The octane-enhancing properties of the cyclic acetylene alcohol ethynylcyclopentanol

This study investigates the effect of oxygen-containing additives—methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and ethynylcyclopentanol (ECP)—on the octane number of straight-run gasoline and reforming gasoline. The additives were introduced at concentrations of 3–11 wt.%, followed by the determination of the research (RON) and motor (MON) octane numbers using a SHATOX octane meter. It was found that both additives improve the anti-knock properties of gasoline; however, ECP demonstrates higher effectiveness compared to MTBE. At an 11% ECP content, the increase in the octane number of straight-run gasoline was up to 16.4 points by the research method and 8.8 points by the motor method, whereas for MTBE the corresponding values were 13.3 and 7.0 points. A more pronounced effect of ECP is also observed for reforming gasoline. The increased effectiveness of ECP is explained by the peculiarities of its molecular structure, which includes an acetylene bond, a cyclic fragment, and a hydroxyl group. The results of the study confirm the potential of ECP as a new highly effective octane-boosting component for gasoline. The results show that ECP can be used as an effective octane-boosting additive for automotive gasoline