Answering A Espinoza

Could you narrow down what you would like to take seriousely? Like I said, I am familiar enough with the topic to know that most of what is in it is true. I can easily validate what is important to the topic at hand, which can we produce a stream process that can give gasoline the same properties as PIB is reported to give.

So to engage the only part of the article that I am asking for help with, I guess you are asking for verifacation that there is evidence that PIB can be added to gasoline to give better gasoline mileage and less emissions.

Ok, so if I give you this so you can take it seriousley, will you, or can you, or is it the politics described in the article that you want verified. I can do that but I do not have the time and I do not need any answers regarding that aspect of this discussion. It however is not hard to verify much of it if you look.

Below is a paragraph from the heading of a paper written by Professor Waters. There are many other like it at this address

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When polymers which can impart sufficient viscoelasticity to hydrocarbon (HC) fuels are introduced with the fuel into the combustion chambers of internal combustion engines the fuel droplets formed burn more efficiently at lower temperatures, resulting in lower fuel consumption and greater power. The lower operating temperatures of the engines mean that less heat is contributed to the global thermal burden. The greater efficiency of the engines means that a lesser quantity of carbon dioxide is produced per unit of work provided. The pollutants: HC, CO and NOx are significantly reduced and this obviates their prospective greenhouse-warming effects. The contribution is holistic in that the enhanced efficiency of the combustion process in engines reduces the thermal output not only from individual vehicles but at the refinery and in the vehicles which transport fuel, as well.

Below is an article that was in the Washington Times in 2000. I know it was actualy printed because I read it on the way to a meeting at a Virginia Senators office in Washington the day it came out.

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Chemist claims fuel additive cuts pollution, boosts mileage By August Gribbin THE WASHINGTON TIMES

A former American University chemist yesterday reported that he and a Virginia entrepreneur had created a safe, pollution-reducing and mileage-boosting replacement for harmful gasoline additives. In a well-received paper presented at the annual American Chemical Society meeting that ended here yesterday, Paul Waters explained he had created a polymer additive for gasoline called polyisobutylene. He said that controlled company tests using more than 50 different automobiles show the new agent reduces harmful auto emissions by 70 percent while increasing engine power 10 percent and gas mileage at least 20 percent. The additive is being tested by officials in California, Maryland and Wisconsin, and also in China, Japan and Ireland. "We've introduced the first antiknock [or combustion-enhancing] agent that is not a poison or environmental disaster," Mr. Waters said in an interview. "What Professor Waters has, on the face of it, is a quite remarkable discovery," said Graham Swift, a Philadelphia-based polymer scientist and industrial consultant. He adds, "I heard Professor Waters' presentation and conferred with respected colleagues. The consensus is that his science is good. He doesn't leave much room for doubt - a very good scientific discovery." Put most simply, Mr. Waters' discovery is a method of changing the physical properties of gasoline rather than simply adding oxygen to it as all other additives do. Introducing as little as two ounces of the polyisobutylene to a tank of gas forces slower-burning gasoline molecules to move closer to the faster-burning ones. That allows the fuel to burn more evenly at reduced temperatures. When that happens, fewer unwanted emissions are produced. The altered gasoline reportedly cannot harm engines and can be used universally - in lawn mowers and in big trucks' diesels, too. Mr. Waters is an emeritus professor at American University. For years, he has been collaborating with General Technology Applications, a small, 22-year-old Gainesville, Va., company that was formed to commercialize the military's technological innovations. Company president Jerry Trippe said Mr. Waters "stumbled" on the technology for producing the additive while he and company specialists were trying to modify jet fuels so they wouldn't explode in crashes. Both Mr. Trippe and Mr. Waters are convinced their discovery can bring an end to the long and increasingly intense search for a new way to reduce smog-producing and dangerous hydrocarbon emissions from internal-combustion engines. Since 1995, the Environmental Protection Agency has required the use of gasolines reformulated with pollution-reducing additives in at least 17 states reporting severe smog. That includes most of the Northeast. But in the last couple of years, the quest for a better additive has gained crucial importance because the most common additive, MTBE (or methyl tertiary butyl ether) has been found to contaminate ground water and to create serious health risks. A National Academy of Sciences study also found last year that MTBE and its common substitute ethanol do little to reduce smog and are likely to worsen pollution. California and five other states thus have banned the additive and Maine no longer requires its use. Mr. Trippe said there is no question that polyisobutylene can fill the gap left by MTBE. "The trick is for a little company to arrange and pay for all the testing needed to convince the petroleum industry," he said. "Ours is an unusual approach. The experts aren't used to confronting the problem the way we have." Mr. Waters is less diplomatic. "It's difficult when you have something brand new because the regulators tend not to understand any technology that wasn't invented by some German before 1900," he said.

I hope one of you takes the time to give me some answers. I have had this problem before with no one believing what I am saying which only tells me that this story sounds too good to be true. So since it is, what can I get done hear.

If no one knows anything about polymers and or refining as it relates to this topic, that would be fine but I seem to be getting arguments that suggest that there are people here that could provide answers but that they are not going to waste their timer with an idiot.

I certainly understand that but then does anyone want to reach out on these topics to someone who is not, or do you just don't care to discuss it. I think there is something here in this idea I have. I think that we are being hoodwinked about what we should expect from gasoline, that there is a relatively easy way to make it work the way it ought to work and it isn't by using this additive.

I think a lot of powerful people make a lot of money by doing things the way it is done. That this is good news for someone who can find a way to undermine what they are doing. Like print cartridges.

There couldn't be anyone that hasn't bitched about running out of ink and needing to go out and buy another cartridge for their inkjet printer. I'll bet most of them have muttered to themselves that this is just their way of ripping us off, that it couldn't be that complicated to design an inkjet printer that could be refilled easily and printheads that last for a very long time.

Then it dawns on them that this would never happen because there is too much money to be made in selling cartridges, which is true, for everyone in the business who sells them. But the company that comes out with a printer that doesn't need cartridges will make money, but not off cartridges. It will make money from every single person that will gladly throw their old printers away to buy theirs.

One of these days, someone is going to see what I am saying about gasoline and they are going to make a lot of money. Maybe no one in this group cares about money.

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Bobby
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Reply to
A Espinoza

I was able to find these papers via an author search on Google Scholar. (Looked for PF Waters, and also use the term polyisobutylene to eliminate all the medical papers by another PF Waters.)

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(This is an ACS preprint which must be the '"approval" given by the ACS that Bobby).

It a very intriguing lab result. The PIB seems to encapsulate the aerosol (of course not at the molecular level, as ppm addition of 7 MDalton polymers will not have enough material available to do that) and alter the volatiltiy. But like you, I can only begin to imagine the unanswered questions. Here's a few that I came up with off the top of my head:

What are the long term effects on cars? Will it clog carburators? Injectors? Fuel lines? Fuel filters? I know that polymers in solution will always deposit on any available surface, and the idea of adding a soft adhesive base to a fuel system is really questionable. And since it affects the volatility, I'm curious about how well it will affect cold starts, say when it is -30 or worse here in Minnesota. Theres always the unanticipated problems too, much like happened with, say MTBE. I would think this would make anyone extra cautious to not jump in quickly. I also think it's very intriguing that they only tested it on high mileage cars with little or no book value.

Do I think this could still work out? Most certainly. It's too bad the original poster undervalues and ignores the tremendous amount of work involved in scale-up.

John Aspen Research, -

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"Turning Questions into Answers"

Opinions expressed herein are my own and may not represent those of my employer.

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john.spevacek

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