# Nitro Fuel for Diesels

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitro-fuel-for-diesels/432065>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 3, 2008, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitro-fuel-for-diesels/432065 "2008-01-03T01:00:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitro-fuel-for-diesels/432065/1 "2008-01-03T01:00:19Z")

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Nitromethane is a high power fuel mixed with methanol and used in Top Fuel dragsters. Nitromethane dosen’t mix with gasoline, though.

Nitropropane Does mix with gas, and can be used in your sports car.

Is there some nitro-X-ane fuel that can be a superfuel for diesel engines?

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**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitro-fuel-for-diesels/432065/2 "2008-01-03T06:08:42Z")

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In a word, no.

Diesels are low RPM, very high torque so their combustion is inherently slower than a gasoline engine. Making that combustion more energetic by making the fuel more energetic simply won’t work. What you can do is simply stuff more fuel/air into the mix with a turbo or supercharger, which diesels often use.

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**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitro-fuel-for-diesels/432065/3 "2008-01-04T00:44:16Z")

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BTW, nitromethane actually provides LESS energy per unit weight than gasoline. It is used in top fuel dragsters because it also requires much less air to burn - gasoline requires nearly 9 times as much oxygen for combustion as an equal weight of nitromethane. This means that you can cram that much more fuel into the cylinder and have it burn, more than making up for the fact that it doesn’t provide as much energy in proportional terms. A top fuel dragster consumes about a gallon and a half of fuel PER SECOND under full throttle, for a 500 cubic inch engine.