Diesel Cetane Booster

The cetane index measures diesel's ignition quality, like the octane rating of petrol. A diesel engine relies on the fuel igniting under compression, and the cetane number shows how easily, smoothly and completely it will. Standard Australian pump diesel usually has a minimum cetane number of around 40. Engines running on diesel above 46 tend to accelerate better and produce fewer emissions and less carbon.

Below 42, you can get:

• Carbon build-up on intake valves and in the EGR system and diesel particulate filter, hampering the engine and its emission controls
• Excess emissions of unburnt hydrocarbons and particulates
• Knocking, extra engine noise and vibration
• Rough running and rough idling
• Less power and higher fuel consumption

Those carbon deposits are the by-product of incomplete combustion.

Diesel doesn't keep as long as you might think. Studies have found it starts to oxidise and degrade within 28 days of storage, and on average it lasts only about 12 months. To keep stored diesel in good condition, treat it with a biocide such as 201 and with 207 for long-term stability. Diesel stored for a year or more will already have lost cetane, giving higher emissions and poorer performance; 207 revitalises it.

Homemade biodiesel, made from vegetable oils or animal fats, varies in quality and cetane rating with the feedstock and process. Poorly processed biodiesel carries impurities that clog injectors, and it oxidises and degrades over time. 207 lifts its cetane number, helps reduce those deposits, and greatly extends its shelf life.

Diesel bug degrades fuel and lowers its cetane, giving very poor combustion, less power and far more emissions. Once the bug has been eradicated, 207 restores the fuel's combustion efficiency.

Free water at the bottom of a fuel tank creates the fuel and water interface where microbes grow and make the slime that plugs fuel filters and lines. 207 removes it.

Diesel is made almost entirely of molecules with no electrical charge, while water molecules carry both a positive and a negative charge. 207's formula carries both too, so it acts as a coupling agent, bonding fuel, water and additive into one even mixture. The water is dispersed through the fuel in micro- or nano-sized particles, passes harmlessly through the fuel system, and vaporises into steam in the combustion chambers.

• 1 part 207 to 1,000 parts diesel raises the cetane index by 4 points.
• 1 part to 500 raises it by 8 points.