NanoEFX for power generation
NanoEFX is a passive, water-based air-filter treatment for combustion engines with a treatable intake filter or medium. It can be applied to generator engines where such a filter or medium is present, but results depend on load and duty cycle. Our eleven-site trial on telecom generators running continuously at near-zero load produced a small positive median fuel-saving result of +1.7%, with site results ranging from −1.6% to +5.7%; that result was too small and variable to establish a clear treatment effect for that duty cycle.
| Treatment | Passive, water-based air-filter coating — not a fuel additive or ECU remap |
|---|---|
| Applies to | Diesel gensets · Gas gensets (no field validation) · Prime & backup power · CHP units · Irrigation & pump engines |
| Fuels | Diesel · Natural gas (no field validation) · Biogas (no field validation) · Biodiesel (no field validation) · HVO renewable diesel (no field validation) |
| Application | Existing filter treated (20–45 min) or pre-treated filter fitted |
| Reapplication | By run-hours & engine size (gensets are measured in operating hours) |
| Engine changes | None — no modification, remap or retrofit |
| Regulatory context | EU Stage V engine-emission standards (non-road engines, incl. generating sets) |
A coating on the air filter — not a fuel additive or a remap
NanoEFX is sprayed onto the engine's air filter — the existing one, or a replacement filter treated in advance — where it dries into a thin, breathable nano-coating. As the engine draws air through that treated surface, the coating is designed to condition the intake air before combustion, with the aim of supporting a cleaner, more complete burn — what we have measured is set out below. For a generator fleet, that means the same treatment can be applied to every engine that breathes through a treatable filter — whether it lowers fuel use on a given engine is what a pilot measures.
What it is
- A passive nanostructured intake-air treatment
- Applied to the engine’s air filter
- Water-based — dries to a thin, breathable coating
- Works before combustion, at the intake-air stage
What it isn't
- A fuel additive or oil additive
- An ECU remap or tuning
- A mechanical retrofit or powered device
- Anything that changes how you operate
Three pressures every power operator already feels
These are the forces that make intake-air efficiency worth acting on — independent of any single engine or duty cycle.
Fuel is the cost of every running hour
For prime power and long run-hours, fuel is the dominant operating cost of a genset. If a pilot measures a gain that holds over a representative period, even a modest one could add up quickly over long run-hours; whether it carries over to other gensets is checked separately.
Air-quality permits and emissions limits
Gensets and power sites operate under emissions permits and local air-quality rules. NanoEFX needs no engine replacement or retrofit hardware; combustion theory would expect a more complete burn to produce less CO and unburned hydrocarbons, but we hold one accredited measurement on one vehicle and none on soot.
Carbon reporting on on-site generation
Organisations increasingly measure, report and price the Scope 1 emissions from their own generation. Burning less fuel directly lowers both the fuel cost and the reported carbon, as calculated from fuel consumption.
Want the numbers for your own fleet? The Fleet Fuel & Carbon ROI calculator models fuel-cost savings from your own figures and shows how carbon is priced for your country and fuel — added only where it is paid on top through emissions trading.
Regulatory sources: EU Stage V — Regulation (EU) 2016/1628 (non-road engines) · Other regions (USA, Japan, China, and more) →
Our own trials in this duty cycle
This is the duty cycle with our most limited result. Our eleven-site trial on telecom generators running continuously at near-zero load produced a small positive median of +1.7% but no clear treatment effect for that duty cycle. Our stationary boiler data — two heavy-oil boilers at a Japanese hot-spring hotel — is among the most consistent we hold; it comes from a different application, and neither result explains the other. Both belong on this page.
Measured fuel figures for this duty cycle
The generator sites in our Nigerian trial consumed between 8 and 114 litres per day each; the heavy-oil boilers in our Japanese record between 21,500 and 37,300 litres per month. Neither result tells you what your own plant will show — stationary plant is measured under its own load profile.
IHS Towers
+1.7% median · no clear effect saving vs own baselineGenerators near idle: median +1.7%, two sites worse; the operator recorded no observable savings at four of eleven sites. Published in full.
Read the trial →Hot-spring hotel boilers
−10.7% … −16.0% fuel consumptionSix monthly measurements, each against the same month a year earlier — our most consistent stationary result.
Read the trial →All trial results, including the weak and mixed ones → · every individual measurement we hold
How a trial is run and what each method can show: measurement methodology. What we measured at the exhaust: emissions. Everything in one place: the evidence section.
From prime and backup gensets to CHP
Power generation is rarely one engine. NanoEFX can be applied to generator engines that breathe through a treatable air filter, and it works at the intake air, whatever the fuel burned.
Equipment types
Fuels
For the gas gensets and fuels marked on this page we have no documented field validation, so we make no performance claim for them. What we have measured on generators and boilers is set out in the FAQ below.
No workshop, no retrofit, no new hardware
Your own team either fits a pre-treated filter, or treats the existing filter, lets it dry for at least 20 minutes and refits it.
What this could mean for a generator fleet
NanoEFX doesn't add energy or oxygen and doesn't modify your engine — it is designed to help the engine waste less of the energy already in the fuel. NOx response is engine- and control-system dependent.
Common questions from operators
Can NanoEFX be used on our diesel and gas gensets — and what can we expect?
Does NanoEFX change the engine or its controls?
How often does NanoEFX need reapplying on a genset?
Does NanoEFX help with emissions permits?
Don't take the claim — measure it
The most honest evidence is your own baseline. In a NanoEFX pilot you run a controlled trial on your own engines, measured against your own fuel data — and you only pay if it proves savings.