Is your fuel bugging you? |
Diesel, Aviation Fuel and Bio Fuels are hygroscopic, meaning that it absorbs water from the air. The existence of this water provides a breeding ground for microbial growth. Left untreated, these micro organisms will multiply, contaminating fuel lines and clogging filters and injectors, causing poor performance and high emissions. Over time, these micro organisms will also break down the fuel making it harder to burn.
The bacteria of a variety of types, both aerobic and anaerobic, produce organic acids, including sulphurous and sulphuric acid. These highly corrosive chemicals will cause severe degradation of storage tank coatings, corrosion of metal tank surfaces and injection equipment. The effect of the microbiological contaminants on fuel injection equipment is to quickly impair performance and dramatically increase wear rates. This brings about poor combustion conditions, loss of engine power and reduced service life of components.
Corrosion in a fuel supply line
Until now the most widespread method of dealing with microbiological contamination has been by the addition of a suitable biocide to the contaminated system. This method however brings with it its own raft of problems.
Read all about fuel analysis and the common mistakes in diagnosing fuel contamination
SEM Photograph of Microbes living in fuel - University of Wales Report
How the FuelMag™ works
FuelMag™
is not a filter; it does not impede or reduce the passage of the fluid.
FuelMag™ flush the fuel through a magnetic flux field starting the
process of plasmolysis, forcing al the water out of the cell body to
leave a dormant organism small enough to pas through the filter to be
consumed in the engine.
The state of Plasmolisys last up to 14 days after which the cell start
to recover and start reproducing again. To succesfully manage
contamination in Fuel Storage it is recommended that the a
re-circulation system has to be created.
FuelMag™ is a non-chemical solution with no health and safety risk to a age old problem.
SEM Photo: Unused Hose - Hose without FuelMag™ - 7 days - Hose with FuelMag™ - 7 days
FuelMag: The real solution
Scientific
experimentation conducted on our behalf by The School of Ocean Sciences at The
University of Wales at Bangor is a clear
endorsement of our own research and fuel testing programs and are the result of
ongoing work with marine underwriters and classification societies.
Through the activities of the scientists at The University of Wales and CABI we have gained a greater understanding of how Fuel Mag™ works and how it can best be utilised to give its most effective performance.
The only real long term answer to microbiological contamination of fluids
SEM Photograph of a unused filter Element
SEM Photograph of a filter element with FuelMag™ Installed after 14 days
SEM Photograph of a filter element without a FuelMag™ Installedafter 14 days
Microbes are found at the
fuel-water interface. They use fuel as food, converting additives into new
chemicals and water as the oxygen source, thus ruining your fuel. Some of their
food becomes new bugs or biomass, and the rest become byproducts or metabolites.
These metabolite molecules range from carbon dioxide to slime. Some of the
metabolites contribute to sludge formation or make organic acids, which make
fuel and associated water bottoms corrosive. If you take a look at a slime
sample at the fuel and water interface, you will find the proportion of the mass
that is actual bugs is astonishingly small.
Growth Samples Yeast, Fungus and bacteria supplied by CABI
Growth of microorganisms in
petroleum products has been recorded since 1895, causing fouling, malfunction
and corrosion in storage tanks, equipment, pipelines, filters and
engines.
Until now the most widespread method of dealing with
microbiological contamination has been by the addition of a suitable biocide to
the contaminated system. This method however brings with it its own raft of
problems.
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Proprietary brands of biocide are expensive.
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Biocide may kill of some of the bacteria strain, leaving others to enjoy an increase in growth rate and assume the ecological elevation previously prevented by bacteria strains now killed off.
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Biocides are highly toxic. It requires special procedures and extreme care in handling.
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major oil companies have issued bulletins to their staff specifically instructing them that in no circumstances should they handle the biocide treatment or removal of material from a treated system.
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Effective biocide treatment must be correctly applied with special care exercised to protect the health of the treatment operator.
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The cumulative effects of the toxic biocide on the engine are not known or stated.n
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nor is the level of environment damage created by passing the biocide through the engine and into the atmosphere.
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The treated biomass is still in the system and has either to be physically removed by cleaning or is left to be caught up in the normal filtration