More Efficient Fuel Additives Still Much Needed

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The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

Many people want to see increasing numbers of electric vehicles on the roads of the future. Reduced consumption of fossil fuels and fewer emissions would be clear benefits of such an approach.

The trouble is that, even with electric vehicles gaining in popularity, many gasoline and diesel-powered cars and trucks will remain, continuing to emit pollutants. There likely will be more petroleum-based vehicles on roads in the future than there are now — at least 1.5 billion by 2050 compared with 1 billion total vehicles currently.

That begs the question of how to more efficiently reduce the more harmful side effects of gasoline and diesel fuel given that they will still be around for many years to come?

Nanotechnology may be one possible answer.

Fuel Additives on a Much Smaller Scale?

Current fuel additives, which are designed to reduce some of the more harmful effects of both fuels, generally require relatively large volumes of such additives to work.

Startup FuelGems says its fuel additive uses between 800 and 20,000 times less material than current rival products to create such beneficial effects. A microdose of just 1 to 5 grams of its active advanced material can treat approximately 260 gallons of fuel, the company claims, all the while increasing fuel consumption and lowering emissions — some by as much as almost 50%.

The company has initiated discussions and is in pilot and pre-pilot stages for its additive technology with some big energy players including BP plc BP, Japan-based Marubeni Corp. MARUY, and Suncor Energy Inc. SU.

The need for efficient fuel additives becomes even more important when considering that most of the electricity produced for electric vehicles still comes from polluting energy sources such as natural gas and coal, FuelGems says. To completely replace such energy sources with cleaner alternatives such as solar and wind remains some way off, requiring the need for gasoline and diesel that’s as clean as possible in the interim.

Investment and Future Plans for Expansion

FuelGems, backed by Austin, Texas-based venture capital fund Sputnik ATX, also completed a crowdfunding campaign in 2020. It is continuing to accept individual investments. FuelGems is hoping to continue to expand into gas stations and refineries with its additive technology, since the nanoparticles can be added at a refinery level very easily and cost effectively. With 700 refineries, if the company has even 20% of them, this additive has the potential to treat a massive amount of fuel very quickly.

There are 220,000 such gas stations in the U.S. and Europe while there are 220 refineries in the US and Europe, and 700 worldwide, according to FuelGems. FuelGems is currently in a pilot and pre-pilot stage with 2 separate gas station companies and oil and gas companies that operate approximately 15 refineries.

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.