What is Stihl Motomix fuel made of?

[The_Eric]

I finally bought some of the pre-mixed fuel for my chainsaw since we had a fallen tree to cut up due to storm damage... I thought it would be about perfect. So I ponied up the cash and bought a quart.

I started reading and it said that it was 99% alykld (sp?) fuel. It sure doesn't smell anything like regular gasoline- in the can nor at the exhaust.

What's the story on this fuel? Where does it come from and what, besides it's long shelf life makes it so good?

I did a search and came up short- also wasn't sure if this should have been posted in the lawn&garden forum...

 

[Brad_C]

Can you lay your hands on an MSDS for it? They can (not always) be quite illuminating.

 

[tstep]

It is advertised as ethanol free 92 octane gas w/ stihl synthetic 2 cycle oil at 50:1. never used it myself, though I have used stihl ultra synthetic quite a bit mixed with 92/93 octame 10% ethanol gas in 4mix and 2 cycle and it is pricey but has kept coking in the 4mix at bay.

 

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted By: Brad_C
Can you lay your hands on an MSDS for it? They can (not always) be quite illuminating.


That's a good idea- I'll see if I can find one.

edit:

I found it, but am having problems posting it up in a usable form- what's the trick?

Code:
Chemical Name

Petroleum Distillates,

Toluene

Cyclohexane

Hexane

Butane

Ethylbenzene

Isobutane

Isopentane

Xylene

1,2,4-Trimethylbenzene

Cumene

Methyl Tert-Butly Ether

Naphthalene

Benzene

CAS-No

8002-05-9

108-88-3

110-82-7

110-54-3

106-97-8

100-41-4

75-28-5

78-78-4

1330-20-7

95-63-6

98-82-8

1634-04-4

91-20-3

71-43-2

Weight %

0-100

≤0.5

0-10

0-10

0-10

≤0.5

0-40

0-40

≤0.5

≤0.5

≤0.5

0-1

≤0.5

≤0.5

 

[4wheeldog]

Originally Posted By: The_Eric
Originally Posted By: Brad_C
Can you lay your hands on an MSDS for it? They can (not always) be quite illuminating.


That's a good idea- I'll see if I can find one.

edit:

I found it, but am having problems posting it up in a usable form- what's the trick?

Code:
Chemical Name

Petroleum Distillates,

Toluene

Cyclohexane

Hexane

Butane

Ethylbenzene

Isobutane

Isopentane

Xylene

1,2,4-Trimethylbenzene

Cumene

Methyl Tert-Butly Ether

Naphthalene

Benzene

CAS-No

8002-05-9

108-88-3

110-82-7

110-54-3

106-97-8

100-41-4

75-28-5

78-78-4

1330-20-7

95-63-6

98-82-8

1634-04-4

91-20-3

71-43-2

Weight %

0-100

≤0.5

0-10

0-10

0-10

≤0.5

0-40

0-40

≤0.5

≤0.5

≤0.5

0-1

≤0.5

≤0.5


Looks like a fair approximation of ethanol free gasoline to me. "Petroleum distillates" is probably 90%+ of the mix, and the rest is additives.

 

[The_Eric]

The thing is- it smells completely different than any gasoline I've ever smelled before. Ethanol added or not. To me it smells more like a mineral spirit based solvent.

 

[KeithS_NW_Ohio]

Most likely it's Alkylate fuel, like Aspen fuel
http://www.aspenfuel.co.uk/

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: The_Eric
The thing is- it smells completely different than any gasoline I've ever smelled before. Ethanol added or not. To me it smells more like a mineral spirit based solvent.

I've heard the same said about 100 octane unleaded racing gasoline. Some said it sort of smelled like acetone and if they spilled some (they used gas cans) on the fingertips it had a cool feeling like some sort of solvent or nail polish remover.

Racing gasoline is supposedly a blend of several isolated fractions. It's not an imprecise mixture of different hydrocarbons.

 

[The_Eric]

Thanks for the info and the link guys!

I had seen some references to the Aspen fuel but they were in Dutch or Danish.