Nitrogen Enriched Gasoline

March 22, 12:25 PMTampa Sports Car ExaminerMichael Berenis

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Shell is selling a new nitrogen enriched gasoline series that contains,"more than five times the minimum amount of cleaning agents required by federal government standards"- Shell This new gasoline will help your engine fight gunk build up, according to a recent test by Shell.

The lab test was split engines, ran at the same time but using different types of gasoline. This test is setup to collect data under exact conditions. The lab results prove that nitrogen enriched fuels are more effective at preventing carbon build up than other lower quality gasolines. This mixture of nitrogen and gasoline has twice the amount of detergent levels required to meet "TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline  Standard" set by Audi, BMW, GM, Honda, Toyota, and Volkswagen. It is the best formulation of carbon build up prevention and elimination out of all gasolines available today.

Nitrogen enriched gasoline is taking over all three grades at all Shell gas stations.  This new detergent formula works in all conventional and modern engines. Shell's new nitrogen enriched gasoline is stated to help engine performance by fighting gunk build up and tested for 500,000 miles on several types and sizes of engines; carborated, fuel injected, modern forced induction, and hybrid engines.

How does nitrogen enriched gasoline work?

The nitrogen molecule is attached to the cleaning agent, and helps create more stable conditions at higher temperatures thus extending the life of detergent in your motor. This nitrogen additive in the detergent prevents the mixture from becoming a victim of thermal breakdown under heavy loads, which would reduce the effects of the cleaning agent. Mixing that detergent with nitrogen, the cleansing agent does not burn off. Nitrogen is an inert gas that doesn't burn, which is how the life of detergent is extended. (see here for more information) According to Shell, the nitrogen enriched fuel uses a “fluid medium”  that "acts like water",  creating a protection barrier while washing away the detergent and gunk into the cylinder where it is destroyed during combustion.  (see here for more information)

High performance vehicles are approved for this nitrogen mixture. It is being endorsed by Kevin Harvick and other sports car related media like a commercial featuring performance vehicle drivers giving each other the "V" sign, displaying their endorsment of nitrogen enriched fuels.

Nitrogen enriched gasoline is also good for noble minded drivers interested in the life of their engine. It extends the longevity by reducing and fighting build up of carbon. Fouled spark plugs are an example of how carbon build up affects your engine. Other areas affected are pistons, piston rings, cylinder walls, valves,  and your fuel system. Fuel system contains fuel pump, lines, injectors, and filter. All of these and more will last longer with use of nitrogen enriched fuels because it fights carbon build up.

This new formula has a wide customer base by attracting performance and economical drivers alike. It also should stimulate car sales for manufactuers by allowing them to produce more powerful, cleaner running vehicles.

History

Higher detergent levels in gasoline has been a long effort by auto manufacturers since 1994 when four auto manufacturers BMW, General Motors, Honda, and Toyota set out to fix the dirty gas problem. The problem was the EPA had not been setting an appropriate standard of detergent levels in fuel to help fight against carbon build up, pollution, gas mileage, and more. The lack of standards forced manufacturers to modify engines for the additional amount of carbon build up. This resulted in reduced engine power, fuel efficiency, rough idle, higher amounts of  pollution, and decreased acceleration. So the auto manufacturers decided to develop a "Top Tier Detergent Gasoline" standard in efforts to fight dirty gasoline.

Future

The future of performance vehicles is opened again with use of higher detergent level gasolines. The prevention of carbon build up will allow auto manufacturers to build future engines with higher performance and less pollution per liter. No longer having to build for the accomodation of carbon build up is great news for performance minded enthusiasts that constantly battle with carbon build up.

The Science

After digging through countless forums I found a very good source of educated attempts to uncover what this new gas really is by several science forum enthusiasts.

The following information is posted in a science forum that this fuel additive may be an amide of a free fatty acid which is made from increased recent agriculture developments. Amides of a free fatty acid are less powerful bases that are pretty stable and are great lubricants.

Amide's are also the lubricating ingredient in bio diesel, and there is a chance this nitrogen enriched gasoline contains the same formula in bio diesel gas. Being similar in nature to bio diesel additives, the formula acts similar and under warm temperatures yield fungi growth and can clog your fuel system. This formula may also be bad for paint and can eat through several plastic compositions as well. The burning affect is also said to release "NxOy", estimated to be 200 times worse than CO2 and will return to earth as acid rain. A general sour opinion of this fuel is summarized by assuming the marketing attempt is a way to sell less eco friendly gas and generate more profit by the most additive and least fuel as possible. 

The Good

Forced induction engines that are typically tuned from factory to run rich mixtures in order to stay cool are surely to bennefit from higher detergent level gasoline. Seafoam in addition to nitrogen enriched gasoline is a great way to fix engines suffering from signs of carbon build up. Older and high mileage vehicles will also bennefit from running increased detergent. Mixing detergent with gasoline helps decrease the amount of petroleum we use at the pump and through out the life of our vehicle. It will make engines run clean for longer periods of time, also resulting in less polution and strain on the environment. When engines get clogged with carbon and gunk, they tend to run extremely rich reducing the effeciency detrimentally while simultaneously creating more pollution.

The Bad

Aside from the negative science above, the sports car community is concerned that nitrogen enriched fuels will harm your forced induction vehicle if is tuned to run 90-100% injector cycle. Some say that the minimum octane rating will still be the same, therefore no ECU adjustment will occur and it is perfectly okay to use this fuel. If the majority is correct, this fuel could cause lean conditions and your ECU will want to increase injector duty cycle to make up for non-flammable gas. If you are already running your maximum injector cycle and don't have enough to compensate for the change, a lean condition could possibly occur. Make sure you have plenty of injector duty left and keep an eye on your AFR's while running this fuel until further evidence is released confirming the science behind this new fuel.

Also, Shell's lack of in-depth press release is creating negative buzz on the forums. Most forum users agree this is just another marketing tactic to help boost sales. Some even say this stuff is really bad for your car and the environment. Other's say it's wonderful. Hopefully, a third party labratory will release some spectrometer readings to figure out exactly what is in this stuff would settle any discrepencies.

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