How It Works
As fuel passes over the rare-earth metals in the device, it catalyzes some reactions in the fuel that increase its ability to burn more efficiently. The catalysts mainly do two things to improve the fuel for better combustion:
- "Crack" longer chain hydrocarbons into shorter chains that burn easier and cleaner
- Take straight-chain hydrocarbons and turn them into ring compounds that generate free hydrogen, allowing the mixture to burn more efficiently.
The proprietary combination of rare earth elements contained in Rentar’s catalyst cause the saturated straight chain aliphatic molecules (like standard diesel fuel) to break into shorter chain hydrocarbons and unsaturated ring compound aromatics which in turn releases a small amount of hydrogen. You probably remember some of this from high-school chemistry (unless you slept through that!) Here is an example.
Some then convert to aromatic rings and release a bit of free hydrogen into the fuel mix. All this is from the catalysts stripping some hydrogen atoms off of the carbon atoms (see the catalysis page for more on how that works).
The hydrogen burns fast & hot to help break up the rest of the long chains into shorter chains that burn more efficiently and achieve a more complete combustion. Both of these (shorter molecules and free hydrogen) allow for a faster and cleaner burn in the combustion chamber, increasing the efficiency. It's not magic, just chemistry and physics.
But take a deep breath, and let's dig a little deeper...
Technical Overview of the Rentar Fuel Catalyst
The Rentar Fuel Catalyst pre-conditions the fuel prior to injection into a combustion cylinder, and it results in improved engine performance and emissions as demonstrated in numerous EPA and CARB recognized independent engine testing laboratories. The process of converting fuel into mechanical energy involves many physical and chemical processes. The fuel is atomized, vaporized, mixed with air, and combusted before being exhausted. The Rentar Fuel Catalyst will impact all of these processes.
The Rentar Fuel Catalyst causes a catalytic reaction of the fuel, explained above, which in turn modifies the chemical composition of the fuel prior to injection. Flame speed and rate of reactions will directly impact how the flame propagates within the combustion cylinder and how fast the reactions occur. Understanding how these properties are affected by the Rentar Fuel Catalyst is essential for understanding why the performance and emission benefits are observed in engine tests.
The released hydrogen has a higher flame speed and higher flame temperature compared to diesel fuel. Taken cumulatively, the resultant mixture leaving the fuel catalyst device has a slightly lower vapor density and higher flame speed. The lower vapor density, which means a lower boiling point, will impact the mixing within the combustion cylinder and reduce the amount of energy required for complete combustion to occur. That leads to a more efficient burn and a reduction in unburned hydrocarbons. The higher flame speed will directly affect the flame propagation within the combustion cylinder, and means more power output for the same amount of fuel consumption. Think of it as using less energy to break up the long molecules - because that's already done by the catalyst - and more energy available to push the piston. This will effectively reduce the fuel consumption of the engine for the same power output.
Emissions Discussion
Emissions must also be considered when employing this technology, and fortunately the Rentar Fuel Catalyst improves emissions. The more efficient burn reduces the number of unburned hydrocarbons and the improved fuel consumption will directly reduce the C02 in the exhaust since all carbon in C02 originated from the fuel source. NOx is heavily dependent on flame temperature; however, one must consider local variations in flame temperature due to local variations in fuel-to-air ratios within the combustion cylinder. Above a certain temperature, NOx increases exponentially with temperature, and local hot spots can generate relatively large amounts of NOx. Thus, atomization and mixing are very important in the design. From a global standpoint, the global pressure and temperature during combustion will determine the power output, and for the same global temperature and pressure, the power output will be the same regardless of the type of fuel used to generate the high temperature. Therefore, two engines with the same global flame temperature but different mixing can have similar power outputs with substantially different amounts of NOx emissions. Due to the effects on the fluid properties, mixing is likely improved as evident in the reduction in NOx emissions using this technology.
CO emissions are also reduced with the Rentar system. However, the cause for this reduction is likely a combination of multiple physical and chemical processes. Conditioned fuels coming out of the Rentar Fuel Catalyst are more energy-efficient for combustion and more likely to experience complete combustion, leading to less production of CO from incomplete combustion. From an equilibrium standpoint, the amount of CO, due to dissociation of CO2, increases with temperature. The improved mixing and reduction of local hotspots in the cylinder likely leads to a reduction in CO2 dissociation and improved combustion efficiency. From a chemical kinetic standpoint, the conversion of CO to CO2 is much faster at higher temperatures. Less mixing leads to both local hot and cold spots. Additionally, heat loss at the wall can affect the local temperature and CO formation. The improved mixing, as evident in the reduction of NOx emissions, locally reduces both CO2 dissociation in higher temperature regions and increases the conversion of CO to CO2 in lower temperature regions.
In summary, the Rentar Fuel Catalyst system advantageously affects the chemical composition and the properties of the fuel. Reduced fuel consumption improves fuel economy and reduces emissions. The improved mixing also aids to reduce NOx emissions and CO emissions. Due to the improved performance and emissions and the relative ease of adapting existing engine technologies for use with the Rentar Fuel Catalyst, the technology is very attractive to a wide variety of applications.
We hope this helps and we are here to get you all the details you need on this revolutionary technology. Feel free to reach out to us below.
Your friends at Zelkam
P.S. If you're having a hard time understanding how a catalyst can change the fuel without being used up or wearing out or inputting something like power, you're not alone. We've put together a page on catalysis with videos to help everyone understand what's happening on the surface of a catalyst - it helped us. It's not magic, just clever chemistry used all over the chemical industry. Join us over on that page...