Diesel fuel is a mixture of hydrocarbons obtained by distillation of crude oil. The important properties which are used to characterize diesel fuel include cetane number (or cetane index), fuel volatility, density, viscosity, cold behavior, and sulfur content. Diesel Fuel has been updated with environmental concerns and governmental regulations over time and has now created a situation that must be considered in storage, particularly in medium to long term, because it has a shelf life and breaks down by aging.
YOUR DIESEL NEEDS YOUR ATTENTION
The diesel composition, which is a fuel of fossil origin, contains many aerobic and anaerobic bacteria spores and fungus. Especially where water is present, these bacteria and fungi are in a logarithmic growth environment. If not continuously maintained, they can cause all the fuel volume in a storage tank to become infected. As a result, microorganism infection, which turns into an organic contamination, poses a risk for the installations, extending from the tank to the combustion chamber through injectors which brings a significant chance of engine failures.
Diesel fuel attracts many physical pollution factors during the entire trip from the refinery to the end user’s storage tank. Unwanted agents such as solid particles, dust, sand, ferrous, etc. accumulate in the tank as a result. In addition to the catastrophe that blocks or ruins the filters and injectors, they also cause the formation of suitable habitats for organic pollution and bacterial growth. Apart from solid dirt, water; both in free and emulsified form, is the most undesired factor of fuel. Water is the last thing we want to see somewhere close to a combustion chamber with high pressure and temperature.
The most important feature that makes fuel usable is the calorific composition and combustibility. If the fuel -treated only by filters physically- is not in proper chemistry cannot create a combustion. Meaning, visibly clean fuel not a guarantee for an appropriate operation of emergency power generators. The end user must acknowledge that diesel is a complete set with its correct chemistry, cetane, viscosity, volality, and aromatics. Therefore, Fuel Maintenance should cover all.
Fuel specifications changed due to environmental concerns related to diesel fuel. The amount of sulfur in the fuel was gradually reduced by the precise parameters of ASTM D975 and EN590. While becoming more environmentally friendly, the new ultra-low sulfur diesel has lost one of its essential lubricants. Ultra-low sulfur diesel fuels have a significantly shorter storage life as well because microbial issues are more likely to take hold of them.
Biodiesel Blending, a long-standing agenda in the United States and the European Union, introduces a number of unique challenges, including:
- Oxidation stability, both under thermal and long-term storage conditions
- Cold flow characteristics and filterability
- Propensity for supporting microbiological growth
- Tendency to increase the dissolved water content and degrade the water-shedding ability of diesel fuels
- Compatibility with materials commonly used in refinery, distribution, and fuel-supply systems
All of these challenges can only be effectively managed if proper housekeeping practices are followed.
Engines and injection systems changed. Market demands and state regulations pushed manufacturers for more economical consumption, better combustion, and higher power. We, therefore, have now TIER IV and TIER V engines with much more precise injection systems than we had ten years ago, with fuel lines operating at higher pressures and temperatures. It is clear that the traditional preventive maintenance practices will be inadequate in the infrastructure with these engines.
The needs of today’s business world have changed. Now, continuity is more important than it was before. And now a downtime is much more expensive than it has ever been before. For this reason, designers and facility managers are extra-careful for sizing of emergency power supply systems, redundancy planning, regular tests and maintenance practices.
What happens if your facility suffers a complete blackout for 1 hour? If the answer scares you because you are running a mission-critical facility or this would incur huge financial losses, then you might be running a risky operation.
Change Your Maintenance Perspective
In fact, the technical staff of the critical facilities applies calculated predictions and preventive maintenance with very clearly defined and planned procedures. Especially at Tier III and Tier IV plants, these practices are also audited by independent parties with almost no gaps. Generators’ maintenance is carried out with high precision in the same way.
On the other hand, maintenance of the diesel fuel stored for the generators is generally skipped, or simple physical cleaning methods like annual tank cleaning apply. However, diesel has a shelf life and may become unusable both physically and chemically when left without any care. This may result in a costly catastrophe when there is an emergency power need.
You Need Full and Continuously Protected Fuel, Not Only Polishing
While the generators are operating, line filters on the fuel transfer lines provide only limited protection. In this case, the limited protection raises concerns about how long the generators must run and how much contamination the filters can handle. This situation is not acceptable for critical facilities, and maintaining an optimum quality of the fuel in the tank is a must.
In the long run, a permanently installed complete off-line fuel maintenance system is safer and more cost-effective for end-users than an annual tank cleaning practice.
Simple Answer; We Do Not Break Down Your Fuel
EVERGEE Diesel Fuel Maintenance Systems serve the biggest names in the world as an exclusive supplier and keeps hundreds of millions of litres diesel fuel at the optimum conditions. Apart from presenting our customers patented technologies, the most difficult tests and analyses have confirmed the reliability of our unique technology over the years. EVERGEE carefully follows up each system for proper and continuous operation. EVERGEE’s qualified after sales team is behind every customer facility.
EVERGEE systems, on the other hand, integrate with all kinds of BMS and SCADA infrastructures to minimise human intervention and therefore operator-induced errors.