About FTC
Tin-antimony alloy keeps engines permanently clean and efficient - that's why the manufacturers don't use it
In 1942, American motor industry engineers discovered the tin-antimony pellets, used in the fuel tanks of Hurricane and Yak fighter planes*, caused a reaction in petrol and diesel fuels which removed carbon deposits and kept engines permanently clean. They were very worried. This simple alloy had solved the problem of octane requirement increase (ORI). ORI, caused by the accumulation of carbon deposits, was the reason tetraethyl lead (TEL) had been added to petrol since 1923 to reduce engine knock. But now tin-antimony alloy had made expensive TEL based fuels, repeat-use fuel additives and even engine decokes completely obsolete. So the motor industry started a smear campaign. And motoring's biggest lie was born.
Along with snake oil slurs and stories of exploding engines the rather plausible sounding, 'if they were that good the manufacturers would fit them' was circulated through garages and dealer networks. It didn't take long before ordinary motorists were doing the industry's dirty work and repeating the propaganda circulated to fool them. Over the last 80-years, motoring's biggest lie has been repeated so many times, especially in the UK, many have come to believe it.
Whilst tin-antimony alloy has long since rendered TEL completely obsolete, this highly neurotoxic additive, especially harmful to children and unborn babies, which causes severe health problems, brain damage and premature death is still widely used in aviation fuel. In 2010, one of the largest global fuel additive companies, based in the UK - the worlds only manufacturer of TEL - was fined £8m for corporate corruption. With four senior company executives convicted and sentenced in 2014 for conspiracy to corrupt by paying substantial cash inducements relating to the sale and distribution of the company's fuel additives.
The long-established use of tin-antimony catalysts
The ability of tin-antimony alloy to permanently eliminate carbon deposits from petrol and diesel engines has always been very easily measured and observed using industry-standard before & after emissions results. In exactly the same way the big-brand chemical fuel additives are tested. As deposits are removed from an engine a measurable reduction in excess exhaust emissions is seen as the engine becomes progressively cleaner. Along with industry-standard before & after emissions results and MOT emissions certification, FTC has been independently verified by world leaders Emissions Analytics, using the latest PEMS equipment (portable emissions measurement system) the advanced real-world measurement technology used by motor manufacturers.
Tin-antimony catalysts were first used in industry during the 1960s in South Africa, to keep the engines in heavy underground mining equipment belonging to the Anglo American Mining Company permanently clean. Due to their success they were then used in SAF Marine's ocean-going container ships, to extend service intervals, cut black smoke and prevent fuel wastage. Following the clear-cut results of the 1998 ECS fleet trials on the lorries belonging to the Philadelphia Coca Cola Bottling Company, the US military conducted 14-months of rigorous testing at Camp Pendleton and the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center. In 2003 the Senate Committee on Armed Services announced the results of these military tests to Congress with the recommendation that Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, take immediate steps for the application of fuel catalyst technology.**
Since then the use of fuel catalysts by savvy commercial and domestic vehicle owners has grown worldwide. Because unlike liquid fuel additives and repeat-use chemical cleaners, tin-antimony catalysts are permanent. They don't dissolve, breakdown or wear away, so they never need to be replaced or topped up. And go on working for as long as they're in the fuel tank, keeping any petrol or diesel engine permanently clean and efficient.
How carbon deposits affect all petrol and diesel engines
The Worldwide Fuel Charter explains how even high quality fuel leads to carbon deposit formation, affecting performance and leading to increased engine-out emissions. The Handbook of Air Pollution from Internal Combustion Engines confirms that carbon deposits affect all internal combustion engines, causing reduced power, driveability issues, poor fuel economy and excess exhaust emissions. This helps explain why record numbers of relatively young vehicles fail the MOT emissions test every year. Data from the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) confirms 1,273,771 vehicles were taken off the road in 2019/20. With 849,537 petrol engined and 430,527 diesel engined vehicles failing the MOT emissions test due to carbon deposits.
For the last 40-years modern vehicles have been fitted with engine control units (ECU) and fuel injection systems. The ECU uses information from numerous engine sensors to deal with the problem’s engine deposits cause, constantly retarding the engines timing to prevent overheating, engine knock and pinking. With the ECU masking the problems, it’s not surprising that often the first we know of hidden deposits is when dashboard warning lights start flashing, our engine goes into limp mode or another deposit related problem occurs like a blocked fuel injector/s, misfire/s or sticking valve/s.
As deposits build-up on fuel injectors the ECU increases the injector pulse width - keeping the injectors open longer - to increase the fuel flow. This over fuelling increases carbon build-up on the back of intake valves which restricts air flow further affecting engine efficiency and preventing the valves from closing/seating properly. Partially burnt fuel vapour then escapes during the compression stroke increasing toxic emissions and becoming carbonised throughout the entire exhaust system. Leading to the sooty deposits that clog EGR valves, block DPFs and ultimately ruin the CAT.
Removing carbon deposits reduces the engines operating temperature and allows the ECU (where applicable) to progressively reset the engine's timing and fuel trim settings and allows the valves to close/seat properly. When tin-antimony alloy is placed in the fuel tank of a new vehicle or one with a clean engine it will simply stop deposits from forming in the first place. Which means performance, economy and emissions will all remain close to those of a brand new engine.
The origin of tin-antimony fuel catalysts
Tin-antimony catalysts were originally developed in WW2 by Russian scientists for use in Hurricane and Yak fighter planes, operating out of Murmansk during the winter of 1941. Low temperature waxing issues with the local aviation fuel were causing crystalline deposits to clog the planes carburettors leading to engines cutting out and mid-air stalling. The Yaks were restricted to operating below 15,000 ft and the Hurricanes to under 16,000 ft until a solution could be found. When tin-antimony alloy was added to their fuel tanks the problems were solved with the planes able to operate over and above their usual ceiling of 20,000 ft using exactly the same fuel. The WW2 campaign, code named 'Operation Benedict' is recorded in Hurricanes over Murmansk by John Golley, and in Force Benedict by Hurricane fighter pilot Eric Carter, who served in Murmansk, and details the wartime use of fuel catalysts and their subsequent post war development.
FTC pellets are solid phase heterogeneous surface catalysts. Similar to the surface catalysts used to initiate molecular changes during the production of bio diesel, fertiliser and plastics. Solid phase catalysts are incredibly hard and non-sacrificial which gives them a virtually unlimited lifespan. Tin-antimony alloy triggers a reaction in petrol & diesel fuels but is not used up during this reaction. And because FTC pellets don't dissolve, break-down or wear away you only need to add them to your vehicle once.
*Force Benedict by Eric Carter ISBN 1444785141 Pages 129-131, 256-257
**107th Congress 2nd Session House of Representatives Report 107-436 Pages 292-293