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Gas versus DieselA Cal-Cat is a coolant to catalyst fuel modification system. The metal tubes are configured to treat hydrocarbon liquid fuel to pass through while being in contact with a proprietary blend of different catalyst that are heated from the engine coolant. A catalyst is a material that helps assist in a chemical reaction but does not get consumed in the reaction. This process is designed so the hydrocarbon fuel will mix and help break up large hydrocarbon chains by direct contact with the catalyst to allow more of the fuel to become burnable to produce power. This is very similar to how a refinery works. The refinery takes crude oil and heats it to varying temperatures over catalyst to basically sort them into 1,2,3,4 and so on hydrocarbon chain molecules. One carbon is natural gas, seven carbon is heptane, eight carbon is octane, ten carbon is decane. Lower carbon count fuels vaporize to early and reduce power, higher carbon counts may never vaporize until in the exhaust manifold or catalytic converter. In either case they can become wasted fuel that does not contribute to power. In addition, as refined fuel sits in storage tanks it begins to degrade, as well as combine to larger carbon chains that are harder for your vehicle to convert into usable power. The Cal-Cat basically acts as a little refinery on your car, truck, motorcycle, boat etc. As the fuel passes through the Cal-Cat, heat that would normally be wasted heats up the fuel and the catalyst in the catalyst fuel chamber. The heated catalyst works with the heated fuel to basically re-break the hydrogen-carbon bonds in the fuel allowing more of the fuel to be usable during the first part of the power stroke, this equals the same power with less fuel, which allows cleaner emissions because less fuel is needed. More of the fuel already injected into the cylinder is being used. The other benefit is less carbon buildup in the cylinder because more of the fuel is being burned releasing heat where it counts. In a normal gas engine out of 100%of the fuel injected into a cylinder only about 20%of the fuel is used during the critical time of power stroke (also known as critical crank angle) this is the first ½ of the power stroke. In order for fuel to burn, it must be in a vapor form. The lower boiling point of gasoline hydrocarbon chains is around 165°F at sea level the higher hydrocarbon chain boiling point is around 445°F. Fuel injection sprays liquid fuel into the engine at the back of the intake valve, at that point the fuel and air enter the cylinder where the fuel starts to vaporize. During this time once the intake valve closes, the piston comes up, the spark plug fires and the fuel that is vaporized starts burning first, the heat from the fire vaporizes more fuel but about ½ the way down the cylinder the pressure is no longer pushing on the piston, because the piston outruns the expanding gases in the cylinder. At this time the extra fuel is wasted in the exhaust manifold or the catalytic converter generating wasted heat instead of power pushing down on the piston. If a 4 cylinder, 4 stroke engine is rotating at 1200 RPM that means there are 600 power strokes per cylinder per min or 10 power strokes a sec. The fuel must be sprayed from the injector as a liquid and turn into a vapor so it can burn in less than 6/10ths of a second. At 2400 RPM it has 3/10ths of a second. The Cal-Cat helps to molecularly change this fuel so that it can lower its vapor point , more of the fuel can become vapor and be used during the first part of the power stroke. As you can see the time that gasoline has to turn from liquid to vapor and then burn in a normal gasoline engine is fractions of a second. The gasoline make up is very important at this point. Modern gasoline engines operate most efficiently at + or- 200°F. Gasoline that is made of seven carbon chain molecules are already vapor before they make it into the cylinder this is a good thing unless it starts combusting before the spark plug ignites it, also known as pinging. Seven carbon and lower carbon chain fuels are mainly what cause spark knock or pinging. Eight carbon chain fuels vaporize around 200°F + or – that is why they are best for gas engines. Fuel with hydrocarbon chains of ten do not vaporize until 400°F +or- so they don’t even start to vaporize until the piston is already on its way down after the spark event. The Cal-Cat blend of catalyst is designed to work with these ten carbon chains to make them into eight and nine carbon chains so they can vaporize and burn in the first part of the power stroke. Warming the fuel under pressure helps to bring the fuel closer to its vapor point before it is sprayed into the engine allowing faster vaporization of the fuel, which also aids in more fuel being able to burn at the start of the power stroke. With the Cal-Cat heating the fuel and the catalyst in the catalyst chamber helping to break down the large hydrocarbon chain molecules it enables the engine to produce more power from the fuel injected in the cylinder, by using the fuel that normally is wasted to produce power. The driver notices that they do not have to push as far down on the pedal to maintain the speed they desire, in addition they get up to speed with less throttle angle. This will decrease the amount of fuel used. Also by burning more of the fuel in the engine cylinder on the power stroke there is less fuel and emissions entering the exhaust system and less harmful gasses making it into the environment. Better Emissions in testing done by Panther Performance Technologies and other third party testing has shown the Cal-Cat can reduce hydrocarbon gasses over 50% and carbon monoxide by 25% or more. All these emission tests were taken in front of the catalytic converter to get a true emission reading of the Cal-Cat performance. By reducing these gasses before entering the catalytic converter it will help keep the catalytic converter cleaner and last longer which in turn can also help save money. A Cal-Cat is a coolant to catalyst fuel modification system. The metal tubes are configured to treat hydrocarbon liquid fuel to pass through while being in contact with a proprietary blend of different catalyst that are heated from the engine coolant. A catalyst is a material that helps assist in a chemical reaction but does not get consumed in the reaction. This process is designed so the hydrocarbon fuel will mix and help break up large hydrocarbon chains by direct contact with the catalyst to allow more of the fuel to become burnable to produce power. Diesel Fuel is an oil fuel containing 12-22 hydrocarbon molecules. Diesel engines are naturally more efficient than gasoline engines because they operate at higher compression and pump a large volume of air. The air is drawn into the cylinder of a diesel engine and is compressed by the moving piston at a compression ratio as high as 25:1, which is much higher than needed for a spark-ignition engine. The Fuel is ignited specifically by atomizing it at the exact time the piston is at the determined point of the combustion stroke by injecting it under high pressure through the injector atomizing nozzle. The contact with the compressed hot air causes the fuel to ignite from temperatures that reach 1300-1650 °F. The combustion causes the gas in the chamber to heat up rapidly, which increases its pressure, which in turn forces the piston downward, the connecting rod transmits this motion, which delivers rotary power at its crankshaft. Cetane is an un-branched open chain carbon molecule which ignites very easily under compression. The ability of the diesel fuel to auto ignite is measured by its cetane number. The higher the cetane number the quicker the fuel starts to burn. Generally diesel engines run well with a cetane number of 40-55. Fuels with a higher cetane number have shorter ignition delays which provide more time for the fuel combustion process to be completed. This is why high speed diesel engines run best with higher cetane fuels. With the typical cetane in North America of 40-45, and in European countries including Norway, Iceland and Switzerland a cetane value of 46-51 there is still room for improvement. Diesel fuel that is 55-60 cetane gives the best performance and cleanest emissions. After the refining process while fuel sits in storage it begins to naturally degrade. As It degrades it forms larger chain carbon molecules that lower the cetane number and over all fuel quality. Lower cetane and lower fuel quality equals fuel that does not combust properly, hampering the engine from generating optimal power which in turn, more fuel is needed for the load demand of the engine. When the extra left over burning fuel begins to quickly cool as it enters the exhaust they quench their burn and begin to form solid soot particles, that create smoke. The soot particles are wasted fuel and other contaminants that enter the environment. Diesel fuel combusts the most efficiently and cleanly when in the 12-16 carbon chain molecules which is also the highest cetane content. The larger18 to 22 carbon chain molecules normally do not completely combust in time to generate optimal power and contribute to soot and the other contaminants found in the exhaust. Heating the fuel alone does not necessarily help it burn more efficiently. The Diesel Cal-Cat acts like a small onboard refinery employing the wasted heat from the engine coolant to heat the fuel in the catalyst chamber to activate a proprietary blend of seven different catalyst. This process re-breaks the larger 18 to 22 hydrocarbon molecules into 12-16 carbon chain molecules making lower quality lower cetane fuel, into high cetane high quality fuel. The proprietary catalyst blend in the diesel Cal-Cat is specifically designed to break these bonds as the fuel is continually re-circulated through the Cal-Cat and the fuel system. Each time the fuel circulates through the Cal-Cat it continues to improve and help keep its quality. There is also evidence of this process enhancing the lubricity and cleaning of the injectors, combustion chamber, and exhaust system. In addition, cold starting duration is also enhanced from the fuel warming in the catalyst chamber which contributes to fuel savings. In our test vehicles the opacity smoke test show a drop of smoke particulate of 35% or more with a noticeable appearance of exhaust system cleaning. As the Cal-Cat helps to make more un-branched open chain fuel molecules more of the fuel combusts efficiently, which in turn more of the fuel that is being injected into the cylinder is being used to produce power and less is wasted as waste heat and particulate matter. By reducing exhaust particulate through enhanced combustion this means there is less soot particles, which not only cause air pollution but also contribute to oil contamination in the engine, resulting in increased oil change frequencies in addition to contributing to the clogging of Diesel Particulate Filters (DPF) and Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC). Further evidence shows there is benefits to vehicles equipped with Diesel Regenerative Systems and Diesel Particulate Filters. Extending the replacement duration of a Diesel Particulate Filter and fleet oil changes is another way for a fleet to save money. Current testing is being done on the performance enhancement of the Cal-Cat in reducing Diesel Regenerative Systems cycles and vehicle down time, actual data will be published within next coming months. |
