Fuel Stabilizer

Basics

• This page aims to go over the concept of “Fuel Stabalizers”, how they work, and inter-link with related subjects

Industry Standards

Gasoline Engines

Sta-Bil

• Red “Storage” Solution
  • A Home Depot Listing for this Product ( ‘’’~8 USD for 236ml As of This Edit’’’ )
    • ( User: Eric here) Need to ask the Outboard Engine mechanic next time they are in town, but they use this stuff
• Composition?
  • Safety Data Sheets :
    • 2023 SDS
      • 95% Distillates (petroleum) , hydrotreated light
      • 5% Phenol, isopropylated
        • CAS Number : 90480-88-9

K-100 Fuel Treatment

• This has the added properties of a Fuel Injector Cleaner and Phase Separation Prevention (for better or for worse)
• The Latter is largely irrelevant if using Ethanol Free Gasoline or Butanol etc
• The Former (Probably) Can’t hurt, but is largely irrelevant if using TopTier Gasoline / Adding in your own Fuel Detergency Additives + Doing Regular Inspections/Maintenance
• The Cost/Benefit ratio of that is debatable
• An alternative Antioxidant is used, independent testing of this on an ingredient vs ingredient vs control test may be worthwhile
• Composition:
  • Safety Data Sheets
    • A 2019 Safety Data Sheet for K100G+
      • ”Ethylene Glycol Monobutyl Ether CAS Number 111-76-2, 30-45%”
      • ”n-Butyl Alcohol, CAS Number 71-36-3, 30-40%”
      • ”Primary Alkyl Alcohol, Proprietary, 15-20%
      • Cyclic Secondary Amine, Proprietary, 5-10%
      • Alkenoic Acid, Proprietary, 3-7%

Diesel Engines

• More irrelevant due to Evaporation and Phase Separation being non-issues/diesel engines being less “picky” on fuels
• Sludge Formation may be another oxidation issue, and thus short of ultra-refined fuels such as JP-5 / JP-8 etc, or Synthetic Fuels such as OMEx an Additive Package may be worthwhile

Unknowns

• Shelf Life
  • Ie it is an “Anti-Oxidant”, but will that ability gradually be diminished by Atmospheric Oxygen (especially in an opened but not fully used bottle) and/or from diffusion of atmospheric oxygen or water through the plastic bottle and/or from Storage Temperature (Swings) and/or from UV etc
  • May be able to test this via Titration
  • IF it happens, quantifying this behavior+predicting it could allow for evidence based “shelf life”, means to reduce it’s occurrence (Amber Bottles, Stable Temps, maybe even purge with CO2 or Nitrogen/Argon etc
• Impact on Fuel Quality when the Issues of Long Term Fuel Storage are Removed
  • IE can you “over dose” it and/or will it make the Engine Behave Differently (especially at higher doses) compared to “regular” Ethanol Free Gasoline etc)
  • When not mixing into a Safety Can, but guessing what the volume of a small engine’s integrated tank is etc is when Over-Dosing is likely
• Dry Empty Storage vs Full of Stabilized Gasoline Storage
• Performance of the Diesel Version

Freshness Test / Verification

• Redox Titration / Quantitative Titration for determining Antioxidant content/total anti-oxidizing ability

External Links

• A Video by the YouTube Channel “FortNine” Titled “Can Fuel Stabilizer Kill Your Motorcycle?” ( ‘’’~9 Minute Watch’’’ )
  • While a bit stylized, this video does go over some of the myths on how they work, mentions their actual mechanism of action, and does SOME testing
    • Larger Sample Size / some experimental design aspects may be worth revisiting, but this is a free YouTube video after all!
• A Video by the YouTube Channel “Project Farm” Titled “After 5 Years, I Found the Only Fuel Stabilizer that Works! ( ‘’’~14 Minute Watch’’’ )
  • The Segment on Fuel Stabilizer is 14 minutes long, there is an additional section on headlight restoration which is irrelevant for this page
• A 2010 Forum Post Titled “How does Sta-bil work ?“
• A 2006 Forum Post Titled “Fuel Stabilizer: How does it Work?”