Clinging To A Quest (RxP gas additive now has some valid testing behind it)

Tampa Tribune ^ | 9/14/05 | STEVEN ISBITTS

[ChildOfThe60s]

The state transportation department's use of RxP, which ended in June, was arranged with help from King.

Howard Jemison, a state support services manager, said the six high-mileage vehicles that used the additive were driven and maintained regularly prior to the study.

Here's how RxP was used:

• The vehicles first were tracked for weeks -- four to 12 tanks of gas -- to determine their average miles per gallon.

• Next, up to 2.5 ounces of RxP were added to their gas tanks at every other refueling.

• For nine months, mileage and gas consumption were recorded for more than 75,000 miles combined.

Multiple drivers used each vehicle, and Johnson provided the RxP free to the state.

During the months that RxP was added at every other gas fill-up, the study showed two 1988 Ford Escort wagons had their average gas mileage improve 16.6 and 33.17 percent, respectively.

Average gas mileage also improved 4.1 percent in a 2001 Ford Taurus wagon, and 6.9 percent and 11.4 percent in two 1999 Taurus wagons. A 2000 Chevy Astro van saw its average jump 20 percent, from 15.3 mpg to 18.4 mpg.

Before-and-after testing done by a firm hired by Johnson showed the vehicles had nearly eliminated emissions of nitrogen oxides, a major cause of smog, according to the EPA.

[ChildOfThe60s]

Up to now, the downside of additives was that any improved fuel efficiency was not enough to make up for the cost of the additive. At$2.80-3.00 a gallon that equation becomes more favorable.

I took a look at the site to see if pricing was better than in the retail outlets around here. Almost half, with very favorable shipping cost. Ordered a few bottles myself. Looked cheap after just filling my tank. /groan

FYI, rxp.com

[Paradox]

I'm not 100% convinced, was this at least a single blind trial? Looks like a very small n. Having said that, the results, especially for older cars, looks pretty favorable.

[xcamel]

Hint... RxP is really 90% Acetone, and some inert stuff.

[Paradox]

RxP is really 90% Acetone

I believe there have been a few threads here on FR about using acetone as a fuel additive, with at least one freeper conducting a personal experiment on his own vehicle.. not sure what the latest was.

[dynachrome]

Thread on acetone from July. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1450915/posts

[mountainlyons]

I have up to 4 miles per gallon increase in gas mileage with the higher price since the epa took the pollution restrictions off the market. The sky looks really nice without the pollution gas. I went form sometimes as low as 16 miles per gallon to 22 miles per gallon. I usually got about 18 mpg so the the gain was 4 mpg. I do not drive in denver but the epa decided to penalize me for living within 50 miles of denver thus the bad gas.

[ChildOfThe60s]

Hint... RxP is really 90% Acetone, and some inert stuff.<

Do you have some evidence to back that up? If not, what caused you to deduce that it is acetone?

I didn't follow the acetone thread too closely, but what little I do know about acetone leads me to believe that it is not a good idea to put it in your car and burn it. Not good for your car or the air, I would guess.

[ChildOfThe60s]

I have read that the EPA required oxygenates are not good for mileage or performance. And of dubious benefit to the air.

[mountainlyons]

Oxygenated fuels good for the air? My complaint against oxygenated fuels is that my air is clean and I live 50 miles form dirty Denver so why am I penalized for the sins of Denver?

[Old Professer]

RxP has a MSDS flash point of 140F, pretty much the same as industrial solvent while acetone has a flash point of -4F.

[HangThemHigh]

"RxP has a MSDS flash point of 140F"

Is the other 10% water? That's pretty inert and would raise the flash point from that of pure acetone (but so would many other additives).

Acetone is a very good solvent for rubber and plastic. I would be hesitant to put it in my car, but such a small amount might be OK.

[Old Professer]

Since water is immiscible in water it won't affect the flash point; the water would just boil away. My point was that the claim of RxP being acetone doesn't "hold water." (Pun intended)

[Old Professer]

Boy, when I screw up, I do it big time:
Since water is immiscible in acetone it won't affect the flash point; the water would just boil away. My point was that the claim of RxP being acetone doesn't "hold water." (Pun intended)

[defenderSD]

The test results are impressive, but this additive is so expensive that it costs $7 to treat 25 gallons of gas. So what's the point when you're not going to save any money with most cars at that price? They neeed to find a way to bring down the price of this stuff if they want to sell more of it.

I wouldn't be surprised if big oil knows that this additive works, but no oil company wants to be the first to use it because they don't think they can get valid patents on this additive. If they can't patent the additive, then other companies will use it too and ultimately drive down demand for gasoline. Oil companies want to produce gas that provides good performance and keeps your engine clean, but they have no incentive to produce gas that gets significantly higher mileage unless they can get patents on the high-mileage gas and stop competitors from producting it. Maybe the composition of this additive is fairly simple and companies don't think they can get a patent that will stand up in court.

But this really looks like an interesting substance that this man has invented. He needs to find some investors who have some knowledge of oil refining and start up a refining company to blend this additive into his gasoline and sell it in large amounts.

[ChildOfThe60s]

I ran some numbers to see the cost/benefit ratio. Here's what I got. I have done some minor rounding, but not enough to significantly affect the outcome. I figured RxP based on buying 4 bottles from the web, including freight, which comes to $4.50 per bottle.

Given the following:
1. gas cost of 2.85 per gallon
2. RxP cost of $4.50 per bottle
3. RxP bottle treats 20 gallons (realistically, it is hard to measure and treat exactly 25 gallons)
4. Your car gets 16 mpg and gains 12% using RxP bringing it to 18 mpg

Per mile cost for gas:
without RxP: 17.1¢
with RxP: 17¢

Conclusions:
A number of variables could easily make the additive cost effective.
1. Higher gas price (RxP cost is the same regardless of gas cost)
2. Better than 12% mileage improvement
3. Precise use so that you actually treat 25 gallons (about 1/2 cent per mile improvement)
4. Lower RxP cost via commerical purchasing and use

The point here is, if we consider the information on RxP to be accurate, it is more or less at a break even point now in terms of cost. I haven't even considered the emmissions benefits in this, again assuming the data to be accurate.
In theory, *if* the emmisions results are accurate, all the varieties of blended gas could be reduced, thus lowering the cost of gas - yeah, that's REALLY theory.

Another hard to figure plus is the detergent effect and reduced carbon deposits. These are potentially $$ saving in the long run. You ever had to replace a clogged fuel injector? ouch

[Campion]

Since water is immiscible in acetone

Take it from an ex-chemist: water is completely miscible in acetone in all proportions. However, putting acetone-water in gasoline probably wouldn't be a good idea.