4 replies to this topic

[VAR1016]

Acetone was used for many years as a constituent of racing fuels, up to ten per cent being used in conjunction with methanol, benzole, petrol, etc.

I have been told that the purpose of the acetone was to improve miscibility of the petrol and methanol.

is this correct? And what are the characteristics of acetone as a fuel?
Thanks

PdeRL

[McGuire]

We call it acetone and typically use it as a solvent, while in the petrochemical industry it also goes as dimethylketone. Quite right, in the rather distant past it has been used as a racing/aircraft fuel blended at around 10% with various proportions of gasoline + methanol, gasoline + methanol + benzene, etc. It is not really required as a blending agent as most of these mixtures are ok on their own. Acetone's caloric value lies around halfway between gasoline and methanol, but it has excellent antiknock properties. Around 10% blended with methanol will ****** detonation (contrary to popular belief, methanol will detonate under the right conditions). That percentage will also make a methanol engine easier to start in cold ambient temperatures. However it's a LOT more expensive than methanol (like $20 a gallon or something) and except in very rare instances you almost certainly don't need it. It's not really going to make more power than straight methanol, if anyone was wondering.

[VAR1016]

Originally posted by McGuire
We call it acetone and typically use it as a solvent, while in the petrochemical industry it also goes as dimethylketone. Quite right, in the rather distant past it has been used as a racing/aircraft fuel blended at around 10% with various proportions of gasoline + methanol, gasoline + methanol + benzene, etc. It is not really required as a blending agent as most of these mixtures are ok on their own. Acetone's caloric value lies around halfway between gasoline and methanol, but it has excellent antiknock properties. Around 10% blended with methanol will ****** detonation (contrary to popular belief, methanol will detonate under the right conditions). That percentage will also make a methanol engine easier to start in cold ambient temperatures. However it's a LOT more expensive than methanol (like $20 a gallon or something) and except in very rare instances you almost certainly don't need it. It's not really going to make more power than straight methanol, if anyone was wondering.

Thanks very much.

One more question; would acetone function as an octane booster with gasoline, or is one better off using aromatics such as toluene?

PdeRL

[McGuire]

Originally posted by VAR1016


Thanks very much.

One more question; would acetone function as an octane booster with gasoline, or is one better off using aromatics such as toluene?

PdeRL

Exactly right. Acetone will work but there are far better additives for the job. (For one thing, acetone will be instantly detected at fuel check as its specific gravity is too high.) These days there is little need to be blending one's own gasoline anyway.

[VAR1016]

Originally posted by McGuire


Exactly right. Acetone will work but there are far better additives for the job. (For one thing, acetone will be instantly detected at fuel check as its specific gravity is too high.) These days there is little need to be blending one's own gasoline anyway.

Thanks.

No fuel checks at my humble track days. As we have a small barrel of acetone at the garage, which nobody seems to care about, I just wondered you know......

Actually I use Tetraboost at track days; this uses a blend of TEL plus some other nasty-sounding hydrocarbon things; I have convinced myself that TEL is probably a good thing for the Lucas metering unit!

Thanks again.

PdeRL