Skyrocketing diesel fuel prices and increased maintenance costs sent Mercy Ships marine engineering crew looking for answers as the charity relies on donations to bring life-saving healthcare to West African nations, according to a media release.
The release explains that for the past year, Mercy Ships has tested products by FuelSaver Technologies, Inc., headquartered in Colorado Springs, in an effort to maximize the hospital ship's fuel efficiency.
In turn, those funds could be used to provide more free surgeries to patients in the Liberian port of Monrovia where the ship's surgeons and crew have docked since last February.
"So far, we've achieved a 3 percent improvement in fuel economy this past year and our engineers have noticed less carbon and soot buildup, resulting in less maintenance required," stated Engineering Superintendent Michel Zandbergen.
The media release says the Africa Mercy has to fuel every three months to the tune of 220,000 US gallons, stated Zandbergen. Usually this is done by bunkering by an ocean going tanker. So that's amounted to roughly $26,000 savings each time it re-fuels. "All that means we can help more people," he said.
FuelSaver's CEO Rich Lieber explained how the fuel conditioner works. "Our special conditioner enables more of each gallon of fuel to combust, it keeps injectors and combustion chambers clean and free of deposits. It also improves lubricity, fights algae growth and stabilizes both gasoline and diesel fuel in storage."
The release states that for example, a fleet using 1 million gallons of diesel fuel per month at $4.50/gallon would achieve a net savings of approximately $1.7 million per year with only a 4 percent improvement in fuel economy. A variety of fuel conditioner products are available, including one to treat Bunker Fuel (heavy fuel oil), one to treat fuel in storage for long periods of time and a diesel fuel anti-gel winter blend.
FuelSaver Technologies was recently awarded a 5-year contract with General Services Administration (GSA) of the U.S. Federal Government to inspect, clean and repair Department of Defense bulk fuel tanks in numerous locations, to filter and treat the stored fuel and put the tanks back into service again.
Small 2oz bottles of conditioner to treat 100 gallons of gasoline or 50 gallons of diesel fuel are available for individual consumers. FuelSaver's Fuel Conditioner has been used to improve fuel economy an average of 8 to 12 percent in motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, RVs, boats, and locomotives. All products may be purchased securely over FuelSaver's website at www.FuelSaverInc.com
Mercy Ships was founded in 1978 by Don and Deyon Stephens and is the leader in using hospital ships to deliver free world-class health care and community development services to the forgotten poor.
Over the past 30 years, Mercy Ships has worked in more than 70 countries providing services valued at more than $670 million, directly impacting more than 1.9 million people. More than 850 crew worldwide representing more than 30 nations are joined each year by thousands of short-term volunteers. Professionals including surgeons, dentists, nurses, community developers, teachers, cooks, seamen, engineers and agriculturists donate their time and skills to the effort.
FuelSaver Technologies, Inc. is the premier distributor of a proprietary brand of fuel conditioners patented as DurAlt®, consisting primarily of a combustion modifier coupled with a polar compound. This unique combination enables fuel to more fully combust, thus increasing fuel economy while reducing air pollution.
Headquartered in Colorado Springs, FuelSaver works with individual consumers as well as commercial/governmental fleets to help them reduce operating expenses while improving air quality through reduced emissions. These products first came to market in the mid-1980's. DurAlt® technology and other products are protected by 54 patents and trademarks worldwide.
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