Best Practices: Fuel And Tank Filtration

The best permanent filter systems filter the fuel and clean the tank, eliminating the microbial growth. Fuel tanks get contaminated quickly and a proper, permanent solution will clean up the worst offenders to restore them to like-new condition.

Depth filters typically have large quantities of paper media that filter the fuel in a single pass. The longer the fuel is exposure to the filter media, the better the filtration. Traditional diesel fuel is relatively easy to filter. Exposing diesel to most media, even plain paper, will filter it to some extent.

However, as technology enhances diesel fuel to make it more environmentally friendly, diesel fuel becomes harder to stabilize from degradation and harder to filter. Making diesel cleaner with fewer emissions has seen a reduction in sulfur content. Reducing the sulfur increases the surfactant level of the fuel. This means that the diesel and water molecules bond with such force that it is almost impossible to separate out the water.

Institutions that have gone “green” by operating on ULSD instead of readily available LSD have experienced this issue first hand. Their fuel degrades faster than before, and it is harder to clean. Complex cellulose depth filtration does not work anymore.

Today, the most important test to look for is how the manufacturer’s equipment handles ULSD and biodiesel blends. The industry is quickly heading in this direction. The refineries do not have a choice. EPA regulations are stipulating that by 2010 all diesel fuel sold must meet a maximum sulfur content of 15ppm (ULSD), down from 500ppm. Cellulose or paper depth filtration that once worked with traditional diesel fuel cannot filter ULSD or biodiesel blends.

Refuel Systems employ new technology with specifically designed advanced filter media to eradicate water and particulate from all diesel fuels including ULSD and biodiesel blends. Furthermore, Refuel Systems can custom engineer filter media technology to address individual elements contaminating critical fuel reserves.