Temple University physicists develop method to improve automotive fuel burning efficiency

There are a lot of quack fuel additives and mileage enhancers sold in today's market. See, for example, http://www.cartalk.com/content/columns/Archive/2000/May/02.html. Thus, it was with some interest that I read about a device that appears to have some validity to the concept, and some credibility considering the inventors are on the faculty of the Physics Department at Temple University . A small field-generating device, which currently costs about $50 per cylinder and could be retrofitted to existing car engines, applies 1,000 volts per millimeter across the fuel line as it enters the fuel injector. Despite this high voltage, the device draws less than 1 watt of power because its electrical current is tiny. This strong electric field polarizes molecules in the fuel: Each molecule develops a slightly positive electric charge at one end, while the other end becomes slightly negative. These electric charges cause the molecules to clump together, reducing the molecules' overall surface area. Less surface area means less friction, which is what gives a fluid its thickness, or viscosity. By lessening friction, the device makes the fuel thinner. A thinner liquids break into smaller droplets when passing into the engine's cylinders than those in thicker fluids and smaller droplets have more surface area. Droplets of fuel burn at their surfaces, where the fuel meets oxygen in the air, so having more surface area means the fuel will burn cleaner and more efficiently. It is an interesting concept that appears to have some validity. The only test I have been able to find involved a Mercedes. Reviewers suggest that in the real world fuel economy might increase 5 to 10%, not an insignificant amount. For more information, see http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/ef8004898?cookieSet=1.