What are the common fuel contaminants?
What are the common fuel contaminants?
The most common contaminants are particulates, water, petroleum products (or their residues), and microbial growth:
- Particulates. Despite the protective coatings on the interior surfaces of fuel tanks and pipes, they contribute particulates like rust and scale to fuel.
- Water.
- Other Petroleum Products.
- Microbial growth.
What is fuel contamination?
Fuel contamination is caused by microorganisms that enter fuel from the surrounding atmosphere. Certain species of microorganisms are robust enough to thrive in the fuel, and under the right conditions, they can cause damage to fuel systems, tanks and bunkers.
What causes contaminated fuel?
Fuel contamination is, as the name suggests, fuel that becomes contaminated or tainted with algae, water, rust, sediment and organic matter that collects toward the bottom of fuel tanks found at service stations. Contaminated fuel is not easy to avoid.
What is the most prevalent contaminant of fuel?
Water
Water – one of the most common contaminants that causes equipment problems and is almost inevitable in stored fuels due to the number of opportunities for moisture to form. This includes free water in pipelines, rainwater leaking past seals and moist outside air entering the vents of a fixed storage tank.
How common is fuel contamination?
Fuel contamination is more common than you think. Most of the gasoline available today in the United States is clean and free of contaminants. But, there is still contaminated gasoline being sold around the country, from Decatur to Florida to New Jersey.
What is the most common diesel fuel contaminants?
Particulates in the Fuel Particulate within diesel fuel is the most common form of contaminants.
What happens if fuel is contaminated?
Common Problems Caused by Contaminated Fuel Contaminated fuel will clog up the filter quickly. Damaged fuel pump: Water in the fuel can easily corrode fuel pump components, causing the pump to fail. Poor engine performance: Sometimes the engine will not get enough fuel due to a clogged fuel filter.
How do you tell if fuel is contaminated?
If you notice any of the following symptoms soon after refuelling you MAY have bought contaminated fuel:
- Engine running rough or lacking power/performance.
- Engine harder to start than usual.
- Misfiring, pinging or backfiring.
- “Engine check” light illuminated.
What can contaminate diesel?
Some common contaminants found in today’s fuels include water, microorganisms, wax, hard particles, debris and other sediments.
- Time. As with most things, time has an adverse affect on diesel fuel.
- Weather.
- Micro-organisms.
How do you fix fuel contamination?
Your car’s fuel system is now infected. The only way to get rid of a microbial problem is to treat your car with a biocide. This will kill the microbes, though you will need to change the fuel filter afterwards because the dead microbes will need to be filtered out by the filter.
How do you know if fuel is contaminated?
How does diesel fuel get contaminated?
Particle contamination gets into diesel fuel in multiple ways. The fuel itself can pick up particles during transit, even from gas pump to gas pump. Particles can also ingress through the tank vent. As the fuel tank is drawn down, ambient air is drawn into the tank, providing a source of particle contamination.