completely fresh tankful for the new season.

 

[Bru]

I may get more info on this, then again I may not but a word of caution :- Don't assume that info kicking around the tinterweb on which brands of petrol contain ethanol and which don't is correct!

 

[crewman]

Akylate mean it is fuel made by combining iso-butane with butylene which makes iso-octane. This is why it contains no aromatics such as benzene. The process is fairly hazardous as the catalyst used in the UK if hydrogen fluoride. The Grangemouth HF Alkylation plant is shut down and I believe they buy in alkylate for blending. Iso-octane is wonderful stuff for blending as it is (by definition) 100 octane, and it has a fairly low vapour pressure so the refineries can blend a lot of (cheaper) butane in.

All petrol in Europe has a limit on the benzene concentration - it is a known carcinogen, but unless you are in the habit of breathing the fumes coming off your tank your exposure to benzene from petrol should be trivial, unless you spill some in the cabin. Again if you cannot smell the exhaust fumes your exposure should be minimal, but I will agree that small outboards will tend to produce more exhaust with more hydrocarbons than say a modern car with a catalytic converter. Most pump petrol in the UK will contain some bio-ethanol nowadays there is an EU requirement that 5% of road fuel comes from renewable sources, and this is increasing soon to 10%. If you look on some pumps it says you are getting E95 which means 95% petrol, 5% ethanol. Some pumps now deliver E85.

I think that at £18 per gallon I will continue to