063 - Back to School - Fuel Stability and Fuel Stabilizers

This episode explores the critical role of fuel stabilizers in maintaining stored fuel quality. Host Erik Bjornstad discusses why petroleum fuels naturally degrade over time, the chemistry behind fuel degradation, and how stabilizers work to prevent deterioration.

The episode provides practical advice on when and how to use fuel stabilizers effectively, including best practices for application and testing.

What You'll Learn:

• Why fuel naturally degrades over time
• How chemical reactions affect stored fuel
• The role of stabilizers in preventing fuel degradation
• Best practices for applying fuel stabilizers
• How to determine when to retreat fuel with stabilizers
• The importance of oxidative stability testing
• Proper timing for stabilizer application

Ideas Worth Sharing:

Here are three notable quotes from the podcast episode:

• "The ugly truth is, petroleum fuels start to degrade from almost the start of their refined life."
• "The best way to stop a chain reaction is to stop the links in that chain as far up the chain as possible."
• "Stability is the concept of resisting change. Fuel stability refers to a fuel's ability to resist change in its essential properties."

Resources Mentioned:

• Oxidative stability testing + Water and sediment testing
• Erik Bjornstad: LinkedIn

Show Notes:

[00:00:00] - Introduction and episode overview
[00:01:00] - Explanation of fuel degradation process
[00:02:00] - Introduction to fuel stabilizers
[00:03:00] - How stabilizers work to prevent fuel degradation
[00:04:00] - Chemical composition of stabilizers
[00:05:00] - Best practices for stabilizer application
[00:06:00] - Frequency of treatment and testing
[00:07:00] - Recap of key points
[00:08:00] - Closing remarks and subscription information

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to the Fuel Pulse Showpodcast, where we talk about all
things fuel for all kinds of people.
I'm your host, Eric Bjornstad,and I'll be your guide through
the ever changing world of fuel.
And it's time for another episode ofthe Fuel Pulse Show, Back to School.
This time, we're going totalk about the ugly truth.
Why fuel stabilizers are one ofthe essential tools in your toolbox

(00:25):
for taking care of stored fuel andmaking sure it's able to perform
at its best when you need it to.
That means covering things like whathappens to fuel when it's stored,
the best options to mitigate anyproblems that develop in storage, and
how best to apply those options soyour fuel gets the most out of them.

(00:47):
First, let's address a question thatcomes from What we said a little
earlier, this concept of the ugly truth.
This ugly truth is, petroleumfuels start to degrade from almost
the start of their refined life.
Now, when we say that, we don't mean theygo from good to bad in a matter of weeks.
But they all start out with reactivemolecules as part of their composition.

(01:12):
And these molecules look for otherpartners in the field to react with.
This leads to chain chemical reactionsdeveloping in the fuel, where molecules
react with other molecules and theylink together, forming progressively
longer and longer molecule chains.
That is what gums andvarnishes and deposits are.

(01:33):
Now even if you can minimize the fuel'sexposure to things in the environment
that tend to further degrade it.
Things like water, oxygen, heat.
microbial byproducts.
The fuel would still have thesereactive molecular elements in them,
slowly but surely degrading thatfuel over the course of its life.

(01:53):
When you find gums and varnishes,when you find the color of the fuel
changing and darkening, those are allsigns that these chemical reactions
have been going on in the fuel.
And that is the ugly truth.
The fuel's condition will change over timeand there's not a lot you can do about it.
Or is there?

(02:14):
Well the un ugly truth is youcan do something about this.
The key tool you need in your fuelcare arsenal that's best going to
protect the overall quality of yourstored fuel is a fuel stabilizer.
By definition, A stabilizer actsin different ways to stabilize

(02:35):
or keep something from changing.
That is what the concept of stability is.
The ability to resist change.
So a fuel stabilizer worksto help a fuel resist change.
In this case, resists change to itscomposition and to its central properties.
If you think about it, those chemicalreactions that result in those sediments

(03:00):
forming and the fuel's color changing,those are changes to the fuel's
composition, to the fuel's condition.
A stabilizer works to help thefuel resist those changes, so
its composition and its conditionand its properties stay the same.
And that's ultimately what you want.
You put the fuel in a storage tank sothat it will be there for when you

(03:22):
need to use it some point in the future.
And when you need to use it atthat point in the future, you're
hoping that it's going to be inthe same good condition that it was
in when it started out in there.
Adding a fuel stabilizer isthe key tool that's going to
help make this hope a reality.
So how does it do this?
Without going into too much detail,a fuel stabilizer is going to be a

(03:47):
package of ingredients formulatedto act on the reactive elements in
the fuel as well as to act on thebyproducts that they may have created.
So, it has ingredients to stop all thedifferent kinds of chemical reactions.
The oxidative reactions, hydrolysisreactions, that if left unchecked, would

(04:08):
result in the fuel's condition changingin ways that you don't want it to.
And it also will have active ingredients
that act on those deposit moleculesthat may have formed to work to
disperse them, to keep them away fromeach other, and also to suspend them
throughout the volume of the fuel.
Suspending and dispersing these depositshelps contribute to stabilizing the

(04:31):
fuel's condition, and keeping it from,or slowing down, its tendency to So
the fuel stabilizer is the essentialsolution you're going to need to use.
But how and when do you use it?
How you use it is you add it atthe recommended volume to the fuel.

(04:53):
The thing you want to do is you wantto circulate the fuel to get that
stabilizer well mixed into the fuel.
The more completely the stabilizersdispersed in the fuel, The better
it's able to act on all those reactivemolecules that are themselves also
dispersed throughout the fuel's volume.
Stabilizers need to be in proximity tothose reactive elements in order to work.

(05:16):
And it also means the best time toput a stabilizer in the fuel is as
early in the fuel's life as possiblebecause The best way to stop a chain
reaction is to stop the links in thatchain as far up the chain as possible.
That means as early in thefuel's life as possible.

(05:37):
So the best practice for using fuelstabilizer is Put it in when you
get fresh fuel in the storage tank.
Now, what about how oftendo you need to treat?
Well, from a practical standpoint,you would plan to treat your
fuel at least once a year.
That's because stabilizeris not a one time and you're

(05:59):
done forever kind of thing.
That stabilizer is going to becontinually working, canceling out
those chemical reactions, Acting on theheavy molecules in the fuel, and as it
does this, its chemistry gets used up.
How quickly this happens dependson how reactive the fuel is.
Now the best way to tell whether thishas happened is have an oxidative

(06:21):
stability test run on the fuel.
That test will give you a windowinto the likelihood that the fuel's
condition is going to change for theworse at some point in the future.
It doesn't tell you if you'vegot gums and varnishes and
sediments in the fuel right now.
The best way to do that iswith a water and sediment test.
But an oxidative stability test willpredict, based on what's in the fuel

(06:46):
right now, how easily or how likelythat fuel is going to change condition
in the future as it gets exposed to theoxygen and the environmental conditions
that it's normally going to come across.
And that's going to be your bestconfirmation whether you need to treat or
retreat with stabilizer to stop this fromhappening, which is what's ultimately.

(07:10):
going to protect your storedfuel's essential quality.
So, to recap, stability is theconcept of resisting change.
Fuel stability refers to afuel's ability to resist change
in its essential properties.
All fuel degrades over time becauseof the presence of reactive molecules.
And that's over and above whereit gets exposed to water, and

(07:33):
oxygen, and heat, and light, andmicrobes, all of which degrade.
will make that processactually happen faster.
The essential tool to use to slowthis down or keep this from happening
is a chemical fuel stabilizer.
You want to add that as early in thefuel's life as possible and you want to
make sure that it gets well mixed in.

(07:54):
Although all fuels are different,the general recommendation is
you should expect to retreatwith stabilizer each year.
If you need a more quantifiedidea of whether your fuel needs
to be treated or retreated.
Have an oxygenatedstability test run on it.
And so that's going to do it for today'sfuel pulse show back to school quick

(08:15):
dive into the issue of fuel stabilizers.
If you liked what you heard and youhaven't done so already, feel free
to subscribe to us at your podcastplatform of choice, whether that's
iTunes or Stitcher or Google podcasts orwherever you happen to like to listen.
And Leave us a review if you can, becausethat really helps other people find us.

(08:36):
So, until next time, I am Eric Bjornstad,thanking you for joining us, and we'll
see you next time for the next episodeof the Field Pulse Show Podcast.