Tin-antimony alloy keeps engines permanently clean - that's why the motor manufacturers don't use it

In 1942, the American motor industry discovered tin-antimony alloy, as used in the fuel tanks of Hurricane and Yak* fighter planes, caused petrol and diesel fuels to self-clean as they combusted. Removing carbon deposits and keeping engines permanently clean. They were worried. This would put a huge dent in the profits from spares, repairs and annual engine de-cokes. And could even slow new car sales. But for the fuel additive companies, with dispenser cans on every fuel pump, the news was a complete disaster! So they started a smear campaign. And motoring's biggest lie was born.

Along with snake oil slurs and stories of exploding engines, the logical fallacy 'if they were that good the manufacturers would fit them' was circulated through main dealers and garage networks. It didn't take long before motorists were 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. With misleading press, straw man tests and deceptive reviews, repeatedly used to protect the profits from needlessly dirty engines.

In widespread commercial use for the last 60-years

Tin-antimony alloy was first used commercially in South Africa during the 1960s, in Anglo American Mining's underground vehicles and heavy machinery, to keep emissions permanently low. It was then used in SAF Marine's container ships to cut black smoke, prevent fuel wastage and extend service intervals. Over the next 30-years, as independent tests repeatedly confirmed the alloy's unique ability, its use steadily increased. 

Following the results of the Philadelphia Coca Cola Company's fleet trials in 1998, the US military conducted 14-months 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 tin-antimony alloy has exploded worldwide. And today, fuel catalysts are used by the owners of every imaginable make, model, type and age of petrol and diesel vehicle.

Why fuel catalysts work so well in modern vehicles

The motor industry's Worldwide Fuel Charter clearly states, even the use of high-quality fuel leads to deposit formation, affecting vehicle performance and increasing engine-out emissions. The Society of Automotive Engineers and the Handbook of Air Pollution from Internal Combustion Engines both confirm, carbon deposits affect all engines, causing reduced power, reduced fuel economy and increased emissions. Which is why carbon deposits are the root cause of the excess traffic pollution that ruins the air quality for hundreds of millions of people in towns and cities worldwide.

The main reason we don't notice deposits building up in our engines, is because the ECU constantly adjusts and retards the timing to prevent overheating, pinking and knock. But retarding the engines timing reduces combustion efficiency and increases toxic emissions. This is what leads to the fuel-heavy soot deposits that clog EGR valves, block DPF filters and ruin CATs. Removing carbon deposits reduces the engines operating temperature and allows the ECU to progressively reset the original timing settings.

The proven effectiveness of tin-antimony alloy  

The significant improvements reported by FTC customers, are only ever the result of carbon deposit removal. Tin-antimony alloy can't produce before & after results in a new or clean engine, because there are no deposits to remove. In a new vehicle, or one with a clean engine, the alloy simply stops deposits from forming. Which means performance, economy and emissions, all remain virtually the same as those of a brand-new engine.   

For the last 60-years, the effectiveness of tin-antimony alloy has been easily demonstrated using before & after emissions results - the same way liquid additives are tested. But whilst a single proprietary clean-up test in a static engine has always been sufficient for the fuel additive companies, special interests insist the same equal standard doesn't apply to an alloy! Especially one that makes repeat-use fuel additives obsolete!

In addition to Department for Transport approved emissions results, FTC has been independently tested by world-leaders Emissions Analytics Ltd, using the latest real-world PEMS emission measurement technology. 

The origin of tin-antimony pellets

Tin-antimony alloy was originally developed by Russian scientists in 1941, for use in the fuel tanks of Hurricane and Yak fighter planes operating out of Murmansk during WW2. Low temperature waxing in the local aviation fuel, was causing crystalline deposits to clog carburettors leading to engines cutting out and mid-air stalling. The planes were restricted to 16,000 ft until a solution could be found. When tin-antimony pellets were added to the fuel tanks, the planes were able to operate over and above their usual ceiling of 20,000 ft with exactly the same fuel.

* The WW2 campaign, code named 'Operation Benedict' is recorded in Hurricanes Over Murmansk by John Golley  ISBN 1840372982 and in Force Benedict by Hurricane fighter Eric Carter  ISBN 1444785141 - who details the wartime use of the pellets and their subsequent post-war development. Pages 129-131, 256-257

** 107^th Congress  2^nd Session  House of Representatives  Report 107-436  Pages 292-293