Antiknock agent

An antiknock agent is a gasoline additive used to reduce engine knocking and increase the fuel's octane rating by raising the temperature and pressure at which auto-ignition occurs.

The mixture known as gasoline or petrol, when used in high compression internal combustion engines, has a tendency to knock (also called "pinging" or "pinking") and/or to ignite early before the correctly timed spark occurs (pre-ignition, refer to engine knocking).

Early research into this effect was led by A.H. Gibson and Harry Ricardo in England and Thomas Midgley, Jr. and Thomas Boyd in the United States. The discovery that lead additives modified this behavior led to the widespread adoption of the practice in the 1920s and therefore more powerful higher compression engines. The most popular additive was tetraethyllead. However, with the discovery of the environmental and health damage caused by the lead, attributed to Derek Bryce-Smith, and the incompatibility of lead with catalytic converters found on virtually all US automobiles since 1975, this practice began to wane in the 1980s. Most countries are phasing out leaded fuel although different additives still contain lead compounds. Other additives include aromatic hydrocarbons, ethers and alcohol (usually ethanol or methanol).

The typical antiknock agents in use are:

In the U.S., where tetraethyllead had been blended with gasoline (primarily to boost octane levels) since the early 1920s, standards to phase out leaded gasoline were first implemented in 1973. In 1995, leaded fuel accounted for only 0.6% of total gasoline sales and less than 2,000 tons of lead per year. From January 1, 1996, the Clean Air Act banned the sale of leaded fuel for use in on-road vehicles in the United States. Possession and use of leaded gasoline in a regular on-road vehicle now carries a maximum US$10,000 fine in the United States. However, fuel containing lead may continue to be sold for off-road uses, including aircraft, racing cars, farm equipment, and marine engines. The ban on leaded gasoline led to thousands fewer tons of lead being released into the air by automobiles.

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