I often hear building property managers, engineers, mechanics, and others who manage fuel and have been involved with fuel storage over many years ask this question. Why do we need to fuel polish and clean tanks? We never did that 20 years ago!
There are many reasons and I will try to cover a few of the reasons we need to fuel polish and clean tanks today.
1. Contained Tanks – The fuel tanks today are double-walled and protect the environment from accidental spills of oil, gasoline and diesel fuels. If the inner tank fails the outer tank catches the product before it goes into the environment. 20 years ago single-walled tanks were common and a single-walled tank had a spigot or valve at the bottom of the tank to let the water, sludge, algae in diesel and bacteria collected on the bottom run out of the tank. Environmentally that wasn’t safe because if you forgot to close the lever all the fuel in the tank would run into the ground creating a spill. It was also a weak point in the tank.
Today the only way to access the tank to fuel polish and remove the water, algae in diesel, bacteria and sludge is to access the tank bottom from the top of the tank. This requires specialized equipment to clean fuel and that’s where a fuel polishing company like Fueltration Inc. comes in. We can take the contamination out of the tank and clean the fuel removing the algae in diesel, water and bacteria before it gets into your equipment.
2. Sulphur – Today in the interest of reducing pollution our diesel fuels are low in sulphur making them susceptible to bacteria, algae in diesel and other organisms. Bacteria, algae in diesel and fungi thrive in the low sulphur environment. There is more contamination with the sulphur removed as the bacteria create a friendly environment by darkening the fuel, causing more condensation and therefore more water to be removed.
3. Ethanol – Ethanol was introduced to lower emissions in gasoline. Billed as clean fuel one drawback to Ethanol is that it attracts water. When you have water you have the chemicals ( that the refineries put in the gasoline) dropping out of the fuel and running around the bottom of the tank like a big black blob. This can foul filters. There is also a fungus in fuel today that wasn’t there 20 years ago. Fuel polishing is necessary to remove all of these new contaminants.
4. Bio Fuels – Biofuels are very attractive to living organisms like bacteria and algae in diesel. Biofuels are friendly to the environment and are a food source for bacteria. Add water and you have the makings of a healthy colony of algae in diesel and bacteria.
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