FAQ

The chemistry behind diesel fuel instability involves the chemical conversion of precursors to species of higher molecular weight with limited solubility. The conversion process often involves oxidation of the precursors. Fuel solvency plays a role, since the development of insolubles is always a function of both the presence of higher molecular weight species and the fuel capacity to dissolve them.

We all realize that fuel is an unstable, organic liquid that goes “bad”. Your vendor will always sell you the highest fuel quality possible. However, due to a variety of circumstances, fuel may have “aged”, oxidized, and/or contain water. It may have been contaminated before it was delivered to you or to your vendor.

The journey fuel has to travel from the refinery to the end user destination is open to opportunities for the introduction and promotion of contamination. It is pumped through pipelines, barged, trucked, and stored intermittently in tank farms throughout this journey. Daily changes in temperature and exposure to the atmosphere will cause condensation and water build up in storage systems. None of this will help improve fuel quality.

When your fuel is finally used, it is exposed to the heat and pressure of engine injection systems, centrifuges, pumps, and heaters, causing an increase in asphaltene agglomerations, which negatively impacts combustion efficiency and emissions.

This is a question many of us have asked more than once. And what we really want to know is: “Will the stuff damage my engine?” Engines are expensive, and ruining an engine is costly, so operating an engine on “bad fuel” is not wise.

Most engine failures start in the fuel tank. When all mechanical parts are in good operating condition, the cooling and lube systems are working, and the lube oil is clean, a diesel engine or turbine could almost run forever. The only limiting factor is Fuel Quality. Dark fuel is symptomatic of poor quality, and even though it will work in most cases, fuel in this condition will provide poor combustion and add to filtration problems.

“Dark fuel” is, in general, indicative of oxidation and that the process of fuel degradation is in a far advanced stage. Hazy fuel is indicative of water emulsified in the fuel. In general, dark hazy fuel will not cause immediate damage your engine, but will over time if left untreated. It indicates, however, poor fuel quality, which will definitely not provide you with peak engine performance.

Using less than optimal fuel quality negatively impacts engine efficiency and accelerates the process that makes new engines old. Diesel fuel, in its native state, can range from colorless, to amber or light brown color, depending on the crude oil and the refinery process used to produce it. In addition, dyes may be added to change the fuel color for tax identification purposes.

In time, stored fuel will darken due to oxidation, repolymerization, and agglomeration of certain components. The darkening is a result of the formation of sediment that plugs filters and causes poor combustion. Fuel & Oil vendors suggest that if diesel fuel is stored for emergency use, it should be replaced with fresh fuel within a year, unless special precautions or remedial actions are taken.

The University of Idaho conducted tests on the life expectancy of fuels to determine the timeline on degradation of stored #2 diesel. The results indicated 26% degradation after 28 days of storage. Disposing of old fuel and purchasing new fuel is a very expensive proposition. Many larger companies, government institutions, hospitals, etc. have dumping of fuel and the purchasing of new fuel as standard and accepted practice.

The implementation of Weeden Clean Fuels diesel tank cleaning services and technology eliminates these costly, wasteful, and environmentally unfriendly dumping practices.

Temperature, humidity, and condensation are very important factors to consider in managing fuel quality. The presence of free water provides the medium for microbiological growth resulting in the formation of slime or acids that can cause corrosion of metal surfaces; such as storage tanks, pumps, injectors, etc. Other key factors leading to fuel deterioration, polymerization, and stratification within storage tanks are chemical incompatibility and stress caused by heat and pressure from pumps, centrifuges, and heaters. Since most diesel engines return considerable amounts of fuel back to the tank (due to fuel not being completely used during the combustion process), it is easy to see that the engine itself contributes to fuel deterioration.

Well, filtration simply cannot, and will not, do that.

At best, filters, separators, and centrifuges remove debris suspended in the fuel before it reaches the engine. Stopping, preventing, or reversing the process of fuel breakdown is a completely different matter that can be addressed, and resolved with proper tank and fuel maintaince. It is not very likely that filtration, (either the filter on the engine, or an external filtration system) will remove the sludge coating from the walls and baffles of your storage tank and the use of biocides will almost always aggravate the situation. Filtration has no effect on fuel break down processes.

Simple in-organic debris, dust, sand, rust, etc. can easily be removed from the fuel stream with a filter. This in-organic material will be trapped in the filter without clogging it. Most of the debris we see on the filter elements (the stuff that plugs our filters) is the result of the fuel having begun to form solids.

The water separator is designed to remove free-water. However, a separator, filter combination, or centrifuge, cannot remove emulsified water. Free water in fuel can simply be removed from the fuel stream with the use of a water separator. Several well-known and very efficient combination Filter/Water separator devices exist within the market and are essential in any diesel engine application.

This is a question many of us have asked more than once. And what we really want to know is: “Will the stuff damage my engine?” Engines are expensive, and ruining an engine is costly, so operating an engine on “bad fuel” is not wise.

Most engine failures start in the fuel tank. When all mechanical parts are in good operating condition, the cooling and lube systems are working, and the lube oil is clean, a diesel engine or turbine could almost run forever. The only limiting factor is fuel quality. Dark fuel is symptomatic of poor quality, and even though it will work in most cases, fuel in this condition will provide poor combustion and add to filtration problems.

“Dark fuel” is, in general, indicative of oxidation and that the process of fuel degradation is in a far advanced stage. Hazy fuel is indicative of water emulsified in the fuel. In general, dark hazy fuel will not cause immediate damage your engine, but will over time if left untreated. It indicates, however, poor fuel quality, which will definitely not provide you with peak engine performance.

Using less than optimal fuel quality negatively impacts engine efficiency and accelerates the process that makes new engines old. Diesel fuel, in its native state, can range from colorless, to amber or light brown color, depending on the crude oil and the refinery process used to produce it. In addition, dyes may be added to change the fuel color for tax identification purposes.

In time, stored fuel will darken due to oxidation, repolymerization, and agglomeration of certain components. The darkening is a result of the formation of sediment that plugs filters and causes poor combustion. Fuel & Oil vendors suggest that if diesel fuel is stored for emergency use, it should be replaced with fresh fuel within a year, unless special precautions or remedial actions are taken.

The University of Idaho conducted tests on the life expectancy of fuels to determine the timeline on degradation of stored #2 diesel. The results indicated 26% degradation after 28 days of storage. Disposing of old fuel and purchasing new fuel is a very expensive proposition. Many larger companies, government institutions, hospitals, etc. have dumping of fuel and the purchasing of new fuel as standard and accepted practice.

The implementation of Weeden Clean Fuels technology and professional diesel tank cleaning services eliminates these costly, wasteful, and environmentally unfriendly dumping practices. Weeden Clean Fuels will preserve fuel integrity almost indefinitely, and can help you put in place good housekeeping measures, along with a quality fuel-monitoring program.

Filter plugging can have several causes. For example, low temperatures can cause wax crystallization, which can lead to filter plugging. An example would be using summer diesel in cold weather. Wax, or paraffin, is a natural component of the diesel fuel. AXI AFC 805 Winter Fuel Catalyst with Anti Gel is the answer to that problem.

Chemical incompatibility may cause dramatic filter plugging. This may happen when fuels with incompatible additive packages are mixed.

Contaminant build up, resulting from excessive microbial growth and bio-degradation of fuel, can cause filter plugging. Micro-organisms, bacteria and enzyme activity, fungus, yeast, and mold cause fuel degradation and the formation of waste products. The process is similar to milk turning into cottage cheese, a different form of milk. Of all the microbial debris and waste products within the tank, only about .01% is bugs. Even though microbes may cause and accelerate the process of fuel degradation, it should be clear that the waste products clogging your filter are not the microbes, but fuel components which have formed solids.

Frequently, the application of a biocide aggravates the situation and turns bio-film into solids, creating a real fuel filter nightmare. Bio film develops through out the entire fuel system. It grows in the water fuel interface and on the walls, baffles, and bottoms of storage tanks. An unlucky end user may be filling up his tank and getting this debris delivered as a part of his fuel, for the same price as the fuel.

Poor thermal fuel stability can plug filters. Fuel will form particulates (solids) when exposed to pumps and the hot surfaces and pressure of the fuel injection system. This will result in an increase in asphaltene agglomerations, polymerization, and a dramatic loss of combustion efficiency.

Fuel systems, in general, are designed to return a significant proportion of the fuel, not used for combustion, back to the tank. This returned fuel is very hot and will promote polymerization and fuel breakdown. Eventually, more and more solids from the tank will reach the filter and over time, plug the filter. These problems continuously occur in commercially operated engines, such as trucks, heavy equipment, shipping, and power generation, but will also appear in recreational boats, RV’s and all types of fuel storage tanks.

Truck engines are used continuously and, in most cases, the tanks “appear to be clean”. However, a 2-micron filter element does not last very long, in general 15,000 miles or less. It should be 30,000 miles or more. In the marine industry, 400 hours is in many instances standard operating procedure (SOP), while filters should easily last 1000 hours or more.

The size of the largest diesel fuel molecule still within specifications is approximately 30 Angstrom (that equals approx 0.003 of a micron). Compared to a 10-micron opening in a filter element, one can have 3333 of these particular molecules passing through the opening side by side. E.g. comparing the size of a baseball to two and a half football fields.

Short filter life is quite remarkable realizing how “thin” diesel fuel actually is and knowing how clean the tanks on most trucks “appear” to be. Short filter life is symptomatic of polymerization, increase in the size of the fuel droplet, agglomeration of asphaltenes, and the formation solids in fuel systems. The consequences are carbon build up in engines and exhaust systems, higher fuel consumption, and excessive smoke.