Here is the text for an upcoming magazine article about the effect of
enzymes on biodiesel and fossil fuels. I would be pleased to send a pdf
file of the entire Bay Area Air Quality Management District's report on
the biodiesel project to anybody sending me a valid email address. (The
University of Berkeley test results with the enzyme additive appears on
line 8 of a chart on page 37 of the report).

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Enzyme Fuel Additive Improves Standard and Biodiesel Performance



Somewhere, Dr. Rudolph Diesel must be smiling. When he designed and
perfected the internal combustion engine technology that continues to
bear his name, he originally intended that his device would be powered
by a variety of "locally available fuels." Long before the
widespread availability of refined petroleum products, Diesel created
an engine that would run well on peanut, soybean, and similar vegetable
oils. Dr. Diesel successfully tested his invention in 1897, and turned
the industrial world topsy-turvy in the process. Steam power was the
backbone of manufacturing and transportation at the time, but the
typical steam engine of that era converted only about 10% of the energy
derived from fuel into mechanical propulsion. Dr. Diesel's engine,
even in its earliest configurations, was more than 70% theoretically
efficient and it rapidly began to supplant steam engines in most
applications.

Diesel died in 1913, under some rather mysterious circumstances. He
disappeared off a passenger steamer in the English Channel, and his
body washed ashore a day later. A controversial inquest officially
labeled his death a "suicide," but rumors persisted that Diesel had
been murdered at the behest of some powerful coal mining tycoons. The
diesel engine had rendered steam engines, and the massive amounts of
coal required to heat their boilers, obsolete. After the death of
Rudolph Diesel, most discussion of using vegetable oils for fuel was
suppressed. Generations of people were conditioned to believe that
fossil fuels were the only option for firing diesel engines, and many
of the financially damaged coal barons made new fortunes drilling for
oil.

Roughly 100 years later, we are once again at a point in history where
a shift in fuel technologies is quite likely to occur. Ever increasing
percentages of the world's remaining petroleum reserves are
controlled by nations with dubious intentions toward western society in
general and the United States specifically. Talk of "growing our own
fuel" is appealing to greater numbers of people. It may be tempting
to dismiss the recent interest in "biodiesel" as just some
off-the-wall environmentalist wackism, but doing so ignores the
original design of the diesel engine. The engines that Dr. Diesel
thought should be powered by renewable, vegetable resources are now
more commonly being fueled with the traditional "dead dino" diesel
mixed with 5%, 10%, or 20% "bio" diesel. An increasing number of
diesel engines will now run well on either fossil oil or 100%
biodiesel.

Many experts have expressed concern regarding certain characteristics
of biodiesel.
One of the more frequently mentioned is a tendency, in some tests, for
biodiesel exhaust to contain slightly more nitrous oxide (NOx) than
exhaust from fossil fuels. At a time when most of the world is
concerned with the planetary effects of greenhouse gases and worried
about man's role in the global warming phenomenon, additional nitrous
oxide is an unwelcome byproduct regardless of how "green" the
combusted fuel might be. Other studies have shown that biodiesel can
become unstable when stored for prolonged periods of time, (a situation
many pleasure boaters might be likely to experience). The solutions to
some of the concerns associated with biodiesel appear to have been
discovered by yet another independent inventor, once again working with
biological agents.

About 15 years ago, a team of Japanese scientists led by Professor
Shinji Makino was studying the properties of enzymes extracted from
tree leaves and marine algae. Enzymes are among the world's most
powerful catalysts, and the enzymes identified by Makino were
determined to be capable of affecting the molecular structure of
hydrocarbons.
Specifically, the enzymes increased the rate at which the molecules
were able to absorb oxygen and more efficient combustion was the
"natural" result. The enzymes developed by Professor Makino have
been distributed in steadily increasing quantities around the world
since 1995, offered by a firm called Xbee in Europe and as a product
known as Soltron in North America.

Readers may recall when the editor of this publication tested Soltron
in his diesel trawler a few years ago. After a discouraging period
during which exhaust smoke seemed to visibly increase, it became
obvious through a casual (but not scientifically verified) observation
that the opacity of the exhaust smoke was dramatically reduced. (The
original "smoky" operation for a short time following the initial
introduction of Soltron was theoretically explained as evidence that
the enzymes were dispersing sediments and contaminants that had
collected in the fuel system).

Additional independent scientific data measuring the effects of enzymes
on diesel derived from fossil fuels, on biodiesel, and on various
blends of the two fuels has been conducted by The University of
Berkeley, under the stringent observation of the State of
California's Bay Area Air Quality Management District. The District
awarded renown biodiesel advocate Russ Teall a contract to demonstrate
the viability of establishing specialized biodiesel refineries and
distribution channels for the product in the San Francisco area. In a
67-page report summarizing the contract and the results of the study,
the BAAQMD noted the test results from the University of Berkeley
laboratory.

In a blend of fossil and biodiesel fuels, the addition of Soltron
enzymes reduced NOx emissions by 13%. When added to 100% CARB
(California Air Resources Board) approved ultra low sulfur fossil
diesel fuel, Soltron reduced unburned hydrocarbon emissions by 54%,
reduced carbon monoxide by 14%, and reduced particulate matter by 37%-
all according to the tests conducted by the University of Berkeley.

The university study adds to a long list of anecdotal and documented
reports from shipping companies, railroads, long haul truckers,
commercial fishermen, and others reporting improved fuel efficiency,
visually cleaner exhaust and fewer storage-related fuel problems after
introducing Soltron enzymes to their fuel systems.

Somewhere, Dr. Rudolph Diesel must be smiling. His dream of a world
where internal combustion engines are powered by vegetable oils may be
closer to fruition than he might have dared believe during his
lifetime, and the discovery of a specialized enzyme in the laboratory
of a Japanese professor may prove to be an important catalyst in the
conversion.