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tank and “acts like a Petri dish, creating
a friendly environment for bacteria and
fungus. The micro-organisms eat away
at the cetane in the fuel and create con-
taminants that can clog equipment and
damage tank components, Estill said.
Clean Fuels advocates preventive
maintenance for fuels and tanks in the
form of annual fuel and tank cleaning.
Customers can sign on for maintenance
contracts of up to five years. “If you take
care of the tank, the tank will take care
of you,” said Christian Dalhby, Lead
Salesman. Clean Fuels has learned from
its work with boat tanks that profes-
sionals can be great sources of business,
he added.
Pricing depends on the number
of units to be cleaned. For example,
a service station owner with multiple sites
can get a better price than an operator
who wants just one tank cleaned. When
working with partners such as heating oil
dealers, Clean Fuels provides a wholesale
price that the dealer can mark up for
customers.
“We want to be the brand name
in aftermarket fuel purification across
America,” Estill said. “Many retailers are
happy to say they are offering ‘Clean Fuels
tank services’ as part of their services.”
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Clean Fuels Associates is in the
middle of a major expansion. “For 24
years Clean Fuels operated with primarily
a Mid-Atlantic focus.” Estill explained.
“We serviced Northern Virginia,
Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington,
D.C., and Delaware in all those years.
There was a very strong concentration on
the marine and light commercial work as
well as the beginning of retail relation-
ships.”
Since 2010, the Hartman family,
which owns Clean Fuels, has added a
management team and focused on expan-
sion. The company maintains an office in
Dover, N.H. with its sights set on loca-
tions in Buffalo, N.Y., and Albany, N.Y.,
in the Northeast. They currently serve
the eastern United States and the Gulf
Coast with four other locations. Clean
Fuels is registered in 28 states currently
with 15 additional Midwest and western
states filed as of 2013. The company
plans to offer services nationwide and
into Canada by 2018.
For more information call Clean
Fuels at (800) 453-TANK or visit
.
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to hear from consumers is “An improperly
blended fuel from your distribution center is
causing problems to our equipment.” Such
a claim is not taken lightly, and immediate
action needs to be taken.
On-site biodiesel blend testing provides
the measurement data necessary to prove
to a customer that concentrations were as
specified or hopefully catch an error in the
fuel blend before it leaves the facility. Fuel
distributors and terminal operators can
quickly determine how much biodiesel is in
a sample of heating oil or diesel using por-
table test equipment fromWilks Enterprise,
which is a Spectro Inc. company.
For biodiesel or FAME (fatty acid
methyl esters) blend measurements, there
are currently two official methods: EN
14078 and ASTM D7371. Both of these
methods call for mid-infrared technology
for the measurement. Infrared is also com-
monly used for ethanol blend.
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Wilks sells several models of infrared
biofuel analyzers for testing biodiesel
and ethanol blends. All are specifically
designed to be easily used by non-technical
personnel. The product line includes two
biodiesel-specific analyzers that are priced
in the $7,000 to $8,000 range.
The InfraCal Biodiesel Blend Analyzers
are unique from most other types of
infrared analyzers as they are application-
specific for one analysis. They use filters to
select the wavelengths unique to biodiesel
or ethanol. This allows for a rugged,
lightweight, compact system without any
moving parts.
“We are one of the few companies that
fills the niche of providing application-
specific instruments to do one analysis over
and over,” said Sandra Rintoul, Executive
Vice President of Wilks Enterprise. While
other manufacturers often offer a number
of additional measurements, this can add to
the cost and complexity for measurements
that are only occasionally necessary.
Sampling takes only a couple of minutes.
A fuel sample from the loaded truck is put
on an exposed sample plate and the operator
presses the “run” button. Fifteen seconds
later the result is displayed. The sample is
cleaned off with solvent and a wipe, and the
analyzer is ready for the next sample.
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Wilks’ latest analyzer is the InfraCal 2
Model ATR-B. The InfraCal 2 is an updated
version of Wilks’ InfraCal Biodiesel Blend
Analyzer currently being used by fuel
distributors, petroleum terminals and
regulatory agencies worldwide. Rintoul said
the key enhancements in the newer device
are added sensitivity/performance and
many advanced features. The new touch
screen display offers multiple calibrations
if desired. The InfraCal 2 also enables tag-
ging of samples by date, time, analyst and
location and stores test data, which can
be downloaded to a flash drive. It also has
password-protected instrument settings
to prevent an operator from inadvertently
altering the calibration.
Dealers have several reasons for wanting
to know the biodiesel content of the fuel
they buy. The ASTM specification for
heating oil allows for biodiesel content of
up to 5 percent, so product sold as heating
oil can contain anything from zero biod-
iesel up to 5 percent. Dealers who want to
sell Bioheat
®
blends at specific ratios need
to know what is in their base fuel before
blending to achieve a particular blend level.
Marketers who traffic in Renewable
Identification Numbers (RINs) related to
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) also need
to know their ratios if they are looking to
maximize their RINs.
Wilks also sells the InfraSpec VFA-IR
Spectrometer, which can test for biodiesel
in diesel, ethanol in gasoline, and water in
ethanol with one instrument. The InfraSpec
Spectrometer is also designed for use by
non-technical personnel and is suited for
on-site measurements. It is priced around
$12,000.
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