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Old 04-11-2004, 02:32 AM
hotrod hotrod is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 307
Default Won't work

Sorry but that won't work.

xylene is a pure hydrocarbon, like toluene, and benzine, and will not mix with water.

It is a member of the aromatic family (ie related to benzine) and is also called dimethylbenzene. It is a powerful solvent, and present in small amounts in high octane unleaded gasoline blends.

It is used by some folks like toluene as a home brew octane enhancer, and works fairly well in that role due to its high natural octane.

It does have some draw backs that precludes its use in high amounts in high octane gasoline.

Its combustion leads to chemicals that are strong precursors to photochemical smog, so the emissions folks do not like it much.

Commonly available "mixed xylene's" is a mixture of 3 isomers of the chemical, ortho-xylene, meta-xylene and para-xylene. The para-xylene has a high freezing point (near 50 deg F if I recall correctly) which causes it to freeze out in mixtures at cool temps creating a cloudy mixture. I believe there is some risk of it clogging fuel filters in cold weather for that reason.

The xylenes also are of very low volatility, (evaporate slowly) which leads to problems if they are present in high percentage in gasoline, as you end up with some of the xylene not evaporating and burning in the time available during an engines power stroke. Like Toluene if it is present in high quantities you can end up blowing burning fuel out the exhaust valve, which results in very high exhaust gas temps, and a waste of fuel for useful power production.

I've used it in gasoline in hot temps ( near 80 deg F) with no problems and it does bump the octane a useful amount.

Unfortunately it will not mix with water.

Larry
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