November 20, 2024 • 12 mins
In this episode, Erik Bjornstad explains the comprehensive process of fuel polishing. He covers when to polish fuel based on test results, particularly the ASTM water and sediment test. The episode details two main methods: inline and off-site polishing, with a focus on the sweep, treat, and circulate methodology.
Bjornstad provides specific guidance on chemical treatments, filtration systems, and the importance of proper timing and sequence. He emphasizes the need for multiple passes through the filtration system and proper documentation before and after samples.
What You'll Learn:
- How to determine when fuel polishing is necessary
- The difference between inline and off-site polishing
- The sweep, treat, and circulate methodology
- Proper chemical treatment timing and sequence
- Three-stage filtration system components
- How to calculate the required polishing duration
- Best practices for sampling and documentation
Ideas Worth Sharing:
Here are three notable quotes from the podcast episode:
- "The goal for fuel polishing is to remove contaminants and restore the fuel quality."
- "Different people do have different ways of doing this. There is no one true best way to do this."
- "Effective fuel polishing usually requires multiple turnovers of the entire fuel volume to get that thorough cleaning that you're looking for."
Resources Mentioned:
- ASTM D975 (fuel specifications)
- Tank Treatment SDF
- DFS Plus
- Biocide treatments
- Erik Bjornstad: LinkedIn
Show Notes:
[00:00:00] - Introduction and topic overview
[00:01:00] - Discussion of fuel testing methods
[00:02:00] - Types of fuel polishing methods
[00:03:00] - Best practices for fuel polishing
[00:04:00] - The sweep, treat, circulate procedure
[00:06:00] - Water scavenging chemicals
[00:07:00] - Filtration system components
[00:09:00] - Duration and number of passes
[00:10:00] - Process recap
[00:11:00] - Closing remarks
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
The Fuel Pulse Show podcast,where we talk about all things
(00:03):
fuel for all kinds of people.
I'm Eric Bjornstad, and Iwill be your guide through the
ever changing world of fuel.
And today, it's time for another episodeof the Fuel Pulse Show Back to School.
Today, we're going totalk about fuel polishing.
So, in talking about it, we wantto cover when to do it, what method
(00:25):
or methods to use, and what theessential process considerations
are to ensure that you do it well.
So first things first, when shouldyou consider polishing your fuel?
Well, you could use visual cues.
You take a fuel sample, the fuellooks different or dirty , but
the better thing to do is go offtest results as a cue for action.
(00:48):
If you manage fuel, you shouldat least have a yearly testing
protocol that involves some ofthe essential ASTM D975 tests.
But, what tests should you look at?
I mean, tests like flashpoint anddistillation and cetane number.
Those are important for pointingout key properties of the
(01:09):
fuel that are important to us.
Especially with respect to its performancewhen we're going to need to use it.
Some of them, whether it's a subparcetane, , test result, or a subpar
stability result, They would betriggers for adding certain chemical
treatments to correct those problems,but they aren't necessarily the trigger
(01:31):
signs that fuel polishing is needed.
But there is one test thatcan serve as such a trigger.
The ASTM water and sediment testdone on a sample taken three
to six inches from the bottom.
If this comes back and the resultexceeds the 500 ppm specification,
that is a sign that you have excesswater and or excess sediment and those
(01:55):
need to be removed from the fuel.
That would be the trigger toput together a fuel polishing
plan for your stored fuel.
Now, there are two mainmethods of fuel polishing.
There's inline polishing, and there'swhat they call off site polishing.
Which one you're able to do willoften depend on whether your
system of tanks has a systempermanently installed to it or not.
(02:20):
That would be in line polishingwhere the fuel is continuously
or at scheduled intervals.
If you have one of those,you've likely already got the
protocols and the procedures.
for doing that.
More likely though you'll be doingoff site polishing, where you'd
use a portable filtration system toremove the fuel from the tank, run
(02:41):
it through a series of filters, andcycle it back into the storage tank.
So let's talk about somerecommendations on things to
keep in mind while doing this.
Things that we think will give you thebest chance of getting the best results.
And while saying that, we also haveto keep in mind Different people do
have different ways of doing this.
There is no one true best way to do this.
(03:05):
There's no one technique thatyou must do or all bets are off.
So we'll give you what we think aresome of the best tips to incorporate
into your process without necessarilystating that you have to do it this way.
So, the goal for fuel polishing is removecontaminants and restore the fuel quality.
(03:26):
But in order to do that, as wellas you need to start by getting out
as much of the free water and thetank sludge or sediment as you can.
early on in the process.
If you do this, this will makeyour polishing job go a lot
easier and be more successful.
Now how best to do this will dependon the design of your system.
(03:46):
It will depend on whether the watercan be drained out from the bottom
or what's more likely if you need tomechanically suction or remove it.
The advantage of this mechanicalsuction is that While getting
the water out, you'll also getsome of the sludge out as well.
So you won't go through as many filters.
This first step is the first partof what we call a sweep, treat,
(04:11):
circulate fuel polishing procedure.
We call the water and sludge removalthe sweep part of the process because
you're essentially sweeping thebottom of that tank removing the
water and the sludge as you do it.
Even though you're probably notgoing to get it all Getting out
as much as you actually can willimprove your results no matter what.
(04:32):
So, there are two things, though,that you're going to start
with before doing this sweep.
First thing is, you wantto pull a before sample.
This is going to help serve as therecord of how the fuel's conditions
will change during your polishing job.
Second thing, this is thetime where you would add the
(04:53):
chemicals that you need to add.
You want to add them here.
Right before you start this sweep, becausecertain chemicals will need time to work.
So adding them early on in the processwill allow them to start working.
So this is especially important if you'readding biocide and sludge dispersants.
You add them here at the beginning,Then you do the sweep process,
(05:16):
and the chemicals are in thefuel starting to do their thing.
Most commonly, you're going to atleast use stabilizer and biocide
in almost any fuel polishing job.
A sludge dispersant treatment likeTank Treatment SDF should also be
added if you have a microbe problembecause it will serve a dual function
(05:37):
of thinning out the sludge so more ofit can be removed more successfully.
But also importantly, it will actuallyattack and break up microbial biomass
in the system, which will then help thebiocide that you're using work its best.
So, add the chemicals.
biocide sludge dispersantstabilizer, then use your mechanical
(05:59):
suction process to remove waterand sludge as much as you can.
These together are the sweeptreat parts of the process.
After you're confident that you've removedwhatever you can, you can now add any
water scavenging chemical like DFS plus.
The trick is to add it Afteryou've removed all the free
(06:21):
water that you can, not before.
A water scavenging chemical likethis really works best to clean
up whatever water you couldn'tget to with the mechanical means.
And there's always goingto be some of that.
You don't want to add a waterscavenging chemical before you
remove the bulk of the water.
Because it's not designed to handlethat much water and you will just end
(06:45):
up emulsifying that water back into thefuel and it will make your job harder.
Let's move on to filtration, theheart of any fuel polishing process.
There are several types of filtersused in a good filtration system.
Each one is designed to removespecific types of contaminants.
So first, there's grossparticulate filters.
(07:07):
They're the large bag filters thatremove the large, what they call
the gross contaminants, and that'sthe dirt, the rust, the sludge.
Now, after the fuel goes through thesegross particulate filters, it's then gonna
come up to a fine particulate filter.
Filter type number two.
These are typical one to fivemicron ratings, and they remove.
(07:29):
the fine particulate that thegross bag filters couldn't get.
And then lastly, there's thewater coalescing filters used
to remove any entrained water.
So you're going to run the fuelthrough this filter system,
changing the filters as you need to.
Now one tip you want to pay attentionto is, for the system that you're
(07:49):
using, try using clear hoses.
This will give you a much bettervisual window into your fuel and how
it's doing, and you'll be able tosee the color of the fuel change as
you filter it, which is a good thing.
The clear hoses, very importantly,they also help with the sweep part
of the process because you'll be ableto see any chunks of sediment that
(08:13):
are going through the hoses as you'reNow, how long should you polish for?
That depends on the flow rateof the pump that you're using
in your polishing system.
What you're aiming for relatesto the number of passes required
to effectively clean the fuel.
A turnover or a pass means runningall the fuel volume through
(08:35):
the polishing system one time.
So if you have one pass, 1, 000 gallonsto be filtered and your pump runs,
let's say, 100 gallons per minute.
Simple math tells you onepass will take 10 minutes.
But effective fuel polishing usuallyrequires multiple turnovers of the
entire fuel volume to get that thoroughcleaning that you're looking for.
(08:56):
The typical recommendation rangesfrom four passes to 10 passes,
depending on how bad the fuel is.
So, in our example, for four passes,It would be 40 minutes of filtration.
10 passes, if our fuel wasreally bad, would be 100 minutes,
about an hour and a half.
So for this situation, you wantto expect to filter between
(09:19):
40 minutes and 100 minutes.
Then once you're done, youwant to do two final things
that you don't want to forget.
First, pull the after sample so that youcan compare it with your before sample.
And then we would also highly recommend.
Submitting a sample for an after testso that the change in important readings
(09:41):
like microbial content, water andsediment content, stability, so that
changes in these can be documented.
If you've done your job well, you shouldsee marked improvement in the results.
So to recap, for fuel polishingjobs, you're going to use a sweep,
treat and circulate methodology.
(10:02):
After pulling your initial beforesample, you start by adding the
chemicals that you'll be using.
Biosides, stabilizers, sludgedispersant, but not water scavenger yet.
You'll sweep the bottom of thetank mechanically to remove as
much water and sediment as you can.
That's the sweep, which followsthe treat that you already did.
(10:23):
After you're confident you got asmuch water and sludge out as you're
going to be able to get, now is thetime to add the water scavenger.
Then you're going to run that treatedfuel through a three stage filtration
system, which has a gross particulatebag filter, a fine particulate
filter, and a water coalescer.
This not only polishes out thecontaminants, it also functions
(10:45):
to get the treatment chemicalscirculated and mixed into the fuel.
That's the circulate part of the process.
You want to aim for at leastfour passes of your fuel.
And pull an after sample when you'redone to document your good work.
Doing the polishing this way will maximizeyour chances of not only cleaning the fuel
and tank properly, but also getting yournecessary treatment chemicals applied and
(11:10):
into your fuel in such a way that's goingto maximize their effectiveness, so that
they will do what you need them to do.
So that's going to do it for today'sFuel Pulse show back to school quick
dive to the issue of fuel polishing.
Now if you liked what youheard and you haven't done so
already feel free to subscribe.
It's your preferred podcast platform ofchoice whether that's iTunes, Stitcher,
(11:35):
Amazon Podcasts, Google Podcasts, whereveryou happen to like to listen and leave
us a review if you can, because thatreally does help other people find us.
So till next time, I'm Eric Bjornstedt.
Thank you for joining us and we'll see younext time at the Field Pulse Show Podcast.
The Fuel Pulse Show podcast,where we talk about all things
(00:03):
fuel for all kinds of people.
I'm Eric Bjornstad, and Iwill be your guide through the
ever changing world of fuel.
And today, it's time for another episodeof the Fuel Pulse Show Back to School.
Today, we're going totalk about fuel polishing.
So, in talking about it, we wantto cover when to do it, what method
(00:25):
or methods to use, and what theessential process considerations
are to ensure that you do it well.
So first things first, when shouldyou consider polishing your fuel?
Well, you could use visual cues.
You take a fuel sample, the fuellooks different or dirty , but
the better thing to do is go offtest results as a cue for action.
(00:48):
If you manage fuel, you shouldat least have a yearly testing
protocol that involves some ofthe essential ASTM D975 tests.
But, what tests should you look at?
I mean, tests like flashpoint anddistillation and cetane number.
Those are important for pointingout key properties of the
(01:09):
fuel that are important to us.
Especially with respect to its performancewhen we're going to need to use it.
Some of them, whether it's a subparcetane, , test result, or a subpar
stability result, They would betriggers for adding certain chemical
treatments to correct those problems,but they aren't necessarily the trigger
(01:31):
signs that fuel polishing is needed.
But there is one test thatcan serve as such a trigger.
The ASTM water and sediment testdone on a sample taken three
to six inches from the bottom.
If this comes back and the resultexceeds the 500 ppm specification,
that is a sign that you have excesswater and or excess sediment and those
(01:55):
need to be removed from the fuel.
That would be the trigger toput together a fuel polishing
plan for your stored fuel.
Now, there are two mainmethods of fuel polishing.
There's inline polishing, and there'swhat they call off site polishing.
Which one you're able to do willoften depend on whether your
system of tanks has a systempermanently installed to it or not.
(02:20):
That would be in line polishingwhere the fuel is continuously
or at scheduled intervals.
If you have one of those,you've likely already got the
protocols and the procedures.
for doing that.
More likely though you'll be doingoff site polishing, where you'd
use a portable filtration system toremove the fuel from the tank, run
(02:41):
it through a series of filters, andcycle it back into the storage tank.
So let's talk about somerecommendations on things to
keep in mind while doing this.
Things that we think will give you thebest chance of getting the best results.
And while saying that, we also haveto keep in mind Different people do
have different ways of doing this.
There is no one true best way to do this.
(03:05):
There's no one technique thatyou must do or all bets are off.
So we'll give you what we think aresome of the best tips to incorporate
into your process without necessarilystating that you have to do it this way.
So, the goal for fuel polishing is removecontaminants and restore the fuel quality.
(03:26):
But in order to do that, as wellas you need to start by getting out
as much of the free water and thetank sludge or sediment as you can.
early on in the process.
If you do this, this will makeyour polishing job go a lot
easier and be more successful.
Now how best to do this will dependon the design of your system.
(03:46):
It will depend on whether the watercan be drained out from the bottom
or what's more likely if you need tomechanically suction or remove it.
The advantage of this mechanicalsuction is that While getting
the water out, you'll also getsome of the sludge out as well.
So you won't go through as many filters.
This first step is the first partof what we call a sweep, treat,
(04:11):
circulate fuel polishing procedure.
We call the water and sludge removalthe sweep part of the process because
you're essentially sweeping thebottom of that tank removing the
water and the sludge as you do it.
Even though you're probably notgoing to get it all Getting out
as much as you actually can willimprove your results no matter what.
(04:32):
So, there are two things, though,that you're going to start
with before doing this sweep.
First thing is, you wantto pull a before sample.
This is going to help serve as therecord of how the fuel's conditions
will change during your polishing job.
Second thing, this is thetime where you would add the
(04:53):
chemicals that you need to add.
You want to add them here.
Right before you start this sweep, becausecertain chemicals will need time to work.
So adding them early on in the processwill allow them to start working.
So this is especially important if you'readding biocide and sludge dispersants.
You add them here at the beginning,Then you do the sweep process,
(05:16):
and the chemicals are in thefuel starting to do their thing.
Most commonly, you're going to atleast use stabilizer and biocide
in almost any fuel polishing job.
A sludge dispersant treatment likeTank Treatment SDF should also be
added if you have a microbe problembecause it will serve a dual function
(05:37):
of thinning out the sludge so more ofit can be removed more successfully.
But also importantly, it will actuallyattack and break up microbial biomass
in the system, which will then help thebiocide that you're using work its best.
So, add the chemicals.
biocide sludge dispersantstabilizer, then use your mechanical
(05:59):
suction process to remove waterand sludge as much as you can.
These together are the sweeptreat parts of the process.
After you're confident that you've removedwhatever you can, you can now add any
water scavenging chemical like DFS plus.
The trick is to add it Afteryou've removed all the free
(06:21):
water that you can, not before.
A water scavenging chemical likethis really works best to clean
up whatever water you couldn'tget to with the mechanical means.
And there's always goingto be some of that.
You don't want to add a waterscavenging chemical before you
remove the bulk of the water.
Because it's not designed to handlethat much water and you will just end
(06:45):
up emulsifying that water back into thefuel and it will make your job harder.
Let's move on to filtration, theheart of any fuel polishing process.
There are several types of filtersused in a good filtration system.
Each one is designed to removespecific types of contaminants.
So first, there's grossparticulate filters.
(07:07):
They're the large bag filters thatremove the large, what they call
the gross contaminants, and that'sthe dirt, the rust, the sludge.
Now, after the fuel goes through thesegross particulate filters, it's then gonna
come up to a fine particulate filter.
Filter type number two.
These are typical one to fivemicron ratings, and they remove.
(07:29):
the fine particulate that thegross bag filters couldn't get.
And then lastly, there's thewater coalescing filters used
to remove any entrained water.
So you're going to run the fuelthrough this filter system,
changing the filters as you need to.
Now one tip you want to pay attentionto is, for the system that you're
(07:49):
using, try using clear hoses.
This will give you a much bettervisual window into your fuel and how
it's doing, and you'll be able tosee the color of the fuel change as
you filter it, which is a good thing.
The clear hoses, very importantly,they also help with the sweep part
of the process because you'll be ableto see any chunks of sediment that
(08:13):
are going through the hoses as you'reNow, how long should you polish for?
That depends on the flow rateof the pump that you're using
in your polishing system.
What you're aiming for relatesto the number of passes required
to effectively clean the fuel.
A turnover or a pass means runningall the fuel volume through
(08:35):
the polishing system one time.
So if you have one pass, 1, 000 gallonsto be filtered and your pump runs,
let's say, 100 gallons per minute.
Simple math tells you onepass will take 10 minutes.
But effective fuel polishing usuallyrequires multiple turnovers of the
entire fuel volume to get that thoroughcleaning that you're looking for.
(08:56):
The typical recommendation rangesfrom four passes to 10 passes,
depending on how bad the fuel is.
So, in our example, for four passes,It would be 40 minutes of filtration.
10 passes, if our fuel wasreally bad, would be 100 minutes,
about an hour and a half.
So for this situation, you wantto expect to filter between
(09:19):
40 minutes and 100 minutes.
Then once you're done, youwant to do two final things
that you don't want to forget.
First, pull the after sample so that youcan compare it with your before sample.
And then we would also highly recommend.
Submitting a sample for an after testso that the change in important readings
(09:41):
like microbial content, water andsediment content, stability, so that
changes in these can be documented.
If you've done your job well, you shouldsee marked improvement in the results.
So to recap, for fuel polishingjobs, you're going to use a sweep,
treat and circulate methodology.
(10:02):
After pulling your initial beforesample, you start by adding the
chemicals that you'll be using.
Biosides, stabilizers, sludgedispersant, but not water scavenger yet.
You'll sweep the bottom of thetank mechanically to remove as
much water and sediment as you can.
That's the sweep, which followsthe treat that you already did.
(10:23):
After you're confident you got asmuch water and sludge out as you're
going to be able to get, now is thetime to add the water scavenger.
Then you're going to run that treatedfuel through a three stage filtration
system, which has a gross particulatebag filter, a fine particulate
filter, and a water coalescer.
This not only polishes out thecontaminants, it also functions
(10:45):
to get the treatment chemicalscirculated and mixed into the fuel.
That's the circulate part of the process.
You want to aim for at leastfour passes of your fuel.
And pull an after sample when you'redone to document your good work.
Doing the polishing this way will maximizeyour chances of not only cleaning the fuel
and tank properly, but also getting yournecessary treatment chemicals applied and
(11:10):
into your fuel in such a way that's goingto maximize their effectiveness, so that
they will do what you need them to do.
So that's going to do it for today'sFuel Pulse show back to school quick
dive to the issue of fuel polishing.
Now if you liked what youheard and you haven't done so
already feel free to subscribe.
It's your preferred podcast platform ofchoice whether that's iTunes, Stitcher,
(11:35):
Amazon Podcasts, Google Podcasts, whereveryou happen to like to listen and leave
us a review if you can, because thatreally does help other people find us.
So till next time, I'm Eric Bjornstedt.
Thank you for joining us and we'll see younext time at the Field Pulse Show Podcast.
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