Nitrogen Enriched Fuel by Shell
 

I saw this at a couple of pumps near my house so I had to research it see what it was exactly ..


We've made a great product even better!

The experts at Shell have found a way to destroy gunk with all three grades of Shell gasoline! Every drop of Shell gasoline contains a NEW Nitrogen Enriched cleaning system that seeks and destroys engine gunk in both conventional and modern engines. There's nothing else like it!

What makes NEW Shell Nitrogen Enriched Gasolines even better?
A unique, patented, improved formula exclusive to Shell designed to seek and destroy engine gunk.
Acts as a barrier to help keep your engine clean and protect it from performance-robbing gunk even better than before.
Helps protect and clean critical engine parts in all three grades of Shell gasoline with the most advanced Shell technology ever.
Helps improve engine performance as you drive.
Has been extensively tested, clocking more than a half-million miles in various engines and vehicles, covering a wide range of conventional, modern turbo-charged, direct fuel- injected and hybrid engines.

I wondered about this when I saw commercials for it. Does anyone know if it actually does any good?

An additive-like action that really works? Or just a reputed brand snake oil - for the discerning?

If the nitrogen/gasoline doesn't do anything for the engine, you can always fill your tires with it! :)

Or that might be something else...

please correct me because I am probably wrong, but in every commercial I can remember they always show sludge build up on the top of the valve.

How can a fuel additive clean that if the combustion and fuel is delivered on the other side of the valve and is supposedly sealed off from the other side?

I would think that an oil additive would help cure sludge.

Again, I'm probably wrong but thats why I have you guys ...

Of course it works, Nitrogen is an inert gas! Why do you think they call it Nitro?!?

Last year, many car dealers were filling tires up with nitrogen. They were charging $20.00 per tire for this. What was the benefit? Making the dealers a profit at the expense of ignorant people. You can buy a cylinder 60 inches tall for $15.00 that will fill at least 200 225 75R15 tires! This started with NASCAR as they put nitrogen in their race car tires to control tire pressure increases when the tires get hot in a race. Aircraft uses nitrogen to control expansion of tire pressure at altitudes. PEOPLE........NITROGEN IS INERT!!!!!!!!!!!!! That means it doesn't react with anything. IT WON'T BURN, IT WON'T CLEAN ANYTHING!!!!!!!! I have a news flash for you....THE ATMOSPHERE IS MADE UP WITH 78% OF THE STUFF!!!! So...78% of the air that your engine, lungs, tires, basket balls and the like, take in is already at 78%. What percentage does SHELL add (if any)? I bet no one knows. They fill potato chip bags with the stuff to prevent spoilage....yep....inert! Fill a bag with oxygen and it will spoil fast! Don't take my word for it, prove it to yourself. Just go to a welding supply store with a book of matches. Strike a match, let it burn for a second, then blow it out. Have the salesman turn a stream of oxygen on the ember and it will magically REIGNITE with vigor! Try the same experiment with nitrogen, carbon dioxide, argon, or even helium and the match will stop smoldering as fast as sticking it in water! You guessed it....INERT! DOES NOT SUPPORT COMBUSTION! So....will someone PLEASE explain to me how this is good for power in your engine, how it will clean? PEOPLE, WAKE UP and save your money!

Hi Colo66, welcome to ecomodding! Interesting to jump in the fray with such a vigorous first post :)

Nitrogen = Inert is not fully correct. It is LESS reactive, but not entirely inert - only the 'noble gases' - Helium, Neon, Argon, Crypton, Xenon, Radon are inert (ref. highschool chemistry).

Still I do not understand how Nitrogen from the fuel will start cleanup like a janitor on steroids, whereas the air Nitrogen will look on as a cool bystander.... I share that part of your comment! It smells, and not very good...

Agreed with points so far, now enlighten me on how fuel can clean the side of a valve that has no exposure to it? Many gas companies use the claim that they clean sludge, so how if the sludge build up is on the other side of the valve?

Because most cars on the road are port injected. The fuel is sprayed above the valve into the intake runner. Some of it does "wash" on the back of the valve.

Nitrogen is almost inert... almost, to quote answers.com


Elemental nitrogen has a low reactivity toward most common substances at ordinary temperatures. At high temperatures, molecular nitrogen, N2, reacts with chromium, silicon, titanium, aluminum, boron, beryllium, magnesium, barium, strontium, calcium, and lithium (but not the other alkali metals) to form nitrides; with O2 to form NO; and at moderately high temperatures and pressures in the presence of a catalyst, with hydrogen to form ammonia.

so I can't say what it is doing to your combustion chamber deposits, but it might do something.

Hmm... wonder if it's going to upset your NOx reading?

My wife works at a Shell station and they had a meeting about the new gasoline additive. I asked her about what was said, but being a woman, she remembers nothing but a mono-tone boring speaker talking over her head.

one of the biggest advantages Ive seen fuel adatives talk about is the cleaning of the actual injector itself. Parafin and other junk will build up in the screen/fuel rail/ fuel nozzle and cause change of flow and atomization. There is also a lot of talk of the additives being able to clean the deposits that form on the piston face as well.

Thanks Hummingbird for that warm welcome! Here is a quote from Wikipedia that I copied and pasted here.

"Nitrogen gas has a wide variety of applications, including serving as an inert replacement for air where oxidation is undesirable;
To preserve the freshness of packaged or bulk foods (by delaying rancidity and other forms of oxidative damage),
In ordinary incandescent light bulbs as an inexpensive alternative to argon,
On top of liquid explosives for safety measures,
The production of electronic parts such as transistors, diodes, and integrated circuits,
Dried and pressurized, as a dielectric gas for high voltage equipment,
The manufacturing of stainless steel,
Use in military aircraft fuel systems to reduce fire hazard, see inerting system,
Filling automotive and aircraft tires due to its inertness and lack of moisture or oxidative qualities, as opposed to air, though this is not necessary for consumer automobiles."

It is true that nitrogen will react with oxygen to produce nitrogen oxide that will react the the platnum in the CATS to convert back to nitrogen and oxygen. So....explain to me how adding a "almost inert" substance, that does not support combustion, in fuel used in an internal combustion engine is good? I have never seen an engine with "dirty/plugged" injector on an engine with less than 120,000 miles so if ANY purposed "cleaning" benifit is claimed will be negated by the need for major engine rebuild any way. I have had severial cars with over 200,000 miles that the engine was overhauled and the original injectors was reused with no ill effects on MPG or performance. On high mileage engines that I have seen with fuel problems, the injector failure was caused by not replacing the fuel filter when required.
So....what I believe is one of two things.....Its a ploy to sell a product at above market prices with no actual benifit (nitrogen is very inexpensive) or to reduce power of the fuel on older higher compression engines.
It would be interesting to know if Shell has any business interest in a oxygen production facility as nitrogen is a "waste" byproduct. At nearly a 3 to 1 ratio of nitrogen/oxygen ratio in the atmosphere, (source for the oxygen) there is a huge market for pure oxygen but not as large for nitrogen. It might be a way for them to "dispose" of excess nitrogen without incurring the rath of EPA!
I ALWAYS run from any fuel that has any additive advertised. Alcohol included. But thats for another post!

To add more fuel to the fire....

I recently had to replace my intake manifold gaskets on a 9 year old Chevrolet 4.3L V6 which has port injection. The manifold is 2 clamshell parts that were filthy as all bojeesus.... but the parts the fuel actually sprays, including the valves - were clean as new parts.

Shovel - I don't find that amazing at all...

I ran my Escort GT-T w/ a 12:1 FMU for nearly 50k miles... every time the turbo would spool, it would blow smoke everywhere, make all kinds of noise, stink like crazy, take off like a Steroid freak of a 4 cylinder, and when I finally blew a hole in a piston, took the engine apart, and looked around, the fuel system was completely clean, as were all the parts where fuel would normally touch... !?

Basically, everything except the exhaust manifold was clean... but then again, I changed the oil filter every 2k miles, oil every 6k or as necessary, and only ran 87 Octane gas from American gas stations.

I always just kinda figured I was weird, b/c that's not the only engine I've taken apart that didn't have gunk in it... even after 200k+ miles.

Top Tier gasolines
 

If you are not familiar with Top Tier gasolines you should be. I won't go into all of it here but here is a link to get you started.
Top Tier Gasoline

It is well worth reading and noting which gas companies in your area are Top Tier gasoline companies. To be listed as a Top Tier gasoline company all grades of gas you sell must meet the standard. A cleaner engine means better gas mileage. I use to keep a list in my car of the companies but now I know what is available where I drive. I usually just stick with Shell which is also sold at some Circle K stores here in Arizona.

One more link that is a little more up to date about which gasoline companies are Top Tie and a little more info.
Drive it Forever: Top Tier Gasoline | Wise Finish

Al

I never cared about "top tier" gasolines, Where the gas was made/refined,etc... I just buy what's ever the cheapest.

GasBuddy.com helps.

The only places I never buy from are ones that seem "dirty", ones that have just had a fill, or are due for a fill, etc.

I personally have seen a tanker fill up one gas station with "89 octane", then go fill the "89 octane" tanks on another station (not the same "brand/company"), not ten miles away, but they had a price difference of at least 10 cents across the board.

What does that tell you about where your fuel comes from?

Bingo.

I don't see how it will do anything more for your engine than the air that already comes in through the intake, or that fills the empty space in your gas tank.

Sounds to me like a way for Shell to scam you for more profits. If they aerate the fuel at the pump, you are getting less actual fuel per gallon because the rest is just air.

They can't legally aerate the fuel at the pump to add anything to it. The pumps are monitored and certified by the FTC and often by state governing bodies as well.

Any fuel additives would have to be added well before the pump stations ever got it.

The only logical thought that I see, is that somehow, they're bonding nitrogen with other molecules in the fuel, creating a slightly different composition altogether. The problem with this, is that it's still going to just be more nitrogen, less boom.

It's market brand differentiation. Nothing more.
The first company to come up with it or be notable for doing it can claim to be "an industry leader" for something that doesn't even add to their product in a way that significantly affects the customer. It will however still slightly inflate their sales on a temporary basis.
The same kind of market brand differentiation goes on quite frequently in food products. At first there were only a few products "WITH ADDED CALCIUM", but eventually everything had "ADDED CALCIUM".
It's all about making something mundane slightly more novel. You can accomplish similar results by changing the packaging of the product, the labeling, or the presentation enough to make it seem "new" even though its contents are still the same.

So yes. It's basically snake oil.

Maybe it's the same as "Platformate"...