Water and diesel oil: explosive mixture

1997/11/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Biokimika

The French oil company Elf has prepared a new fuel for vehicles: 5 measures of diesel plus 1 measure of water. It is called Aquazole and is more ecological than conventional diesel: it reduces by 50% the emission of particles and by 30% the nitrogen oxides. But it also has disadvantages: Loss of power between 3 and 5% and increase of 10%.

The history of water fuel is ancient and was already known for 1911. Twenty years later there were about 400 patents, but none of them solved the main problem: the immiscibility of water and diesel components. Elf solves the case with an organic emulsifier. The emulsifier allows the mixture to be stable for four months.

The use of this fuel has meant the realization of more than 200.000 kilometers of vehicles, without any mechanical problems either in the motor or in the peripheral elements. From October about 35 urban buses from Chambéry (Savoia) will use the Aquazole in their fuel homologation sessions. At first, it seems that only public transport vehicles and trucks will use this new fuel.