Understanding Fuel

( 1st of Three Parts )

MANCHESTER, England – What’s the one thing you put in your car that you know is very important yet you think the least of? Oil? Nope. Brake fluid? Nope. Gas? Yes.

Admit it or not, you never give much thought on what kind of gasoline you pump into your engine. Oh yeah, you’re concerned or even worried about the seemingly unending price hikes (the good news is, the Big 3 just decided to roll back the pump prices of their products by several centavos per liter). But then, when it comes to the best fuel, you never really make some serious effort to study the different variants of gasoline (or diesel) available in the market.

You may say that all fuels are the same; that they all came from the same black goo that spewed from the mines of Iraq. You’re not alone. We so-called professional motoring writers also think the same way – until we were invited to visit the Chesire Innovation Park here recently.

The Chesire Innovation Park is located in the district of Thornton, some 45 kilometers from central Manchester. It is near Liverpool, the home of the Beatles. Unlike Manchester, which is known for its football team, Thornton is famous for nothing except the innovation park or research center that houses the Shell Global Solutions company. Just like all research centers, the Chesire Innovation Park holds much mystery to the outside world. Not very many people know what’s going on in its sprawling grounds.

"This research facility has been here since World War II," said John Blackburn, site manager of the park. "In recent years, we decided to invite journalists to show our work here. We realized that very few people are aware that fuels are designed, tested and developed before they are marketed. Very few people know that not all fuels are created equal."

Six Filipino journalists, including yours truly, were given a crash course on how fuels are made. We were given a tour of the research center, shown the high-tech equipment used in mixing oil, and for a whole day, we were made to feel like we were scientists taken for a ride to the secret world of fuel designing.

There we met Nick Davenport, a man with a PhD in Chemistry who used to work in landmines and highly-flammable areas. From controlling infernos, Nick decided a decade ago to try his hand in fuel designing. His name may not ring a bell to you, but his creations surely will.

For Nick is the man who created the Shell Velocity and the Diesoline Ultra, both being marketed widely in the Philippines. Being the brains behind these two products, he told us without batting an eyelash that those two fuels are the best in their class.

"The Velocity is the real premium fuel," he said with confidence. "And the Diesoline Ultra is truly the cleanest diesel available in your country."

Of course, being trained journalists, we took his pronouncements with a grain of salt. All six of us have tried the Velocity and the Diesoline Ultra one way or another in the past. But again, just like you our readers, we never gave much thought at these fuels’ performance.

Nick may have seen the disbelief in our eyes, hence he took time to educate us on how he designed those two fuels. He invited us in his laboratory, made us wear white coats and protective goggles, and showed us the components he used in "designing" his work.

"It’s like cooking," he said, peering at us behind his goggles. "Designing fuels is like cooking ham. You get a piece of pork, which is oil, then refine it, then refine it again, then mix it with dozens of small ingredients." Unlike ham, however, fuels are not yet ready for eating after they have been refined and mixed. They have to be tested, then corrected, then tested again, then corrected some more – until the desired results are achieved.

And what are those desired results?

For the Velocity, Nick was given a list of "demands" from Filipino motorists. Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation, Shell’s subsidiary in the country, made a survey on what Filipino drivers want from their fuels. In 1999, the year Velocity was first developed, the number one demand in the Pinoy drivers’ wish list was "more power." Nick had this in mind when he entered his lab to work. The result was the first Velocity – a gasoline with more punch, a cocktail that engines can burn easily and turn into power.

The same was true with the Diesoline Ultra. The only difference was since diesel-powered vehicles in the Philippines are known to be pollutants, Nick had to design a diesel fuel that will not only provide more power but is cleaner as well.

"We tested it more on engines that are subjected to more abuse, are not maintained well and we ran those engines like they were being run uphill, non-stop and with the least maintenance as possible," he said, matter-of-factly and trying not to cast aspersions on the bad habits of Filipino drivers. "The result was a diesel that is not only clean, but also cleans the engine. The more you use it, the cleaner your engine gets."

Nick’s work for the Philippines changed dramatically in the last four years. Several major regulations have been introduced locally, and they all exact demands on the quality of fuels in the market.

The first of these regulations was the phasing out of leaded fuel. Second was the Clean Air Act of 1992. And although it is not a government regulation, the price-sensitivity of Filipino motorists is also a factor in coming up with novel fuels that must be better if not the best – and with the best price tag.

Weeks before our visit to his lab, Nick was in the Philippines to launch the new Shell Velocity. Shell marketing people decided to call it the Intensified Velocity. Intensified because it carries some new ingredients not present in the original Velocity – ingredients that make the fuel more responsive and give more acceleration.

"The responsiveness and the acceleration are the new demands of your motorists which came out in our recent survey," said Nick. The bigger challenge, though, was how to keep the new fuel’s price almost the same as the old one. "That was hard on my part," he said. "It means having to create a better product and not increasing the price. I made it. The new Velocity, as you may already know, is just a few centavos more expensive than the old one. Yet you get the best premium fuel, a fuel with more acceleration, more power, more responsiveness and with the best ability to clean your engine."

Again, we refused to take Nick’s claim as gospel truth. So he showed us a chart comparing all available fuels in the Philippines to the new Velocity. Prior to the Intensified Velocity’s introduction, the best fuel in the market was gasoline ‘B’ of a competitor (it’s up to you to guess). ‘B’ was too good compared to gasoline ‘V’ of another company (it’s not Velocity, that’s our clue). To Shell’s dismay, ‘B’ was even better than the original Velocity.

To test the Intensified Velocity vis a vis other fuels in the Philippines that carry the "premium" tag, Nick and his colleagues created the Simultaneously Dual Fuelled Vehicle, a regular sedan that has three fuel tanks. Two of the tanks, located in the compartment, contain separate sets of fuels while the third, located underneath the vehicle serves as the fuel catch basin.

Nick ran the said vehicle over thousands of kilometers, alternately using the two fuels. "We make sure the fuels don’t mix, hence the catch basin. We empty the fuel line first of the first fuel before switching to the second. Through this we can note precisely the difference between the two fuels," he said.

Further testing is done at the Chesire Innovation Park. Using chassis dynamometers, Nick runs a car non-stop for days, under different temperatures (from -30 degrees to 50 degrees centigrade) without leaving the park. The 16 chassis dynamometers of the park allows the wheels to roll, with the car remaining in place.

"With the chassis dynamometers, we can also measure emissions under extremely hot and extremely cold conditions," he said.

Comparing the results of the tests done on all fuels available in the Philippines to those of the Intensified Velocity, the scientists at Chesire Innovation Park found out that the new fuel could out-accelerate, out-run in terms of kilometers-per-liter, and out-clean gasoline ‘B’ and the rest anytime, on any road condition, and under any weather.

"We won’t make these claims without test results," Nick said, almost bragging. "You try it yourselves when you get home. Then you e-mail me if you’re not convinced."

Postscript: It’s been two months since our visit to Chesire Innovation Park. I am now more conscious on the fuel I put into my car. I don’t know about my five companions, but I’ve decided to take Nick’s challenge. And up to now, I haven’t found a reason to e-mail him yet.

NEXT WEEK: Powering F1 — The fuel behind Ferrari