In the trial, use of the product was said to have resulted in a 24% average reduction in emissions, a 9.7% improvement in fuel economy and a direct benefit to the diesel particulate filter (DPF) service life/regeneration cycle.
In February-March 2017, fleet management company ARI commissioned a study for a customer undertaking infrastructure work in and around London. The study recorded the emissions and fuel consumption data of five untreated 2016-registered Peugeot Partner HDI vans over a four-week period. The same vehicles were then treated with Cataclean and analysed for a further four-week period where they were driven under the same typical stop-start driving conditions. The mileage covered in both periods was 6,800 miles.
In relative terms, the study found the treatment had the following effects: NOx emissions were reduced by 16%; carbon monoxide was reduced by 24%; hydrocarbons were reduced by 32%; fuel economy was improved by 9.7%, and the interval between each DPF regeneration increased by 21%, from every 169 miles to 215 miles.
Cataclean concluded that a fleet of 400 diesel vans such as the one in the ARI study travelling 10,000 miles a year could save in excess of £70,000 in the first year on fuel saving alone by using Cataclean, even taking into account the cost of the Cataclean treatments.
Such a fleet would also benefit from reducing the number of DPF regenerations and the subsequent reduction in downtime as well as emissions, resulting in lower maintenance costs.
“ARI is constantly looking at ways to improve the performance of its customers’ fleet and benefit the bottom line. We’re obsessed with data!” commented Matt Cranny, operations director at ARI.
ARI and Cataclean continue to work together and are extending the testing to 40 or more vehicles over the next two to three months with the continued support of the RAC.
The ARI study was conducted in February and March this year on a fleet of Peugeot Partner HDI vans managed by ARI Fleet Management Services operating in London on infrastructure work.
Developed in 1995, Liverpool-based Cataclean is the flagship product of System Products UK. Cataclean protects and maintains the catalytic converter, reduces emissions, improves fuel economy and restores performance; Cataclean Diesel offers these benefits in addition to reducing the risk of diesel particulate filter clogging. Cataclean contains solvents that break down deposits in fuel delivery systems formed by oxidation and polymerisation of hydrocarbons. When Cataclean combusts, it forms carboxylic acids, aldehydes and active peroxy compounds. When these compounds reach the exhaust vapours, they clean inside the catalytic converter, removing carbonaceous deposits from the surface of the core. The result is an increase in the catalyst’s ability to remove exhaust emissions such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides.