I was intrigued about this product so I sent out an E-mail to get to the bottom. I will post the E-mail that I sent out and the response that I got back. I am still not sure. Maybe some of the readers can help read through this and help. It sounds interesting.
I am interested in your product, however, your website does not explain what the product base is. Is it an alcohol base? Does your product work by emulsification of water, or demulsification? I own a GM Duramax Diesel, and I was wondering if it is safe to use? Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Jeff,
K 100 acts differently than all those other treatments. Some are based on a simple alcohol and will make a milky emulsion when mixed with water—other ingredients will also make the milky emulsion so it’s not just simple alcohol.
Some products are specifically formulated to force all water out of a suspension with the fuel—often called de-emulsifiers.
K 100 is neither. When mixed with water K100 breaks the hydrogen bond between the individual water molecules, and then forms a permanent shell around the individual molecules by a valence bond. This results in a clear solution that will not separate, nor will it “unbond” with the water. There is no white milky stuff to clog filters.
Now, as to what is in our formula—that’s a secret. But it does contain butyl cellosolve which does have an O-H at the end of the chain. So technically it does contain an alcohol—but NOT the common wood alcohol.
I’ve attached a memo on that subject.
Now as to using it. K 100 has been in use for over 25 years. It has been successfully run in all sorts of diesel equipment. In fact CAT and Komatsu use it in their repair trucks and shops. We have Volvo and Mercedes shops that use it and recommend it. The real secret with k 100 is that it absolutely eliminates all water problems, provided you use it at recommended ratios. To overcome existing water contamination we recommend that you put in 50% more K 100 than you have water. If you don’t know how much water you have then add it at 1 quart for 100 gallons.
For general maintenance purposes we recommend 1:1000, except that in colder climates you should go to 1:500 during the winter. By the way K 100 will also add much needed lubricity to the new ULSD.
Too little does no good, too much does no harm.”
Hope this helps,
Tim Booth
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From: Tim Booth, Kinetic Laboratories [mailto:
[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 10:10 AM
To:
[email protected]
Subject: Fw: Deisel Fuel Supplement K100
This is a copy of the attachment that was sent with the return E-mail:
The term alcohol refers to a whole family of chemicals that include an Oxygen Hydrogen compound connected to a central Hydrogen Carbon chain. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of different alcohols in this family which may do good things in certain situations and bad things in another. A comparison is “good” cholesterol and “bad” cholesterol.
Does K100 contain alcohol? In a strict sense K100 does contain an alcohol. The alcohol compound used in the formulation of K100 was specifically chosen to eliminate water contamination in fuels, acting like “good” cholesterol.
In the past the “Use No Alcohol” warning has referred to certain “bad” alcohols that were added to gasoline to try to mitigate the effect of moisture contained in the fuel system. “Bad” alcohols will combine with water and form a weak or watery alcohol, but do not alter the hydrogen bond between the water molecules and merely dilute the water. Over time the “bad” alcohol will vaporize off leaving behind all of the original water.
Additionally, certain of the “bad” alcohols will dry out and embrittle many rubber fuel system components. In 2-cycle and diesel engines, which rely on the lubricity of the fuel, the use of certain “bad” alcohols will dilute the lubricant and reduce its friction-fighting capacity. These “bad” alcohols have been acting like the “bad” cholesterol.
K100, with its “good” alcohol, eliminates water and does not break down rubber in fuel line hoses, o-rings, and other fuel system components.
We are careful about using the word alcohol because without knowing the specific chemistry of which alcohol is under consideration there can be no blanket statement.
What’s in K100? K100 Fuel Treatments are proprietary formulations derived by Alice Otto, our founder, to deal with moisture contamination in fuels. Without revealing the entire formula or process, the greatest single component in the product is variously known as Butyl Oxitol, Butyl Cellosolve, Ethylene Glycol Monobutyl Ether, 2-Butoxyethanol. The choice of the raw materials and the processing of them focused on a final product that would break the weak hydrogen bond between the water molecules and then use that valence to permanently bond a combustible shell to the water molecule.
Once the challenge of dealing with the water was met, certain other compounds were incorporated to improve the cleaning effect, increase shelf life of the fuel, increase lubricity of the fuel, increase cold temperature operation, and modify the fuel itself to increase atomization and improve the fuel/energy conversion process.
Today we are using fuels that contain all sorts of additives to increase octane or cetane, eliminate static electricity, increase lubricity, suppress gel points, reduce ash deposits, balance PH and such. Among these additives are more members of the alcohol family, including ethanol, which is itself a “good” alcohol.
What's the general consensus?
Jeff
