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Biological Growth

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Keep and make your diesel fuel cleaner 1024 768 Star Oilco

Keep and make your diesel fuel cleaner

Clean, dry, premium diesel

What is Clean Diesel? 

Clean diesel is free of the contaminants that harm modern diesel engines. Today, there is a gap between ASTM diesel standards and the ISO cleanliness standards needed for use in high pressure common rail engines. Anyone operating a modern clean diesel engine is seeing the effect, including injector replacement, DPF regeneration, and a host of other fuel quality related maintenance concerns we never saw twenty years ago. On top of all of that, today’s refined diesel fuels are less storage stable then ever before. What is on the bottom of your bulk tank can also complicate matters further. When diesel is bought wholesale it typically meets and exceeds ASTM required industry standards, but almost always requires additional filtration to avoid excessive engine wear and premature part failures.

Having clean diesel requires an additional amount of care. Namely, you need to make sure that the fuel is aggressively filtered at 4 microns to catch the microscopic particles that are big enough to damage your modern diesel engine’s high pressure fuel rail system. Furthermore, clean diesel is fuel that is free of water and stabilized with Premium Diesel to guarantee no bacteria, yeast and other creatures can grow and further contaminate the saddle tanks on your trucks.

For more on clean diesel, see Donaldson’s description of “The New Clean” for an in-depth explanation of what ISO cleanliness and filtration mean for your diesel fleet.

Making Diesel Cleaner!

Knowing the quality of your fuel is the first step. This is done by taking samples off of the bottom of your bulk storage, as well as a representative sample from your fuel dispenser. Lab tests of those samples will tell you if you have water, biological growth, or dirt issues with your storage. The contaminants in the tank being sampled are almost always visible, which is to say that they look horribly ugly. If your fuel quality assurance has been on autopilot, do not be surprised if you find this. After gathering knowledge about your fuel, the next step is to get your fuel quality clean.

Filtration and tank bottom sampling is the start. Beyond that, the only way to improve your fuel quality performance is to filter your fuel, ensure water is not getting into the tank through condensation, and additize it with a Premium Diesel additive to upgrade the performance of the fuel. Many fleets today are seeing injector wear and continual problems with particulate trap maintenance. This is a combination of water in fuel and microscopic particles not captured by a 10 or 30 micron filter used at most diesel dispensers. You have to filter more aggressively than this.

Clean, Dry, and Premium Diesel!  Where To Start?

The first step is sampling your bulk diesel tank. We check your bulk tank for water and dirt, and make sure to meet the specifications your engine is built for. Star Oilco can help by providing a complementary diesel test for those fleets interested in taking control of their fuel quality assurance. Usually when testing fuel, we take a sample off of the tank bottom as well as a representative sample out of the fuel dispensing nozzle.

What we usually find is ASTM specification diesel fuel (it meets ASTM spec) that is higher than you’d want (still in spec) for water with far more dirt than the OEM’s would want to see in your engine. This dirt fails to be within the “ISO Cleanliness” specifications recommended by engine manufacturers. Usually we also see water on the bottom of the fuel tank, which is a likely source for future or current biological growth in your fuel tank.

Star Oilco can help you fix this! The first step is to sample your fuel tank.

NOTE: If you have a current biological growth problem in your bulk fuel tank or fleet, your first step is to treat that effected fuel with a diesel microbiocide to kill the bugs growing in your tank. For more on this, see our Valvtect Plus 6 Diesel Microbiocide page.

Tank Testing Form

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
proof-precision-fuel-management-program-works-star-oilco
Star Oilco Diesel Fuel Quality Assurance 1024 574 Star Oilco

Star Oilco Diesel Fuel Quality Assurance

 

Diesel Fuel Tank Cleaner

 

  • Diesel Fuel Is Often A Company’s Largest Expense. Unfortunately, there is very little control over its quality.
  • Fuel Quality Has Declined over the last 25 years…
  • Engine manufacturers have tightened the tolerances for fuel
  • Newer tier 4 engines starting from 2008 need cleaner fuel

 

“Over the last two decades, the cetane number and the API gravity, the basic measures of crude oil quality have declined.”

—Society of Automotive Engineers, (SAE) Bulletin 872243

 

 

Cetane number is actually a measure of a fuel’s ignition delay. This is the time period between the start of injection and start of combustion (ignition) of the fuel. In a particular diesel engine, higher cetane fuels will have shorter ignition delay periods than lower cetane fuels.

So what is a typical API gravity for diesel fuel? The classic book “Petroleum Refinery Engineering” by W.L. Nelson (4th ed., McGraw-Hill, 1958) gives numbers ranging from about 25 to 40 (with “Grade 1-D” around 40 and “Grade 2-D” around 35). In a Web search using the keywords “diesel” and “API gravity” I found a couple of sites with specs for #2 diesel fuel; these had minimum values of 26 and 30 API gravity. So a reasonable guess would be that typical #2 diesel fuel would have an API gravity of about 35; I’ll let you plug that into the above formula to get the specific gravity.

The densities of petroleum products are traditionally (especially in the U.S.) expressed as “API Gravity” The API Gravity is related to the specific gravity by the equation: API = (141.5/SPGR) – 131.5, where the specific gravity is the density relative to that of water and everything is measured at a temperature of 60 degrees F.

MadSci Network © 1997, Washington University Medical School

“Diesel fuel quality has deteriorated for the past 20 years and is expected to continue this trend for the foreseeable future.”

American Society for Testing and Materials, (ASTM) Pub. # 10056

 

COMMON PROBLEMS WITH 21st CENTURY DIESEL FUEL IN THE PACIFIC NW

Fuel Quality Deterioration

industrial-townProblem 1

 

Problem 2

 

Problem 3

Problem 6a

 

 

Problem 4

 

Problem 4a

 

 

Problem 5

Problem 3b

Problem 6

The odds are stacked against the fleet owners

what can be done to help alleviate or control the problems?

you have questions, we have the solutions, call us to find out.

 CAll Today

If you have bulk fuel storage, the first step is testing your tank bottom and what is coming out of the nozzle.  Star Oilco can do a complementary  ASTM and ISO specification analysis of your diesel fuel.  If you are seeing recurring fuel system issue, the first step is to make sure your bulk storage isn’t the problem. We can help.

Tank Testing Form

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

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Tier 4 Engines and Diesel Contaminants – Donaldson White Paper 683 1024 Star Oilco

Tier 4 Engines and Diesel Contaminants – Donaldson White Paper

Managing bulk diesel fuel storage has become more complex in recent years. Especially in Oregon and Washington the chance of water finding it’s way into your fuel tank is a real concern. If water gets in your bulk fuel biological growth or “hum bug” won’t be far behind.  Donaldson has positioned itself with real concrete solutions for for fuel quality.

With the extremely tight tolerances of today’s clean diesel engines and the expansion of sour crudes from tar sands, oil shale, and other source being hydrocracked into today’s ultra low sulfur diesel we have all seen it.  Fuel quality has stayed the same while the tolerance engine manufacturers build to have gotten tighter.

To help fleets solve the fuel quality issues fleet’s are dealing with these days Donaldson Filters has put out an intensive white paper on the what clogs filters.

Titled “Analysis and Identification of Contaminants in Diesel Fuel Filtration and Storage Systems” it goes into a level of depth of what the causes of filter spinning in your fleet is. If you are seeing clogged fuel filters this can help you diagnose and begin to problem solve for your fleet.

Usually diesel engine maintenance costs spin out of control around injector failure, DPF maintenance down time, and recurring regen cycles at the most inconvenient times blowing white smoke everywhere.  Usually this fleet management pain point revolves around dirt and water in diesel fuel.  Problems that Donaldson Filtration is the industry leader in solving.  Aggressive filtration and desicant breathers on tanks will polish your fuel beyond the low standards of petroleum standard ASTM and will exceed the ISO cleanliness standards the OEM’s made your engines to run.

This document is designed as and essential review of diesel contamination as it’s seen from the perspective of a filtration company guarding your diesel engine systems from problems.

This matters as the current generation of clean diesel technology commonly called “Tier 4” engines have a tighter specification need than industry standard diesel specification will meet in practice in the field.

 

The Donaldson Filters White Paper can be seen here: http://www.mycleandiesel.com/Resources/IFC10_FuelContaminants.pdf

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Do you know what your diesel fuel quality is? 1024 683 Star Oilco

Do you know what your diesel fuel quality is?

Find out what the bottom of your diesel tank looks like!
Call Star Oilco to get your diesel tested. 

This winter, Star Oilco is offering complementary diesel fuel testing for any fleet operating in our service area. We are providing fuel quality testing in partnership with Hydrotex to assist fleets in our area struggling with containing the cost of fuel related maintenance.  Typically a diesel lab test costs over $200 depending on the lab.  Don’t let the hurdle of a scientific analysis stand between you and full knowledge of what is effecting your fleet.

Since the move to Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel in 2007 along with moving changes in diesel refining and biodiesel mandates fuel quality has been a moving target.  More importantly petroleum refiners and distributors follow an ASTM specification for diesel which is not as stringent as the ISO standards demanded by OEMs making the trucks on the road today.  Water and dirt in fuel are robbing your fleet of money.  Get a handle on it and move forward armed with that knowledge.

Star Oilco and Hydrotex can help you understand what is going on, what the quality of your tank bottom is, and what you need to do to reduce the cost of operating your fleet as it relates to diesel fuel.

Call Star Oilco and state you want to get your fuel tested for both ASTM and ISO specification. A member of our team will help you take the sample off of the bottom of your tank as well as from your dispensing nozzle.

Call Star Oilco today for have a sample taken and tested.  

503-283-1256 or email OrderDesk@Star Oilco.net

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Star Oilco, Hydrotex, and Donaldson Filtration demonstrate Precision Fuel Management Program Works 1024 574 Star Oilco

Star Oilco, Hydrotex, and Donaldson Filtration demonstrate Precision Fuel Management Program Works

solid proof

09-18-2015 Recology Samples BEFORE Precision fuel management program

First sample taken 09-18-2015, lots of water and visible dirt in samples pulled from bulk tank. The company was having issues with equipment running rough, and they were spinning fuel filters way more than manufacturers recommended changes. We sat down with the plant supervisor and talked about diesel fuel quality testing. He was happy to hear his diesel fuel problems explained. It has nothing to do with diesel fuel quality by brand. All fuel vendors get the same fuel supplied to the Northwest.  The environment where this client is located has dust, dirt, and water in the air constantly due to the nature of the recycling processes with wood products. Our first goal was to sample the tank bottom and nozzle and share the results. As you can see from above, they had tons of water and dirt in the tank. So we set up to clean the bulk tank, polish the fuel with 1 micron filtration,  then install quality Donaldson clean & dry filtration including a 4 micron particulate filter, a water filter, and a desiccant breather trap to control the moisture that accumulates in most all bulk tanks. The client had dirty diesel fuel filters that were only 30 micron, letting all the damaging particles right into the equipment.

 

before

 

Numbers Meaningnumber meaning 1number meaning 2

second sample

COMPARE THE VISUAL AND DATA IMPROVEMENTS

Recology NP sample pic SECOND SAMPLE Precision Fuel Program 03-04-2016

The second round of samples after the tank was initially clean, the process is showing signs of improvement already.

The second round of samples after the tank was initially cleaned, and the remaining fuel was polished with 1 micron filtration. The process is showing signs of improvement after cleaning the tank. The Donaldson Filtration and Hydrotex PowerKleen additive was working on the contents of the tank, and the inside of the tank is being cleaned by the additive. The effects of water that was in the tank, and rust and corrosion showed signs of improvement on the second samples. Both water and rust will continue to be less in volume each time we sample, it is a continuous improvement program. Over time the water and rust goes away or is caught by the excellent Donaldson Clean & Dry filtration and what remains is attacked by the superior quality of Hydrotex PowerKleen additive!

 after

The most damaging particles and water, the ones between 4 and 8 microns,

are being filtered out of the fuel, the one’s we can’t see with the naked eye. Green Transfer After 04-20-20163rd sample

After 6 1/2 months on the Precision fuel management program the ISO count is well below the manufacturers specs for ANY of Recology's equipment. The water PPM if only 42 down from 89, well below ASTM standards. THESE NUMBERS DON'T LIE, THE PROGRAM WORKS!!!

After only 3 months on the Precision fuel management program the ISO count is well below the manufacturers specs for ANY of the customers equipment. The water PPM (Parts per million)  is now 42 down from 89, well below ASTM standards. THESE NUMBERS DON’T LIE, THE PROGRAM WORKS! To maintain this quality consistently the client only needs to change the filtration when the filtration gauges jump 10 PSI over normal flow rate. The Desiccant breather which controls moisture, has an indicator that turns RED from it’s original YELLOW to let you know it’s time to change.  The Hydrotex additive will continue to make the water drop out of the fuel, keep cleaning the rust and corrosion in the tank, and help with lubricity for the equipment that fuels from the tank.

Dont Wait until you see this

Another customer of ours was having issues with their previous fuel vendor, I approached the operations manager and let him know that we had a program that could turn their fuel issues around. He agreed to let me take bottom and nozzle samples from his tank, the results came back un-readable, meaning there was so much dirt and water that you could see it with the naked eye, (not good). All the damaging particles are between 2 and 8 microns. If you can see visible particles and water you know you are in trouble. We recommended our Precision fuel management program including cleaning the tank and using Donaldson Clean & Dry filtration along with Hydrotex PowerKleen additive and our Star Oilco Premium filtered diesel. Within 3 weeks the client saw results.

“The latest nozzle sample is looking very good, will continue to get down around 14/13/11”. In just one week after the second sample the water ppm has dropped to 52, which is well below the goal of 80 ppm. It dropped 20ppm after only one week of Hydrotex PowerKleen additive making the water drop out of the fuel.

The API gravity is down to 35.9, which means more BTU’s (heat transfer) meaning better gas mileage and horsepower. The fuel is burning clean and dry, like it is supposed to.

The client said, “We have not been spinning filters as often as we were in the past, we see an overall improvement in fuel quality since starting the Precision fuel program with Star Oilco.” Look at the before and after data below from the labDiesel Fuel Tank Testing and Cleaning Portland

 

Another satisfied Star Oilco Precision fuel management program customer!

If you suspect you have fuel issues because you’re seeing:

  1. Fuel filters plugging
  2.  Trucks and equipment are running rough
  3. Poor engine performance and fuel mileage below normal
  4. Fuel injector issues, pitting scaring or blown out tips

You may have issues with your bulk tank and filtration on the tank.

We can help you with a complementary lab sample test like you see above.

RULE OUT FUEL QUALITY AND BULK TANK FILTRATION ISSUES

Get with the program that works

                                                                 Get with the program that works

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