About FTC
Tin-antimony alloy keeps engines permanently clean - that's why the manufacturers don't use it
In 1942, the American motor industry discovered the tin-antimony alloy pellets, used in the fuel tanks of fighter planes* on the Russian front, caused petrol and diesel fuels to self-clean as they combusted. Removing carbon deposits and keeping any engine permanently clean and efficient. They were worried. This discovery could devastate the profits from spare parts, repairs and even slow new car sales. But for the fuel additive companies, with dispenser cans on every petrol pump, the news was disastrous. So, with help from their powerful friends they started a smear campaign. And motoring's biggest lie was born.
Along with the snake oil slurs and stories of exploding engines, the plausible sounding propaganda slogan, 'if they were that good the manufacturers would fit them' was circulated through main dealers and garage networks. It wasn't long before ordinary motorists were repeating the lies 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.
The long-established use of tin-antimony alloy
The ability of simple tin-antimony alloy to permanently eliminate carbon deposits has always been easily measured using industry-standard before & after emissions results. In the same way repeat-use chemical fuel additives are tested. As deposits are removed a reduction in excess exhaust emissions is seen as the engine becomes progressively cleaner. In addition to industry-standard testing FTC has also been independently verified by Emissions Analytics Ltd, using PEMS (portable emissions measurement system) the advanced real-world measurement technology used by motor manufacturers.
Tin-antimony catalysts were first used commercially in the 1960s in South Africa, to keep the engines in vehicles belonging to the Anglo American Mining Company, permanently clean. Due to their success they were then used in SAF Marine's container ships, to extend service intervals, cut black smoke and prevent fuel wastage. Following the results of the 1998 ECS fleet trials on the Philadelphia Coca Cola Bottling Company's delivery lorries, the US military conducted 14-months of testing at Camp Pendleton and the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center. In 2003 the Senate Committee on Armed Services announced the results 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 vehicle owners has exploded worldwide. Because unlike liquid fuel additives and repeat-use chemical cleaners, tin-antimony alloy is permanent. It doesn't breakdown, dissolve or wear away, so it never needs to be replaced or topped up. And goes on working for as long as it's in the fuel tank, keeping any petrol or diesel engine permanently clean and running efficiently.
Carbon deposits affect all petrol and diesel engines
The Motor Industry's very own Worldwide Fuel Charter states even the use of high quality fuel leads to deposit formation which affects engine performance and leads to increased exhaust emissions. The Handbook of Air Pollution from Internal Combustion Engines details how carbon deposits affect all internal combustion engines, causing reduced power, driveability issues, poor fuel economy and excess exhaust emissions. This explains 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 carbon deposits cause, constantly adjusting and retarding the timing to prevent overheating, engine knock and pinking. With the ECU masking the problems, it’s not surprising 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 pulse width; keeping the injectors open longer to increase the fuel flow. This over fuelling then increases carbon build-up on the back of intake valves which restricts air flow. This affects combustion efficiency, prevents the valves from closing properly and allows unburnt fuel vapour to escape during the compression stroke. This increases exhaust emissions and leads to fuel-heavy soot formations which block Exhaust Gas Recirculation valves, clog Diesel Particulate Filters and ruin Catalytic Converters.
Removing carbon deposits reduces the engines operating temperature and allows the ECU (where applicable) to progressively reset the engine's original timing and fuel trim settings and allows the intake valves to close properly. When tin-antimony alloy is placed in the fuel tank of a vehicle with a new or clean engine it simply stops deposits from forming in the first place. Which means performance, economy and emissions 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