Which Gas Stations Sell the Best Quality Gasoline?

조회 수 1843 추천 수 0 2012.12.06 20:24:47
Fuel Quality에대해 잘설명된 글이 올라왔습니다.  

가끔 제가 말씀드린것같이 우리가 접하는 Gasoline은,  근처의 한 정유소(refinery)에서 정제된 똑같은 Quality로 각 주유소(different brand named places such as Chevron, Exxon, Shell, Mobile, Costco, etc.)로 공급된것입니다.  

각 주유소에서 자기의 Brand에 맞게 Additive(첨가제)를 넣어 팔고있습니다.  보통의 첨가제로는 Detergent 와 Octane Booster (regular, medium, or premium grade depending upon how much they add to the basic gasoline which is supplied by refinery)가 대표적이고요.   주유소 Brand마다 자기의 detergent(비누, 계면활성제)를 선전하고있지요(예: Techron for Texaco).

저 같은 경우는, 가장경제적인 Brand의 Gasoline을 쓰고 일년에 한번씩 Fuel Cleaner(detergent)를 부어넣습니다. Costco나 Auto Part stores들에서 한병에 $3-6정도 하더라구요.
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AutoGuide에서 퍼온글
  |  Dec 06, 12:01 PM

Oil companies and gas-station chains love to boast about their fuels, how they burn the cleanest or deliver the most miles per gallon. But can these claims ever be validated? How is the average consumer supposed to figure out what’s best for their vehicle? At least one kind of fuel cuts through the marketing malarkey. Top Tier gasolineis engineered to a higher standard.

Top-Tier Gasoline.jpgAnd it’s endorsed by several global automakers including General Motors,Toyotaand BMW.Additionally,ExxonMobil, Chevron and Shell are a few of the oil companies involved. More retailers are listed in the graphic to the bottom left.

To earn Top Tier certification a fuel must pass four tests – deposit control on intake valves, fuel injectors and combustion chambers. Beyond that it must also prevent intake-valve sticking. Basically it’s gas with extra cleaning agents designed to keep engines running their best. Think of it as a housekeeper for your cylinder heads.

Gasoline is an impure substance refined from a very impure base stock – crude oil. It’s an explosive hydrocarbon cocktail containing all kinds of different chemicals. In addition to its own molecular variability, refiners and retailers incorporate additional substances into the mix, from ethanol alcohol to octane enhancers. Still, gasoline contains even more additives, some of which are designed to prevent harmful deposits from forming inside engines.

Oil Companies.jpgTop Tier fuels feature more of these additives than regular gas. In 1995 theEnvironmental Protection Agency(EPA) set a minimum standard for gasoline additives. Since then, refiners and fuel blenders have actually reduced the amount of detergent they put in fuel by about 50 percent. In the long run this cutback has impacted the ability of vehicles to meet emission standards.

According to Bill Studzinski, Fuels Technical Specialist at General Motors,a number of OEMs saw this problem and got together to push for higher levels of detergency. He said Top Tier gasoline is a better fuel for engines, and that it takes the mystery out of what a good fuel is and what an average fuel is.

Chris Martin, a spokesman for Hondasaid “we’ve supported it [Top Tier gasoline] because we’ve seen a benefit from it for our consumers in the long run.” He also said the average driver doesn’t know about detergent additives, they just look for the cheapest gas available but “Top Tier fuel goes a step beyond that.”

“We don’t require that our vehicle owners use Top Tier gas” Martin said, but it helps “make sure the engines are going to last as long as they could.” This is obviously beneficial, especially since Honda drivers historically keep their cars for a long time.

Responding to questions via e-mail, Marie Valentine, the Senior Principle Engineer, Vehicle Regulation and Certification Engineering, ToyotaTechnical Center, said the amount of detergents in Top Tier gas is about twice what’s required by the EPA. However, it can vary depending “on the base gasoline and the chemistry of the detergent additive.”

When asked about the price of Top Tier Valentine wrote, “Toyota does not comment on the true cost. However, generally there is no change between TTDG [Top Tier Detergent Gasoline] and normal LAC [Lowest Additive Concentration] gasoline,” good news for consumers wanting to keep their vehicles for many years.

Top Tier is all about keeping engines clean. As far as fuel economy is concerned, it should perform identically to gasoline with lower levels of detergent, so don’t expect a big efficiency boost.

From a big-oil perspective Top Tier hasn’t necessarily caught on. Some of the largest players in the industry have adopted it including Shell, Chevron and Conoco, but not all.

ExxonMobile, the world’s largest oil refiner, is one of the companies onboard with Top Tier. All of their retail gasoline sold in the United States meets the standard, having received formal certification back in 2010.

Top Tier gasoline must contain more deposit-fighting detergents, it also must be sold at all of a fuel marketer’s stations and across all grades of its gasoline, from 87-octane regular to top-of-the-line premium. Additionally, to earn the seal of approval fuels cannot contain metallic additives, which are potentially harmful to automotive emissions-control systems.

Simply put, Studzinski said Top Tier gasoline is “a higher level of detergency, which keeps your engine running optimally.”


chunheung park

2012.12.06 22:45:25
*.111.210.166

Top Tier gas 에 대한 선전 기사가 아닌가 하는 생각이 드는군요.                        Top Tier gas는 engine 의 수명을 연장 시키는 데에는 좋은 gasoline이군요.                     가끔 한번씩 engine booster를 fuel tank 에 부어넣어 주는 것은 fuel efficiency와 engine수명을 높이는 데는 우리가 할 수 있는 쉬운방법인 것 같습니다.                      좋은 글 감사합니다.

Scott Kim

2012.12.07 00:10:32
*.95.1.53

Engine cleaner를 정기적으로 넣는것은 제 개인적인 방법입니다.
Top Tier Gas는 대부분 우리가 알고있는 brand 들입니다.
Exxon, Mobile, Connoco, Texaco, Shell, Chevron, Phillilps 등이 그 룹에 속해있답니다.
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