It seems that fuel economy and hp are directly related to the energy (btu's) in the diesel. This is apparant because when they switch over to winter time fuel the btu's decrease and milage usually goes down. Also ulsd has less btu's than lsd which is probably why you see milage reduction with ulsd.

Is there anyway to up the btu's in ulsd to get themequal tolsd ?

 

Not really.
i studied this for years concerning the 'organic' sulfur in coal,
and my father studied it before me.

To get the sulfur out of diesel you have to break apart benzene-like chemicals in diesel, and this inherently reduces the energy (BTU or calories) in a gallon of the fuel.

EPA has info on the BTU in gasoline:

http://www.epa.gov/orcdizux/rfgecon.htm

i have not searched for it
but I am sure the EPA
or the US Dept of Energy
has already got a web page somewhere
listing what BTU per gallon variation
there is between winter and summer blends of diesel ULSD.

 

As Hank said, there's no way to put it back...or at least no additives you can buy that will. The only way is to not process out the stuffto begin with, but that ain't gonna happen.

 

You can't go by BTU alone. I am running ULSD B20 in my truck and get better mileage and smoother running engine with no additives being added to the fuel. I get around 1.5-2 better MPG than regular diesel and the BTU rating for B20 is less that of regular diesel.

 

One "trick" that is somewhat of a hassle to use
but that will pretty well predict which diesel fuel
will give the best MPG
is to weigh EXACTLY one gallon of diesel fuel.

The fuel that weighs the most per gallon
will also have the most BTU's in it
most of the time.

It is true that different fuels burn slightly better or worse in efficiency.

Right now the EPA has made the diesel engine makers cut back the fuel timing to reduce NOx gas pollution.

Just about any additive that increases the 'flame speed' of burning will also make the late model diesel engines slightly more efficient...because all you are doing is getting back to the 'old' fuel timing that 1998 and earlier Cummins diesels had.

The 'flint' of a cigarette lighter
and the mantle of a Coleman kerosene lantern
have 'Lanthanide' oxide materials on them.
A British company is making a diesel additive that puts some finely powdered Lanthanide material in to act as a catalyst and has been claiming this works to reduce soot, smoke and improve MPG and has some reasonable looking data to prove it.

I remember reading old SAE articles about adding catalysts to gasoline and finding slight improvements...but the cost back then exceeded the gain.

 

Only question I would have concerning catalysts is what kind of deposits it leaves in the cylinder (if any). I'll have to go look it up, but there was a chemical that was showing promise as a catalyst in gasoline a few years ago (back when the studies were being done to find replacements for the aromatics in gasoline...which ultimately became alcohol), but after lengthy study found to leave a hard, crusty deposit over time that would flake off and cause heavy wear in the cylinder/rings.

 

i agree that deposits from fuel additives
are potential trouble
and it is hard for us as owners to see this
without tearing down the engine

it always amazes me what some Cummins Ram owners
will put in their diesel
that gives little gain
but could shorten the life of a 500,000 mile engine

my own philosophy (plus my brother's who runs a trucking company)
is to wait and see what
Walmart,
JB Hunt
or the government labs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory recommend after extensive testing and diesel engine tear-downs afterwards.

Walmart's promise to double the MPG of their diesel 18 wheel trucks from 6 MPG to 12 MPG is an astounding one to me, and their experiments and results are worth watching and carefully studying...especially if they can be got free.

 

I have a theory that any additive technology that can actually do miraculous things gets bought out by the oil companies and shelved. It hurts thier profits.

The rest of the crap that we see touted on the late night infomercials are just snake oil (no pun intended). Remember when Slick 50 was all the rage? Some people swear by it, but I believe there was a lawsuit against them that was quietly dealt with. The product is still available too.

I'm not putting anyhting in my tank that hasn't proven to be beneficial while not harming anyhting. The problem is, who's test results do you trust?

 

I trust the Oak Ridge National Lab results.

Walmart results I have not seen yet.