Big claims for additive
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A Norwegian supplier to the shipping trade claims to have developed a "viagra for trucks" which can help hauliers cancel out the effects of rising fuel duties.
Mergi says its liquid combustion catalyst, marketed as Mergi, can reduce diesel fuel consumption by between 8% and 20%. The toluene-based product, which is added at a ratio of one litre per 4,000 litres of fuel, is usually supplied to shipping companies. But Mergi UK representative David Scott says the company plans to sell the catalyst to the I_ road transport industry in smaller volumes at a cost of around £24 a litre.
The product works by enabling more of the fuel to be burned in the combustion chamber," says Scott, who adds that it has no damaging side effects and has been endorsed by Norwegian research institute Veritas.
However, fuel experts urge hauliers to treat such products with caution. Dr Jim Laxton of ITS Testing Services says he has not seen Mergi in action but warns that fuel additives rarely meet expectations. "We get all sorts of things like this to test," he says, Nit the results are often disappointing."