Are you fed up with the contaminated fuel in your storage tank? Be it diesel fuel or jet fuel, contamination is a common issue that may seem like a nightmare sometimes and cause you to spend thousands of money! From filter issues to severe system disruption, anything can be the outcome of using contaminated fuel.
The modern ULSD (Ultra-low Sulfur Diesel) fuel is eco-friendly and reduces the carbon footprint significantly. But it is susceptible to contamination, and unless you attend the fuel tank carefully and take proper preventive measures, you cannot ensure the expected efficiency. It demands your utter conscience to assure the aviation, marine, or agricultural operations are being executed without interruption.
To help you keep the fuel or storage system at the top-notch condition and avoid contamination, I am gathering everything essential.
What is Fuel Contamination?
Fuel contamination is the consequent process of degrading the fuel quality by various contaminants, including different organic matters, particles, rust, or other petroleum by-products.
Cause of Fuel Contamination
If you wonder about the culprits that make your fuel system degrading, I am offering an in-depth overview.
The fuel can get contaminated in three main ways:
- Particulates in the fuel
- Water contamination
- Microbial growth
Particulates in the Fuel
The presence of various particulates can contaminate the fuel in the storage tank drastically and cause havoc! These particulates can be dirt, smudge, or ferrous fragments and are one of the prime causes of contamination.
These fragments can enter fuel in various ways:
- From the refinery to transportation, a little unconsciousness can lead to severe particulate contamination
- An old black iron made storage tank may corrode easily and induce rust particles to contaminate the clean fuel
- While transporting, the continuous vibration and shaking allow the rust or micro-particles to get mixed with the diesel for further contamination
- When this contaminated fuel enters other tanks for massive storage or filling the tanks, the entire system gets contaminated.
Water Contamination
Water contamination is another type that causes jet fuel and diesel fuel contamination and makes you pay even millions to take the system back to its optimal condition! The situation gets worse when the free water contaminates the fuel system.
The ways water finds the path to fuel tanks are:
- Some hydrocarbon fuels like diesel are hygroscopic, meaning they can readily absorb moisture from the air
- If you allow space over the fuel, the vapor associated with the air produces emulsified water and gets mixed with the fuel
- The contamination process is sped up with the condensation of water due to temperature variance, especially in jet fuel
Microbial Growth
Different microbes like fungus or bacteria are a leading cause of fuel contamination that can even cause the engine to fail! Fuels contain a certain amount of microbes naturally that don’t cause any issue until they find the optimal condition.
The optimal conditions for these diesel bugs to grow are:
- 10-40 degrees Celsius temperature
- Presence of water
These diesel bugs or jet fuel fungus produce sludge-like substances at the bottom of the tank and cause corrosion in fuel tanks.
Problems of Fuel Contamination
Unless you check the symptoms of fuel contamination in your system, it can lead to catastrophic system failure leaving you in a fix. While some issues can easily be solved, some need your attention to ensure efficiency.
The problems that can arise because of fuel contamination include:
Fuel Filters Clogging
The very initial issues you will face because of contaminated fuel include the clogging of fuel filters. Before getting passed to the engine, the fuel gets refined through the fuel filter. They specifically filter the alloy bits, sludge, etc.
If your fuel filters require frequent replacement, the possibility is, the fuel is the culprit. If the fuel is contaminated, the filters will get clogged very often and induce other problems.
Fuel Pump Failing
The failing fuel pump can be a subsequent issue of ignoring the frequently clogged filters. Thus the fuel pump cannot provide the engine with a constant fuel stream and result in stroke interruption, especially when the vehicle gets accelerated.
The signs for fuel pump failure include:
- Jerks when accelerated
- Power loss when accelerated or dragged
- No ignition
If remaining unchecked, these signs can lead to a complete fuel pump failing, and the engine gets no fuel for ignition.
Engine Injector Failure
The engine injector of the vehicle may fail partially and fully if the contamination remains unchecked.
The symptoms of a partially failed engine injector include:
- Decreased RPM of the engine
- Heavy exhaust and smoke
- Increase in fuel consumption
- Decreased speed
The partial failure may lead to complete engine failure, and the engine stops operating. Such a condition may need long-time and expensive repairs to make the engine work again.
The other issues are:
- Wearing of the fuel injector valve
- Reduction in injector nozzle pressure
- Reduction in fuel volume
How to Avoid Fuel Contamination?
Let’s get insight into some of the easy yet effective steps to avoid fuel contamination.
Buy from Reputable Source
One of the very effective ways to prevent contamination is to buy high-grade fuel from a reputable seller. Thus you can ensure the fuel you are buying is of top-notch quality and exclude water, micro-organisms, or particulates.
Change the Fuel Filters Periodically
Fuel filters work great in combating the contaminants, but they face a drastic fall in efficiency when they get soiled. Periodic change of fuel filters is one of the best ways to avoid the damages the contaminants can cause to the engine.
Use Fuel Stabiliser
Using a fuel stabiliser is a great way to ensure the fuel will remain clean and not face contamination when not in use for months. It doesn’t allow the fuel to get in contact with water or oxygen and get contaminated.
Ensure Fuel Monitoring
The best way to avoid contamination is to keep monitoring the fuel periodically. As microbial growth is one of the prominent causes of fuel contamination, you need to ensure periodic fuel testing for detecting contamination.
You can rely on Fuelstat by Conidia Bioscience as a reliable and prompt kit for diesel fuel testing. This efficient on-site microbial contamination testing process utilises the immunoassay antibody testing technique, requires no equipment, and gives you accurate results only in 15-minutes!
Ensure Maintenance
No matter how effective additives you use, you cannot avoid contamination unless you ensure proper fuel and tank maintenance. A useful step to block the microbes is using an air-tight storage tank.
The significant steps include:
- Keeping the storage tank full
- Avoiding sun exposure, bad weather, and severe temperature
- Using biocides every 3-months for avoiding microbial contamination
- Running the fuel through filtration after moving
- Cleaning the tank frequently
Conclusion
Keeping contaminants away from the fuel is an effective way to ensure the system can run efficiently. The above information I have gathered here would help you fight off contaminated fuel and keep it fresh and new!
