OPTIMISER: An analogue and smart aftermarket in-tank fuel solution to supply the cleanest fuel possible to diesel engines with onboard monitoring capabilities

Fuel becomes contaminated from water, bacteria and/or particulates settling to the bottom of fuel tanks. Fuel contamination leads to engine damage, machine downtime and reduced productivity; particularly in construction and road haulage.

FuelActive has achieved demonstrable success in the fuel solutions market through developing innovative retrofitted fuel-delivery and monitoring systems that help prevent breakdowns with two products currently:

* **FuelActive**: Floating fuel-extraction pipe delivering the cleanest fuel, mitigating injector damage and engine failure * **iFuelActive**: Smart fuel-extraction unit utilising in-tank sensors/telemetry to remotely monitor fuel-quality

This project will develop an aftermarket solution, "Optimiser", directly installed within equipment/vehicles during maintenance cycles or at pre-delivery inspections. This will be supported by trial/testing partners and onboard ECU information will be analysed monthly.

Currently, fuel pick-ups fulfil a single function; to extract fuel and are static devices, resulting in exposure to contamination at the bottom of the tank. Optimiser will combine a dynamic fuel pick-up with a fuel-sender to extract the cleanest fuel, with the option of on-board fuel-quality monitoring; preventing contaminants entering the system. Real-time fuel temperature, quality, pressure and flow-analysis information will enable remote analytics, predictive maintenance and improve fuel-stock management (on-site and multiple vehicles).

ECU integration provides benchmarks for fuel consumption, diagnostic alerts, engine performance, vehicle utilisation, route-planning, improved driver behaviour (over-revving, heavy-acceleration, harsh-braking, aggressive cornering, idling) and fuel/vehicle theft.

FuelActive has been proven to supply cleaner fuel, exhibiting zero failures post-installation, servicing the aftermarket demand and, potentially with OEM-integrated solutions. FuelActive is ideally positioned through existing relationships with large transport, construction and agriculture vehicle operators and manufacturers.

Governments will de-emphasise diesel usage to reduce emissions, but diesel is widely used \[EnergyRep.2021\] and demand will hold at ~current levels globally until 2045, due to industrialisation \[Statista,2021\]. Operators are seeking to reduce maintenance/downtime and emissions, increase fuel efficiency, and generate cost-savings in multiple sectors.

Large inefficient diesel engines combined with high annual mileage accounts for 39% of the transport sector's CO2/NOx emissions (~5% of fossil-fuels) globally \[IDTechEx,2020\]. Optimiser provides an immediate response for COP26, with ~5% CO2/NOx reduction; effectively removing 1/20 existing vehicles if adopted at-scale.

Optimiser supports the UK's ambition of Net-Zero CO2 emissions by 2050, improving fuel efficiency, providing a "transition technology" for a lower-carbon economy and tackling roadside concentrations and nutrient imbalances in coastal waters/river-basins \[EPA,2018\]. Optimiser supports new diesel regulatory standards that are becoming increasingly stringent for cleaner fuel (Stage5/Euro6/Euro7).

UK-registered HGVs consume ~6.2mt/year of fuel \[ONS,2020\];~10.5mtCO2e/year \[~400gCO2e/km; UKGov,2021\].