Fuel ethers have been playing an important role in improving air quality. Alongside the improvements in car technology, the use of fuel ethers as petrol components have, both directly and indirectly, contribute to cleaner air in Europe.
Direct improvement of air quality is obtained thanks to the oxygen content of fuel ethers. Adding oxygen to petrol enables a more complete combustion of the fuel and therefore reduces exhaust emissions of carbon monoxide (CO).
When used as part of the petrol formulation, fuel ethers lead to a reduction in emissions of exhaust pollutants such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulates (PM).
In comparison to alcohols, fuel ethers reduce the overall vapour pressure of petrol and the related evaporative emissions to air, which causes ozone.
In fact, fuel ethers have the lowest ozone forming potential of all the oxygen containing octane boosters. They contribute to lower evaporation and permeation of high volatile organic carbons in the finished petrol, which in turn means less ozone formation.
Therefore, fuel ethers help indirectly to reduce emissions of toxic substances in the air while increasing oxygen and octane.
Read more: upload document (“An investigation of evaporative VOC emissions from petrol light duty vehicles in Europe using different oxygenated fuels”, Giorgios Mellios, 2016) + SF-Primer-Africa-2021
To extend the lifetime of petrol and hybrid engines
Under ideal conditions a common internal combustion engine burns the fuel/air mixture in the cylinder in an orderly and controlled fashion, as part of a “four-stroke cycle”.
To reduce well‑to‑wheel CO2 emissions
Increasing fuel efficiency goes through modernizing the vehicle engines’ architecture and performance, and improving the quality of the fuel that powers them.
