Boating Industry

May 2017

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www.BoatingIndustry.com 46 | Boating Industry | May 2017 MARKET FOCUS SECTION { FUELS & ADDITIVES } BY BRIANNA LIESTMAN Over the past decade, the fuels and addi- tives market has been heavily focused on ethanol in gasoline: what it does to fuel sys- tems, how to raise consumer awareness of its potential dangers, and developing prod- ucts to meet the market need. And while consumer awareness of etha- nol is still a market focus, it is not the same driving message it used to be. "The catastrophes we saw when ethanol fuel first came in the market in 2004-2006, we're past that learning curve," said Greg Dornau, executive vice president of Star brite. Issues related to tank compatibility with E10 have declined in the past years as many older systems and boats are being retired and replaced with new engines, which were built to work with E10. "New boats don't have that problem be- cause newer boats are designed to be more compatible. You don't have the rubber hos- ing issues in some. But you do have, in the older engines, [problems with ethanol dam- age are] still out there," said Marvin Griffin, president of ValvTect Petroleum. Of course, if E15 becomes more en- trenched in our fuel supply, there are bigger issues to consider. "And that's one thing an additive can't do: If a system is incompatible with ethanol, you can use any chemical you want and it's not going to change the fact that the lining or the hose or the fuel lines or the tanks themselves or the coatings in the tanks are compatible with ethanol. If it's not compat- ible, it's not compatible," said Griffin. However, with the new administration in the executive branch and a Republican- controlled Congress, fuel additive manufac- turers are confident that won't be a concern. A shift toward stability The fuels and additives market adjusts focus as ethanol repair issues become less prominent E10 will still be around, but E15 will not be as widespread as E10 has become. "The good news is it seems with the new administration that the push to E15 will be slowed down a little bit, which is obviously great for boating because we can't survive in an E15 environment," said Dornau. "E15 will be available, but it won't be shoved down our throats like what was going to happen with the other administration." On the flip side, Dornau said there was still a large proliferation of ethanol-free fuel under the old administration, and he thinks that could diminish under the new administration. "The new administration is committed to the ethanol market and the fuel market, I would say, and they're going to want to continue to support those E10 levels, and somehow they're going to be able to offset not pushing E15 [by reducing] the availabil- ity of E0," he said. "So as they move those levers, it could affect boaters because boaters are the ones that benefit from E0." ADDITIVES STILL IMPORTANT Whatever fuel becomes more accessible to boaters – whether it's ethanol, isobuta- nol or ethanol-free fuel – those customers still need to be using fuel additives that stabilize the fuel and strengthen the lon- gevity of the fuel systems. "Additives for boats have never been more important with the quality of the fuel," said Dornau. "The fleet [in the au- tomobile industry] has never been newer, so in some cases they don't have the same requirements that boats do, as far as the VALVTECT ENHANCED ITS MARINE GAS ADDITIVE WITH A HEAVY PUSH TOWARD PERFORMANCE-BASED TECHNOLOGIES.

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