Enhancing Fuel Efficiency: The Power of Combustion Quality Monitoring

By Rob Mortimer, Managing Director at Fuelre4m

A litre of diesel is the same as any other litre of diesel. Right?

When you fill your tank, the fuel goes into the engine and turns into energy. Doesn’t it?

Before embarking on the Fuelre4m journey, I shared this common belief. It never occurred to me to question whether all the fuel we put into the tank is effectively turning into power. Like many, I simply accepted that refuelling was necessary to ensure there was enough fuel to reach my destination. However, the reality is that every batch of fuel is different. Each grade varies, and every producer adds their unique formula and ingredients. Every time you fill up, you are mixing different batches and grades. “So what?” you might ask. You still need to fill the tank to make your engine run. Yes, but it’s ironic that we spend so much time checking the fuel efficiency of an engine while neglecting the efficiency of the fuel itself.

So, what difference does fuel quality make? To answer this, we must understand that fuel is consumed by weight (g/kWh), but we measure it in volume (km/l). When measuring a vehicle’s fuel efficiency, we look at kilometres per litre. To measure fuel efficiency accurately, we need to know how much power is delivered per gram of fuel combusted and how much unburned fuel is ejected through the exhaust. A quick note on engine exhaust: every bit of unburned fuel represents lost power, lost money, and worse, emissions. When unburned fuel reaches the exhaust and combusts at high temperatures, it generates heat energy and emissions without contributing to the engine’s power. In fact, the exhaust is where most harmful emissions occur.

Understanding fuel quality is crucial. The better the fuel quality and condition before combustion, the more efficiently the engine can convert fuel into power. Higher combustion rates mean less unburned fuel in the exhaust, resulting in fewer emissions. For example, untreated diesel has a combustion-to-unburned fuel ratio of around 3:1. For every litre of fuel consumed, only 75% combusts in the engine, while 25% is ejected through the exhaust. With Fuelre4m’s Re4mx diesel treatment, this ratio improves dramatically to 93% combustion and only 7% unburned fuel. However, without advanced technology, these insights would remain unknown.

Fuelre4m leverages state-of-the-art engine, fuel, and exhaust monitoring solutions to track and verify fuel combustion rates. Our technology continuously gathers data from the vehicle’s ECU, combining it with other sensors to create a real-time dashboard of fuel consumption. This system connects the engine and exhaust via 4G/5G/Wi-Fi or other wireless solutions to cloud-based servers. We map data, including RPM, speed, engine temperature, exhaust temperature, gear position, injector timing, oil pressure, GPS location, engine load, torque, and more, into Power BI dashboards. This allows us to accurately calculate and present actual fuel consumption and energy output.

Our devices simply connect to the OBD/CanBus ports and start transmitting real-time data, mapped by device ID to the correct position on our client’s dashboard. With the right analysis, we can determine the amount of fuel consumed relative to torque, RPM, and speed.

Why is this data useful? It aids in preventative maintenance, detecting fuel theft, and monitoring engine cleanliness. It also provides insights into tire performance, air filter clogging, air mix ratio, and fuel filter efficiency. We can even detect when oil is losing its viscosity. However, the most critical data we provide is actual fuel consumption and emissions production.

By analysing and recording the energy delivered by the fuel, we can not only check fuel quality but also accurately calculate and report on CO2 emissions, as well as NO, NO2, NOx, SO, SO2, SOx, and particulates. This data allows our clients to generate auditable Carbon Credit certificates, enabling them to trade carbon savings on international markets or avoid overpaying for carbon credits or taxes.

The most impressive part is that implementing our technology costs nothing upfront. Re4mtech specializes in building technology solutions on a monthly subscription basis, funded by the savings from using Fuelre4m’s Re4mx petrol and diesel conditioners. These conditioners have been proven (using the technology described above) to reduce consumption by 15% to 20%.

In conclusion, leveraging technology to monitor and improve the quality of fuel combustion is not just about enhancing efficiency but also about reducing costs and minimizing environmental impact. As we move towards a more sustainable future, understanding and optimizing fuel quality will play a pivotal role in achieving these goals.