Safe diesel

Japanese scientists have developed a new fuel treatment that could reduce emissions from truck diesel engines. The technology could allow vehicle manufacturers to meet new emission standards After 18 years of work the researchers perfected the liquid treatment, called Soltron. The US firm Solpower, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, has acquired North American manufacturing and marketing rights for the prod- uct. Soltron is a fuel enhancing fluid that works using enzymes. The makers claim the treatment affects molecules within liquid fuels - including diesel and gasoline -and increases the fuel's absorption of oxygen. The enzymes destroy the damaging contaminants that degrade normal fuels. Only three ounces of the treatment need to mixed with every 100 gallons of fuel for it to be effective. Emission tests conducted at the Environmental Testing Corp. in Orange, California showed that Soltron reduces hydro- arbon emissions by 55 per cent, carbon monoxide by 37 per cent, nitrous oxide by 44 per cent and nitrogen chloride by 68 per cent.