Page 36 - Oil and Energy January 2013

36 • OIL&ENERGY
Fuel Quality
Additives Keep Fuel Flowing When Temps Drop
By Ed Burke, Dennis K. Burke Inc.
THE WINTER SEASON IS HERE, AND FOR
most fuel dealers in the Northeast, that
means kerosene blending to keep your
customers’ fleets running smoothly.
Let’s face it, a big part of our reputation
rides on how well our winter products
perform during the coldest days of the year.
For winter blends, our company primarily
relies on kerosene blending along with pour
point depressants. We deliver higher kero
blends as you go further North, including
50:50 blends or more in Maine.
WHERE KERO IS KING
From Boston to Portland, most termi-
nals offer kerosene-blended winter diesel.
Kerosene blending is old reliable, tried
and true. For every 10 percent of kero-
sene blended with diesel fuel, the cloud
point is lower by about three degrees. In
extreme cold weather, higher kero blends
are available at the rack, and you can get a
winter diesel with a cloud point down to
zero or below.
As a point of reference, winterized
diesels treated with additives at the rack
should have similar cold weather proper-
ties as a 30 percent blend of kero. While
additives can significantly reduce the fuel’s
CFPP, the ratios vary in effectiveness with
different diesel stocks.
TO BE FAIR
Additive suppliers often use low
numbers for winter kero blends, simply
averaging the kerosene and diesel from the
ASTM D975 specs. To be fair, most of our
diesel in New England is from Canadian
sources whose diesel standards are much
tougher than ours. We always get much
better numbers from the fuel analysis.
Kerosene blends don’t actually reduce
cetane numbers inwinter blends. A common
error, kerosene actually raises the cetane
number. What happens is the calculated
cetane drops. It’s an equation issue, as folks
don’t do an expensive cetane number test,
but use an algorithm to calculate.
Kerosene does have a lower BTU content
than diesel, which results in a decrease
in engine power and fuel economy. You
lose roughly about two percent in a 50:50
winter blend. Even with all of its shortfalls,
however, kerosene is the benchmark that
all winter additives hang their hat on.
GRAB YOUR SHOPPING CART
Now let’s take a quick look at some of
the cold weather fuel treatments and house-
keeping additives you might need.
Water Treatments – Maintaining a
year-round moisture control program to
minimize moisture problems makes sense
for both you and your customers. Glycol
ethers treatments can really help to reduce
water accumulation, enhance a fuel’s
ability to hold water in solution, and help
remove moisture from the entire system.
Many engine manufacturers also recom-
mend glycol ethers for more reliable winter
operation.
The fuel system itself creates water via
condensation, as warm fuel returns from
the engine back into the cold saddle tanks.
That’s why all fleets top-off their saddle
tanks more often in the winter. It’s also
still very important to regularly drain water
from saddle tank bottoms.
Deicers – We all know that icing is one
of the major causes of cold temperature
fuel-related problems. As the weather gets
colder, ice crystals begin to form in diesel
fuel that contains about 500 ppm of water.
In a pinch, you can use isopropyl alcohol
(not methanol) for moisture control. It also
lowers the freeze point of water down to 10
degrees below zero. Better quality additives
use a glycol-based, non-alcohol, jet fuel
type that can lower the freeze point of water
all the way down to -50 degrees, keeping
fuel filters free of ice.
Pour Point Depressants and Antigels –
Diesel fuel is prone to gelling or waxing in
cold weather. Both are terms describing the
solidification of diesel fuel into a partially
crystalline state. These solidified waxes
thicken the fuel, and then clog the fuel
filters until a point that the fuel can’t reach
the engine, causing it to stop running.
Additives can help reduce wax crystals
to microscopic size to allow them to flow
through filters. This helps prevent filter
plugging even at sub zero temperatures. Wax
crystals in untreated diesel fuel can reach 200
to 500 micron, which would cause filter plug-
ging. Conventional additives can reduce the
size of wax crystals to about 30 to 50 micron.
Better quality antigel additives can reduce the
size of wax crystals down below 10 micron.
Anti-static agents – Treating your fuel
increases the electrical conductivity of the
fuel, helping dissipate static charges to
mitigate the risk of explosions or fires.
Detergents and anti-sludge additives
– Keeping your tanks, fuel system, and
injectors clean with detergents dramatically
improves engine performance. Anti-sludge
agents dissolve asphaltics and asphatenes
that settle out of the fuel and then accumu-
late at the bottom of the tank.
Biocides – Fast acting and effective shock
treatment to kill bacteria, algae and other
bio-contamination in the tank.
Did you figure out what you need? Take
the time to research additive vendors, check
analysis data, and talk to your fuel supplier.
Do your homework, and you’ll sleep better
at night.