December 25, 2024 • 41 mins
Host Erik Bjornstad discusses solid biocide sticks (also known as bug sticks) and their use in fuel management. While these sticks offer the apparent advantages of easy handling and convenient dosing, they face significant limitations.
The episode explores six major problems with solid biocide sticks, including their lack of approval for on-road fuel use, water solubility issues, and potential tank corrosion risks. Bjornstad explains why these limitations make them unsuitable for many non-industrial fuel care scenarios, despite their popularity in specific industrial applications like bulk crude storage and pipelines.
What You'll Learn:
- The history and development of bronopal as a biocide chemistry
- Why solid biocide sticks require specific conditions to work effectively
- The six major problems associated with solid biocide stick usage
- Regulatory limitations on biocide use in on-road fuels
- How biocide approvals work through the EPA's Division of Pesticides
- The difference between industrial and non-industrial fuel storage applications
- Why consistent biocide dosing matters for fuel treatment
Ideas Worth Sharing:
Here are three notable quotes from the podcast episode:
-
"Nothing is completely good, and nothing is completely bad. Even if you have something that seems to have a lot of problems, there are still always at least some good points that that thing will bring to the table."
-
"Applying biocides - that is the biggest key factor for resolving microbial contamination because in order to eliminate a microbial contamination problem, you have to kill the microbes."
-
"If a biocide is not legally approved for use in a specific situation... then it's not legal to use it in that situation."
Resources Mentioned:
- Belicide (thiosinane chemistry)
- Kethon (isothiazolone chemistry)
- ClearKill (MBO chemistry)
- Compare Bellicide and Clearkill
- Dow Fuel Saver (nitromorphlin chemistry)
- EPA's Division of Pesticides
- Erik Bjornstad: LinkedIn
Show Notes:
[00:00:00] - Introduction and overview of fuel management
[00:02:00] - Discussion of biocide importance in fuel treatment
[00:04:00] - Introduction of common biocide types
[00:05:00] - Introduction to solid biocide sticks
[00:12:00] - History and background of bronopal
[00:17:00] - Advantages claimed for solid biocide sticks
[00:21:00] - Six problems with solid biocide sticks
[00:32:00] - Discussion of engine deposits
[00:37:00] - Summary and conclusions
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(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.
Here at the podcast, we talk aboutanything and everything that's related
to all the different kinds of fuelthat we use both at work and at home.
(00:23):
Plus, we talk about anything andeverything related to all the
different things that use thosefuels, again, at work and at home.
And that means that the Fuel PulseShow podcast is really for everyone.
So what are we going to talkabout on today's episode?
Well, fuel management professionalsand longtime listeners to this
(00:45):
podcast both know the seriousnessof microbial contamination
situations in today's stored fuels.
We've addressed that particularissue in a bunch of different ways.
We talked about how it happens.
We talked about what makes today'sultra low sulfur diesel fuels.
a lot more prone to developingthese microbe problems than the
(01:07):
fields of the past used to be.
We talked about a number of thebest practice recommendations for
both preventing microbial problemsand also for getting rid of them
when you do find that you have one.
We talked about the different kindsof testing that are best for detecting
microbe problems when you do think thatyou have one and We talked about, again,
(01:31):
best practice recommendations on thekinds of things that you should do on an
ongoing basis to ensure that, first ofall, if you do have a microbe problem, you
can get rid of it without it causing toomuch damage, but then also minimize the
chances that that's going to come back.
Now, on that last point, the keyfactor in that, or maybe the key
(01:52):
thread that runs through all of thisis getting rid of all the water.
Oh, just kidding.
That's not it.
No.
Though it is something that you shoulddo if you have a free water bottom in
your tank, because free water presenceusually does go hand in hand with
microbial problems developing, but no.
(02:13):
Applying biocides.
That is the biggest key factor forresolving microbial contamination
because in order to eliminate amicrobial contamination problem
You have to kill the microbes.
You cannot just remove thewater and they go away.
It does not work that way.
You have to kill the microbes.
(02:35):
It's kind of like if you havean infected wound, right?
It's fine to clean it up, wipe out,you know, the blood and the dirt
and the pus, whatever's in there.
But Unless you take an antibiotic, oryou apply, you know, a neosporin, or
something like that, unless you do thatparticular thing to make sure that the
(02:57):
infection gets killed, you're probablynot going to end up healing properly.
But, having said all that, Which biocideto choose for your particular needs.
There are more than a few tradenames of biocides out there,
representatives of different biocidechemistries, that may be a little
(03:17):
bit different when you compare them,but they all have the same basic job.
To kill as many different kindsof microbes they come in contact
with, and to maintain thatkill for as long as possible.
So, probably the five most well knownbroad spectrum biocides that are widely
(03:39):
available in the marketplace are BioBor,or what we would call a diboranane
chemistry, Belicide, the thiosinanechemistry, Kethon, the isothiazolone
chemistry, ClearKill, the MBO chemistry,and Dow Fuel Saver, the nitromorphlin.
(04:00):
biocide chemistry.
So five of the most well known ones.
And the key thing that binds allthese together, the key commonality
that they have is that they are allapproved for use in fuels and fuel oils.
They also have some other approveduses for at least some of them, like
some of them are approved for going foruse in going into wastewater as well.
(04:23):
But there's a new player in themarket, or maybe not completely new,
but it's one that you've probablyheard of or come across before.
And it's a different kind ofplayer because it has one defining
characteristic that makes it unique.
completely unique compared to any ofthose other five that we mentioned.
It's a characteristic that it's makerreally tries to capitalize on and use
(04:48):
it to set it apart from the others.
And that is that it is asolid stick form of biocide.
Some people might call them bug sticks.
You'll hear that referenced.
But we would call themsolid biocide sticks.
Some people may evencall them biocide pucks.
But you get the idea.
(05:09):
It's a solid form of biocide.
But if you've ever had them pitch toyou, you might recall that that pitch
might have gone something like this.
Yeah, biocides are prettyimportant, but they're also kind
of messy and difficult to handle.
And who wants to run the risk of spillingsome biocide on themselves when it's
(05:29):
a hot, sweaty summer day and you'reworking on top of a really hot AST?
Buyerside bug sticks willsolve that problem for you.
You just take them, you drop them intoyour tank, and then you forget it.
No mess, no spilling of liquids,just great buyerside protection
without the mess or the hassle.
(05:52):
Or, some version of that, right?
Now, on the face of it, those guyscan be compelling arguments when
you're a fuels manager or you'rea worker in the field and , you're
part of your sphere of responsibilityis doing this kind of thing.
They can be compelling arguments.
So that's what we'regoing to talk about today.
One of the newer and morecompelling options among the field
(06:15):
of essentials needed to eliminatemicrobial contamination problems
in stored fuel and fuel systems,solid biocide sticks, bug sticks.
Are they going to be right for yoursystem compared to using a conventional
biocide like Belicide or BioBor?
Well, as we say with manythings, the devil is in the
(06:39):
details here, so let's find out.
Biosides are widely used across multipleindustries for control and elimination
of microbial contamination problems.
Now due to their nature, due to whatthey are, biocides are highly regulated
and they fall under the jurisdictionof the EPA's Division of Pesticides.
(07:03):
And what they will do is, After theygather and review all the relevant
technical information, the testinginformation, the safety data for
the biocide chemical in question,they will, if it passes all of their
criteria, they will approve certainbiocide chemistries, not just for
(07:24):
general use as an antimicrobial, butthe approval will be conditional.
in terms of which contextsor which situations that
biocide chemistry can be used.
When, where, and how much.
And we say can be used in the sensethat from a legal standpoint, you're
(07:45):
really supposed to stick to what or howthe approval covers as far as its use.
In other words, it's frowned upon legallyto use or direct others to use it.
A biocide in violation of theparameters of its approval.
Because if you think about it,where and how you use a pesticide
(08:08):
or a biocide that matters.
It doesn't just matter if a pesticideor a biocide will kill bacteria,
kill molds, and yeast and fungi.
It matters if it's gonna work safelyand effectively in the areas that
you're proposing to use it in.
And so to get such approvals, the biocideregistrators, if you will, have to
(08:30):
provide ample evidence that that's true.
So, as I said, biocide approvals bythe EPA are based in large part on what
the technical information submitted andstudied shows about both how effective
it is and how safe it is, both for theuser but also for the environment too.
(08:50):
, how safe and how effective thatbiocide is, under these possible
usage circumstances that you'rerequesting the approval for.
So let's take an example toillustrate this and wrap all this up.
Let's say that somebody had formulateda biocide that is intended to go
into gasoline at the gas station.
(09:10):
They apply for the approval.
They submit lots of testing evidencethat shows that it kills microbes.
Great, but not just that.
They also have to show that it isn'tgoing to create deposits in the
gasoline that will end up harmingthe engine, harming the injectors.
(09:32):
They typically in the industry referto that kind of data as no harm data
because what good would it do if youhad a biocide that killed everything in
gasoline you needed it to but it wreckedyour engine Now, that's a rhetorical
question we're asking because , we knowthe answer to that question, right?
Okay, so, we say all that because thatconcept of a conditional approval, that's
(09:58):
gonna matter a little bit later on aswe delve a little deeper into the pros
and cons of these solid biostatistics.
that we're considering.
And in order to do that, let's setthe stage to better help us understand
these solid biocide sticks better.
So we can have a bigger pictureunderstanding of what they're
(10:19):
actually good for and what theymay not actually be good for.
First let's talk about the chemistry.
Solid biocide sticks aremarketed as convenient.
easy to handle biocide application forms.
They differ from liquid biocideproducts because they don't need
to be measured volumetrically.
(10:40):
You take one stick, youdrop it into the tank.
It sinks down to the bottom and youleave it there and over time it's
supposed to dissolve and feed biocideinto the fuel and the liquid around it.
Part of the rationale is that the biocidestick is going to dissolve within the tank
liquid over a period of time, supplyinga steady dosage of biocide chemistry
(11:03):
into the liquid while it's doing that.
Now, these solid form biocides,they're manufactured in three
common shapes, if you will.
There's sticks, there'spucks, and there's diamonds.
Now, popular liquid biocide chemistriesinclude the ones we mentioned
(11:24):
earlier, the Kaethonisothiazolone,the Belisithiocyanate, ClearKill,
MBO, those are popular liquid ones andthey're , different biocide chemistries.
The solid biocide sticks tendto be a different chemistry than
those . Shorter name version for thatwhich we'll use from this point on
is bronopal or bronopal, dependingon where you're from in the country.
(11:47):
So, bronopal, chemistry isthe biocide chemistry used
in these solid biocide sticks.
Now, what exactly is this stuff?
Bronopal.
Well, bronopal has been pretty widelyused as an antimicrobial agent and
as a preservative agent since it wasdeveloped in the mid 19th century.
(12:09):
And it was developed in themid 19th, excuse me, mid 20th
century, sorry, up by 100 years.
It was developed in the mid 20thcentury in the UK by the Boots Company.
Now, ironically, the Boots Company ismost well known in the UK nowadays as
a large pharmacy chain store brand.
So, think as if Walgreens decided todevelop a new buyer's side preservative.
(12:34):
That might be the American equivalent.
So, because it was developed bythe Boots Company, it makes sense.
That bronopal was initiallycreated as an antimicrobial agent
to be used in pharmaceuticals,cosmetics, and industrial products.
As the years went on, use of bronopalexpanded into other applications.
(12:56):
Personal care products,think shampoos and lotions.
They started using it more and more inindustrial processes like controlling
microbial growth in cooling watersystems and in paper mills and oil
fields, places where they happento use an awful lot of biocide.
Now, as an aside, go back to personal careproducts that we mentioned a moment ago.
(13:18):
You'd be really surprised to learn thatProducts like liquid soaps and shampoos,
they can actually develop microbialgrowth in them if they're left too long.
It's because of the watercontent that they have.
And so, they do tend to use a substantialamount of biocide preservatives in
(13:39):
those kinds of products in orderto maintain their shelf life.
The proceeding decades as the 20th centurywent on, it became particularly popular
in industrial water treatment usage.
They used it in there to controlbacteria in recirculating water
systems and in oil field operations,and it was pretty effective.
Against a wide spectrum ofbacteria, especially this kind
(14:04):
of bacteria that causes a lotof problems in this situation.
It's called the sulfate reducing bacteria.
And because it could kill thosepretty effectively, it made it
pretty valuable to use to preventbiofouling and corrosion in bacteria.
So things are looking prettygood right now, right?
(14:24):
And, because it's been proven so effectiveat preventing the growth of bacteria
in oil, water containing productsthat leads to it gaining approval from
regulatory bodies in other countries,including the FDA here in the United
States, so that it can be used in awide range of consumer products like
(14:45):
those shampoos we talked about earlier.
But as they're doing this, Peoplestart becoming more and more aware of
environmental issues and safety issues.
Awareness of environmental andhealth impacts is , steadily
growing among the populace.
And concerns are starting to beraised about potential release of
(15:07):
formaldehyde, which is a byproduct ofbronnopal degradation when it breaks down.
And they're especially concernedabout that in cosmetic formulations.
And so what happens is that theystart developing alternatives for use.
They start making the regulationsincrementally just a little bit more
(15:29):
stringent, and so those two things kindof come together and Bronner Paul's use
in consumer products like cosmetics.
dropped pretty precipitously.
So, despite these use specificlimitations that developed, and when we
say use specific, recall what we talkedabout in the opening part of the podcast.
(15:49):
about how by side approvals are contingenton how it's used and where it's used.
So that's what we meanwhen we say use specific.
So despite these limits,broader Paul still being used.
pretty commonly in a lot of otherindustrial applications where it's still
really effective and really valuable.
Remains an important buyer side inindustrial applications like remember
(16:12):
the waste treatment, the oil fieldapplications, pipelines, they use
it a lot in large bulk crude oiland bulk fuel oil storage at places
like terminals where you have thesehuge multi million gallon tanks.
They're using a lot of bronopoly in there.
Despite its waning use in consumer goods,Bronopol still remains an important
(16:36):
chemical in all these other industriesbecause it's so effective in those areas.
So, now that we've set up thehistory, let's compare solid
bug sticks to liquid biocides.
While liquid biocide formulations dostill remain the most common antimicrobial
chemical form used the people makingthe solid form biocides They're committed
(16:59):
to try and make as many inroads into asmany different areas of use as possible.
, in order to do this, they haveto make a case about why someone
should use a solid bank account.
biocide stick in that area.
They must make a case that solidbiocide sticks offer important
advantages over liquids.
(17:22):
And they have to make the casethat those advantages are ones that
are valuable or that they shouldmatter to various, the various types
of consumers they're targeting.
And the case that they're making forthe advantages of these solid biocide
sticks, using them over the liquid forms.
It's often framed by giving someversions of the following arguments.
(17:46):
First one is a conveniencein handling argument, okay?
Solid biocide sticks are cleaner andeasier to handle than liquid biocides are.
And that can matter if you're a companythat's got inexperienced personnel
working with biocides and maybethey're not sure how to use them.
(18:07):
It can also matter if the conditions arehot, sticky, and sweaty, increases the
chances that you spill some of the liquid.
So, that might be a situation whereyou might say, Hey, maybe a solid
stick that I can pick up in my handlike this, you know, my gloved hand.
Maybe that would be better.
So there's a conveniencein handling argument.
There's also an ease of dosing argument.
(18:28):
Because liquids require liquidvolumetric measurements.
And that can be messy and involves,again, that risk of spillage.
Whereas a solid bar side stick, in theory.
is easier to dose if you follow theirsimple direct if you, a solid biocide
stick theoretically is easier to doseif you follow their instructions.
(18:51):
And then there's a third aspectof the argument they would make,
which is the microdosing ability.
A solid biocide stick, when you drop theminto a tank, they're going to sit there
and they're going to dissolve over time.
And that means, in theory, you coulduse them to maintain a constant micro
(19:11):
dosing of biocide into the fuel, orthe liquid, over a longer period of
time than liquid dosing would allow.
Okay, so, convenience in handling.
Easer dosing and micro dosing ability.
On the face of it, those points mightseem to be worthwhile characteristics
(19:32):
that may have substantial appeal to afuels manager or to anyone else who might
be aware of the, , important criticalrole that biocides play in resolving
microbial contamination problems orpreventing them in the first place.
So far, this all sounds prettygood for the solid sticks.
And I always like to say thatNothing is completely good,
(19:57):
and nothing is completely bad.
Even if you have something that seemsto have a lot of problems, there are
still always at least some good pointsthat that thing will bring to the table.
And, vice versa too.
And that's the kind of situationthat we have here as well.
In spite of those positive claims madefor the advantages of those biocide
(20:20):
sticks, solid biocide sticks stillhave some substantial hurdles that may
either negate some of those advantagesor might even, and this is important to
talk about, Might even prohibit theirusage altogether in certain markets and
certain usage areas that they otherwisemight be seeking to make inroads into.
(20:43):
And if you're someone who's looking atpossibly using a solid biocide stick as a
solution for your stored fuel to eliminateor control microbial contamination,
there are some things that are goingto be really important for you to know.
Things that might end up helpingmake your decision for you.
(21:06):
And we're going to summarize these as sixproblems that solid biocide sticks have.
Let's start off with the onethat might be the most important
consideration depending on howyou're proposing to use the biocide.
And that problem number one isthey are not approved for use in
on road fuel or Fuel storage tanksthat have on road fuel in them.
(21:31):
Okay, so remember we're talkingabout the bronopal Chemistry here.
So bronopal solid biocide sticks Cannotbe used in either on road fuel That's
gasoline or diesel or in storage tanksholding on road fuel and they can't
be used there for one big ultimatelyinsurmountable reason They do not have
(21:55):
legal approval to be used in on road fuel.
Again, gasoline or diesel.
And that applies both to the solidbronopole forms, as well as if you happen
to find a liquid bronopole formulation,it would actually apply to that too.
That chemistry cannot be used there.
So, let's explain.
Remember from earlier, We said,it's not legal to use a biocide
(22:20):
in ways that the biocide is notlegally approved to be used in.
And that is what is the case here.
So what are we actually saying?
Are we saying that Bronnopol doesn'thave approval to be used as a biocide?
No, obviously not, because it hasbeen legally used as a biocide
(22:41):
by lots of people in lots ofdifferent industries for decades.
So that is not the problem here.
But remember, what we talked about a fewminutes ago, biocide registrations and
biocide approvals, those are conditional.
Every approved biocide The approvalhas terms and limitations that define
(23:05):
how and where and when it can be used.
The big problem that Bronipol has foranyone considering using it in on road
fuel is its approval with the EPA Officeof Pesticides does not include approval
for use in on road fuel, which meansit's not legal to use Bronipol there.
(23:28):
Okay, so is this a case wherethe necessary approval just
hasn't been granted becausenobody happened to ask for it?
You know, nobody submitted an applicationfor approval for use in on road fuel?
No, it would not beaccurate to say that either.
And we can say that because we can knowfor sure that even if they did apply
(23:51):
for that approval, bronopil would notbe approved for use in on road fuel
because of two inherent characteristics.
Number one, That bronopal chemistry,remember that long name we said?
2 bromo 2 nitropropane 1 3 diol.
(24:11):
The bronopal chemistry containsa halogen element called bromine.
It's an element not normally foundin distillate petroleum fuels
like number 2 diesel or gasoline.
That means that any biocidemolecule containing bromine, it
will not meet the EPA's standards.
(24:31):
essential, substantially, chemicallysimilar requirement for something to be
approved to be added to on road fuels.
So, even if they did apply to try andget Bronopil approval to be used in on
road fuel, they would be turned down,the application would be rejected by the
Office of Pesticides because you're notallowed to add bromine to on road fuels.
(24:55):
Number two, something more specificto the solid form biocides, not
necessarily to the liquid, but forthe solid biocide sticks, or the
pucks, or the diamonds, all of thosethey have to use a calcium carbonate
binder to produce their solid form.
Now, calcium, like bromine, also failsthe substantially chemically similar
(25:21):
requirement for addition to on road fuel.
So the bottom line is, if a biocide isnot legally approved for use in a specific
situation, like in wastewater or in onroad fuel, If it's not legally approved
for use in a specific situation, then it'snot legal to use it in that situation.
(25:42):
And for both of those reasons we justmentioned a moment ago, the Brawner Paul
bug sticks are not and likely will neverbe approved for use in on road fuel.
That means that it wouldbe illegal to use them.
to put bug stick solid buyer sides inthe on road storage tanks for facilities
(26:04):
like retail gas stations that somepeople pitch them for because maybe
they don't know about this proviso.
So first big hurdle number one of sixis you can't use them in on road fuel.
Now we go on to the other five hurdles,which are practical problems for the bug
sticks instead of regulatory problems.
(26:24):
So problem number two, Bronner Paulsolid biocide sticks are known to be
water soluble but not fuel soluble.
What that means is, if you were to dropthem in, say, a diesel fuel storage
tank that had a little bit of waterdown the bottom, which is almost every
tank, but it's only got a little bitof water down there at the bottom.
(26:48):
It's not going to dissolve very wellbecause it needs water to dissolve.
It requires the presence of asizable water bottom layer in
a tank in order to dissolve.
That's a key reason why solid biocidesticks are popular for use in bulk
crude or fuel oil storage facilities.
(27:09):
But Any success that they have in thosesituations would not necessarily translate
to them then working equally well ina place like a retail gas station.
A retail gas station does not tendto have a lot of water in it, whereas
an 8 million gallon storage tankfor a crude oil is going to have a
(27:30):
pretty big water bottom layer, andtherefore that's thick to dissolve.
Any tank of that size is going to havea very sizable water bottom in which
that stick can dissolve successfully.
And then when you contrast that witha retail gas station tank or one of
those small to medium fuel storagetanks at let's say a fire station
(27:51):
those tanks have negligible waterbottoms in the grand scheme of things.
And that means dropping a bug stickinto such a tank, you're going to
get incomplete or even negligibledissolving of that biocide stick.
And that means the biocide chemistryitself is not going to be getting
into the fuel as you're intending.
So, problem number one, youcan't use them in on road fuel.
(28:13):
Problem number two, they onlyreally dissolve in water, not fuel.
Problem number three alsoconcerns how the sticks dissolve.
See, not only do they require waterto dissolve, there's one other
necessary condition that they need,and that is presence of a fuel flow.
Moving fuel, moving liquid.
(28:35):
Solid biocide sticks dissolveoff the principle of what
they call erosion feeding.
Where you have, if this is your puck,or your diamond, and you have liquid
moving over its surface, that liquid,as it moves, is going to slough off, or
it's going to erode, continually, thattop layer of the stick, or the popcorn.
(28:59):
Or the diamond.
And that allows the biocide chemistryin that top layer to disperse
into the liquid around it, right?
If that biocide stick, that solid biocideform, is going to fully dissolve, it's
going to need continual fuel flow to keepsloughing those outside layers off until
(29:21):
it's gone, until it's fully dissolved.
Now, how much flow does it actually need?
Now Requirements are a little bitsituation dependent, so we have to
make it a little bit of a generality.
But the general rule of thumb, ifyou ask someone in the industry, is
a biocide stick is going to need aminimum fuel flow of about five gallons
(29:42):
per minute in order to fully dissolve.
Plus, having a free waterlayer present at the same time.
Now, as you may guess, most non industrialfuel storage situations, they don't
have five gallons per minute fuel flow.
in order to enable this to happen.
And this helps explain why there are manynon industrial users who have used these.
(30:06):
biocide sticks over time.
And they almost universally reportpartially dissolved biocide sticks in
the bottom of their storage tanks monthsor even years after dropping them in.
And if you have a partially dissolvedbiocide stick, that means that the fuel
was not being treated with biocide asyou intended when you put it in there.
(30:29):
So that's number three.
Problem number four is Thesesolid biocide sticks tend to be
associated with tank corrosion.
I mean, it is one problem for you toadd biocide to a tank because you've
got microbial contamination, and maybeyou come to find out that the biocide
didn't actually make its way into thefuel to do the job you intended to,
(30:52):
or it just didn't do its job at all.
I mean, it's one thing to say that, Butit's also known within the industry that
as these partially dissolved biocidesticks sit on the bottom of the tank,
you know, ever slowly dissolving ormaybe not even dissolving at all, they're
sitting there and they're contributingto a problem that is on the face of
(31:15):
it much greater than the microbialproblem that they were putting the
tank to eliminate in the first place.
And that is tank corrosion damage.
There've been plenty of reports thatbronopal sticks sitting on the fuel
storage tank bottom surfaces have beenshown to damage the integrity of the
storage tank in the area where they sit.
(31:36):
And if that happens, now you're lookingat a much bigger problem to deal with.
Because Yeah, microbial contaminationcan be expensive to remediate, but
fixing tank corrosion damage, thatultimately dwarfs any kind of microbial
contamination you might be dealing with.
So that's four.
Problem number five, bronopalcauses engine deposits
(31:59):
when it's used in gasoline.
So we discussed how bronopal solidbiocide sticks, they haven't been
approved for use in on road fuelbecause they contain bromine.
That means they don't meetthe chemically that means they
don't meet the substantiallychemically similar requirement.
This requirement for only biocide or fueladditive chemistry constituents that are
(32:23):
substantially chemically similar to fuelcomponents, this kind of requirement
is put into place in order to minimizethe chances of damaging the engine.
Minimize the chances of damagingcompounds being present or being formed.
Thank you.
in the treated fuel.
They don't want that to happen.
Now it's known within the industrythat the bromine compounds in
(32:47):
bronopal, they form damaging depositswhen they're used in gasoline.
So when you put bronopal in gasoline,then you expose it to the heat and the
pressure of the engine environment.
The bromine doesn't just Disappearor change into another, you know,
magically change into another element.
No, it breaks down intovarious byproducts.
(33:10):
Some of the byproducts are lessvolatile, meaning they don't evaporate,
they don't fly away, so to speak.
They stay in the gasoline.
And because they're less volatile,they will condense onto engine
components like injectors.
Some of these byproducts arebromine containing compounds.
Because when the fuel is being burned andyou're in a very hot, hot environment,
(33:34):
the bromine will form bromine radicals,and these radicals will then look around
looking for something to react to.
And they'll combine with other substancesin the fuel and they'll form what's
called Brominated hydrocarbons, andthose form deposits, or they're one
of the things that form deposits.
And there's also nitro compounds,or elements that have nitro
(33:56):
groups coming off of them, likenitrogen and oxygen, or like NO2.
Those will also react duringcombustion, and they will also form
these nitro compounds that alsowill contribute to deposits forming.
So, bronopal forms engine depositsbecause both of these are parts of its
active molecule, the biocidal molecule.
(34:19):
That problem is substantial enough thatfuels professionals will unequivocally
advise against using bronopal in gasoline,whether it's arnold gasoline or otherwise.
So that's number five.
And the last one, problem six ofsix, for using bronopil bug sticks
is the problem of erratic dosing.
(34:41):
Now recall that one of the benefitsthat they attributed to using these
bug sticks was this conceptual microdosing scenario where you put a solid
stick into a storage tank and youleave it to dissolve and it dissolves.
at a constant rate over time, and as it'sdoing that, it's going to deliver this
low, constant rate of biocide treatmentinto the fuel over a long period of time.
(35:07):
Now, on the surface, when you describeit like that, that scenario is portrayed
as advantageous to the user, becausethe user, theoretically, could expect
that their storage tank would becontinually treated by this steady dosage
of biocide over a long period of time.
(35:28):
So it sounds good.
on the surface.
But the reality of the usage isactually pretty different than that.
, leaving aside the hurdle that the biocidestick isn't going to dissolve as expected,
it's also known within the industry thatthis erosion feeding characteristic of
the biocide stick or the puck or thediamond, what that means in terms of
(35:51):
how much biocide or the rate that thebiocide is getting into the fuel, what
that means is that biocide feed rate.
The treat rate of the biocidethat's getting into the fuel.
It starts off relatively high in thebeginning, but then it decreases over
time until it becomes pretty negligible.
(36:12):
So it's not a constant rateof feeding into the fuel.
It's actually more of a curve.
And that's a problem if you'reexpecting a constant dosage.
, this idea that you're going to get thisconstant, steady, low dose, micro dosing
of your tank if you use a biocide stick,it just isn't what they find happening
(36:36):
in practice when people use them.
So, it's a good theory that droppinga biocide stick into your storage
tank will give you long lasting,continual dosage protection, right?
It's good in theory, but Thereality looks very different
and is, you know, unfortunately,much less attractive than that.
(37:00):
So there we have it.
The realities that solid buyer sidesticks, like the bug sticks, have some
large hurdles to overcome in order tocompete in the liquid buyer side market.
So, how would we sum all this up?
All the stuff we talked about inthe last 40 something minutes.
If you are in a position makingdecisions about the management and the
(37:24):
maintenance of store fuels or storagetanks or fuel distribution systems, you
likely are going to be presented witha choice of considering this new form
of biocide treatment for your system.
The solid biocide sticks, whether it'sthis bug stick trade name or another.
(37:45):
similar product trade name.
They are indeed popular for use incertain industrial verticals like
fuel production, pipelines, bulkcrude or bulk fuel oil storage.
They are used in those areas.
Because those areas haveinherent characteristics that
(38:06):
mitigate the disadvantages thatthe solid form biocides have.
Yet, there is a reason these solidbiocide sticks have not been used.
outside of these market verticals,these industrial verticals.
Some of these stem from the practicalnegatives, like the inability to
dissolve without water, the inabilityto dissolve without constant liquid flow
(38:31):
contribution to corrosive tank damageand inconsistent biocide feed rate.
Those are all hurdlesfor them to get over.
But even if those negativesdid not exist, You still have
the regulatory prohibitions, noregistration or no approval for
(38:51):
using these solid biocide sticks inareas dealing with on road fuel, i.
e.
retail gas stations.
And you also have their known contributionto the formation of prohibitively
damaging gasoline engine deposits.
Even without the practical problems, theseother additional negatives Make bronopal
(39:13):
solid form biocide sticks and frankly,an untenable choice for many non bulk
or non industrial fuel care scenarios.
So, those are all things you should keepin mind when you're looking at having
to make a choice for the fuels andthe systems that you are involved in.
(39:34):
And if there's one thing that welike to do here on the Fuel Pulse
Show podcast, it's to give you theright information that you need.
so that you can confidently make the bestdecision, the right decision for you.
And so that's going to do it for thisepisode of the Fuel Pulse Show podcast.
As always, Links to things that we talkedabout in this are in the show notes.
(39:58):
If you haven't done it already, feelfree to subscribe to the Fuel Pulse
Show Podcast at your favorite podcastpurveyor of choice, whether that's
Apple Podcasts, whether it's Amazon,Google, Spotify, Stitcher, any of those.
Also, if you haven't done so already, Andif you liked what you heard, feel free
(40:21):
to give a good review because reviewsare really important things to help
the algorithms help people to find us.
So, that's going to doit for today's episode.
Thank you very much for joining me today.
And we will catch you nexttime at the next episode of
the Fuel Pole Show podcast.
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.
Here at the podcast, we talk aboutanything and everything that's related
to all the different kinds of fuelthat we use both at work and at home.
(00:23):
Plus, we talk about anything andeverything related to all the
different things that use thosefuels, again, at work and at home.
And that means that the Fuel PulseShow podcast is really for everyone.
So what are we going to talkabout on today's episode?
Well, fuel management professionalsand longtime listeners to this
(00:45):
podcast both know the seriousnessof microbial contamination
situations in today's stored fuels.
We've addressed that particularissue in a bunch of different ways.
We talked about how it happens.
We talked about what makes today'sultra low sulfur diesel fuels.
a lot more prone to developingthese microbe problems than the
(01:07):
fields of the past used to be.
We talked about a number of thebest practice recommendations for
both preventing microbial problemsand also for getting rid of them
when you do find that you have one.
We talked about the different kindsof testing that are best for detecting
microbe problems when you do think thatyou have one and We talked about, again,
(01:31):
best practice recommendations on thekinds of things that you should do on an
ongoing basis to ensure that, first ofall, if you do have a microbe problem, you
can get rid of it without it causing toomuch damage, but then also minimize the
chances that that's going to come back.
Now, on that last point, the keyfactor in that, or maybe the key
(01:52):
thread that runs through all of thisis getting rid of all the water.
Oh, just kidding.
That's not it.
No.
Though it is something that you shoulddo if you have a free water bottom in
your tank, because free water presenceusually does go hand in hand with
microbial problems developing, but no.
(02:13):
Applying biocides.
That is the biggest key factor forresolving microbial contamination
because in order to eliminate amicrobial contamination problem
You have to kill the microbes.
You cannot just remove thewater and they go away.
It does not work that way.
You have to kill the microbes.
(02:35):
It's kind of like if you havean infected wound, right?
It's fine to clean it up, wipe out,you know, the blood and the dirt
and the pus, whatever's in there.
But Unless you take an antibiotic, oryou apply, you know, a neosporin, or
something like that, unless you do thatparticular thing to make sure that the
(02:57):
infection gets killed, you're probablynot going to end up healing properly.
But, having said all that, Which biocideto choose for your particular needs.
There are more than a few tradenames of biocides out there,
representatives of different biocidechemistries, that may be a little
(03:17):
bit different when you compare them,but they all have the same basic job.
To kill as many different kindsof microbes they come in contact
with, and to maintain thatkill for as long as possible.
So, probably the five most well knownbroad spectrum biocides that are widely
(03:39):
available in the marketplace are BioBor,or what we would call a diboranane
chemistry, Belicide, the thiosinanechemistry, Kethon, the isothiazolone
chemistry, ClearKill, the MBO chemistry,and Dow Fuel Saver, the nitromorphlin.
(04:00):
biocide chemistry.
So five of the most well known ones.
And the key thing that binds allthese together, the key commonality
that they have is that they are allapproved for use in fuels and fuel oils.
They also have some other approveduses for at least some of them, like
some of them are approved for going foruse in going into wastewater as well.
(04:23):
But there's a new player in themarket, or maybe not completely new,
but it's one that you've probablyheard of or come across before.
And it's a different kind ofplayer because it has one defining
characteristic that makes it unique.
completely unique compared to any ofthose other five that we mentioned.
It's a characteristic that it's makerreally tries to capitalize on and use
(04:48):
it to set it apart from the others.
And that is that it is asolid stick form of biocide.
Some people might call them bug sticks.
You'll hear that referenced.
But we would call themsolid biocide sticks.
Some people may evencall them biocide pucks.
But you get the idea.
(05:09):
It's a solid form of biocide.
But if you've ever had them pitch toyou, you might recall that that pitch
might have gone something like this.
Yeah, biocides are prettyimportant, but they're also kind
of messy and difficult to handle.
And who wants to run the risk of spillingsome biocide on themselves when it's
(05:29):
a hot, sweaty summer day and you'reworking on top of a really hot AST?
Buyerside bug sticks willsolve that problem for you.
You just take them, you drop them intoyour tank, and then you forget it.
No mess, no spilling of liquids,just great buyerside protection
without the mess or the hassle.
(05:52):
Or, some version of that, right?
Now, on the face of it, those guyscan be compelling arguments when
you're a fuels manager or you'rea worker in the field and , you're
part of your sphere of responsibilityis doing this kind of thing.
They can be compelling arguments.
So that's what we'regoing to talk about today.
One of the newer and morecompelling options among the field
(06:15):
of essentials needed to eliminatemicrobial contamination problems
in stored fuel and fuel systems,solid biocide sticks, bug sticks.
Are they going to be right for yoursystem compared to using a conventional
biocide like Belicide or BioBor?
Well, as we say with manythings, the devil is in the
(06:39):
details here, so let's find out.
Biosides are widely used across multipleindustries for control and elimination
of microbial contamination problems.
Now due to their nature, due to whatthey are, biocides are highly regulated
and they fall under the jurisdictionof the EPA's Division of Pesticides.
(07:03):
And what they will do is, After theygather and review all the relevant
technical information, the testinginformation, the safety data for
the biocide chemical in question,they will, if it passes all of their
criteria, they will approve certainbiocide chemistries, not just for
(07:24):
general use as an antimicrobial, butthe approval will be conditional.
in terms of which contextsor which situations that
biocide chemistry can be used.
When, where, and how much.
And we say can be used in the sensethat from a legal standpoint, you're
(07:45):
really supposed to stick to what or howthe approval covers as far as its use.
In other words, it's frowned upon legallyto use or direct others to use it.
A biocide in violation of theparameters of its approval.
Because if you think about it,where and how you use a pesticide
(08:08):
or a biocide that matters.
It doesn't just matter if a pesticideor a biocide will kill bacteria,
kill molds, and yeast and fungi.
It matters if it's gonna work safelyand effectively in the areas that
you're proposing to use it in.
And so to get such approvals, the biocideregistrators, if you will, have to
(08:30):
provide ample evidence that that's true.
So, as I said, biocide approvals bythe EPA are based in large part on what
the technical information submitted andstudied shows about both how effective
it is and how safe it is, both for theuser but also for the environment too.
(08:50):
, how safe and how effective thatbiocide is, under these possible
usage circumstances that you'rerequesting the approval for.
So let's take an example toillustrate this and wrap all this up.
Let's say that somebody had formulateda biocide that is intended to go
into gasoline at the gas station.
(09:10):
They apply for the approval.
They submit lots of testing evidencethat shows that it kills microbes.
Great, but not just that.
They also have to show that it isn'tgoing to create deposits in the
gasoline that will end up harmingthe engine, harming the injectors.
(09:32):
They typically in the industry referto that kind of data as no harm data
because what good would it do if youhad a biocide that killed everything in
gasoline you needed it to but it wreckedyour engine Now, that's a rhetorical
question we're asking because , we knowthe answer to that question, right?
Okay, so, we say all that because thatconcept of a conditional approval, that's
(09:58):
gonna matter a little bit later on aswe delve a little deeper into the pros
and cons of these solid biostatistics.
that we're considering.
And in order to do that, let's setthe stage to better help us understand
these solid biocide sticks better.
So we can have a bigger pictureunderstanding of what they're
(10:19):
actually good for and what theymay not actually be good for.
First let's talk about the chemistry.
Solid biocide sticks aremarketed as convenient.
easy to handle biocide application forms.
They differ from liquid biocideproducts because they don't need
to be measured volumetrically.
(10:40):
You take one stick, youdrop it into the tank.
It sinks down to the bottom and youleave it there and over time it's
supposed to dissolve and feed biocideinto the fuel and the liquid around it.
Part of the rationale is that the biocidestick is going to dissolve within the tank
liquid over a period of time, supplyinga steady dosage of biocide chemistry
(11:03):
into the liquid while it's doing that.
Now, these solid form biocides,they're manufactured in three
common shapes, if you will.
There's sticks, there'spucks, and there's diamonds.
Now, popular liquid biocide chemistriesinclude the ones we mentioned
(11:24):
earlier, the Kaethonisothiazolone,the Belisithiocyanate, ClearKill,
MBO, those are popular liquid ones andthey're , different biocide chemistries.
The solid biocide sticks tendto be a different chemistry than
those . Shorter name version for thatwhich we'll use from this point on
is bronopal or bronopal, dependingon where you're from in the country.
(11:47):
So, bronopal, chemistry isthe biocide chemistry used
in these solid biocide sticks.
Now, what exactly is this stuff?
Bronopal.
Well, bronopal has been pretty widelyused as an antimicrobial agent and
as a preservative agent since it wasdeveloped in the mid 19th century.
(12:09):
And it was developed in themid 19th, excuse me, mid 20th
century, sorry, up by 100 years.
It was developed in the mid 20thcentury in the UK by the Boots Company.
Now, ironically, the Boots Company ismost well known in the UK nowadays as
a large pharmacy chain store brand.
So, think as if Walgreens decided todevelop a new buyer's side preservative.
(12:34):
That might be the American equivalent.
So, because it was developed bythe Boots Company, it makes sense.
That bronopal was initiallycreated as an antimicrobial agent
to be used in pharmaceuticals,cosmetics, and industrial products.
As the years went on, use of bronopalexpanded into other applications.
(12:56):
Personal care products,think shampoos and lotions.
They started using it more and more inindustrial processes like controlling
microbial growth in cooling watersystems and in paper mills and oil
fields, places where they happento use an awful lot of biocide.
Now, as an aside, go back to personal careproducts that we mentioned a moment ago.
(13:18):
You'd be really surprised to learn thatProducts like liquid soaps and shampoos,
they can actually develop microbialgrowth in them if they're left too long.
It's because of the watercontent that they have.
And so, they do tend to use a substantialamount of biocide preservatives in
(13:39):
those kinds of products in orderto maintain their shelf life.
The proceeding decades as the 20th centurywent on, it became particularly popular
in industrial water treatment usage.
They used it in there to controlbacteria in recirculating water
systems and in oil field operations,and it was pretty effective.
Against a wide spectrum ofbacteria, especially this kind
(14:04):
of bacteria that causes a lotof problems in this situation.
It's called the sulfate reducing bacteria.
And because it could kill thosepretty effectively, it made it
pretty valuable to use to preventbiofouling and corrosion in bacteria.
So things are looking prettygood right now, right?
(14:24):
And, because it's been proven so effectiveat preventing the growth of bacteria
in oil, water containing productsthat leads to it gaining approval from
regulatory bodies in other countries,including the FDA here in the United
States, so that it can be used in awide range of consumer products like
(14:45):
those shampoos we talked about earlier.
But as they're doing this, Peoplestart becoming more and more aware of
environmental issues and safety issues.
Awareness of environmental andhealth impacts is , steadily
growing among the populace.
And concerns are starting to beraised about potential release of
(15:07):
formaldehyde, which is a byproduct ofbronnopal degradation when it breaks down.
And they're especially concernedabout that in cosmetic formulations.
And so what happens is that theystart developing alternatives for use.
They start making the regulationsincrementally just a little bit more
(15:29):
stringent, and so those two things kindof come together and Bronner Paul's use
in consumer products like cosmetics.
dropped pretty precipitously.
So, despite these use specificlimitations that developed, and when we
say use specific, recall what we talkedabout in the opening part of the podcast.
(15:49):
about how by side approvals are contingenton how it's used and where it's used.
So that's what we meanwhen we say use specific.
So despite these limits,broader Paul still being used.
pretty commonly in a lot of otherindustrial applications where it's still
really effective and really valuable.
Remains an important buyer side inindustrial applications like remember
(16:12):
the waste treatment, the oil fieldapplications, pipelines, they use
it a lot in large bulk crude oiland bulk fuel oil storage at places
like terminals where you have thesehuge multi million gallon tanks.
They're using a lot of bronopoly in there.
Despite its waning use in consumer goods,Bronopol still remains an important
(16:36):
chemical in all these other industriesbecause it's so effective in those areas.
So, now that we've set up thehistory, let's compare solid
bug sticks to liquid biocides.
While liquid biocide formulations dostill remain the most common antimicrobial
chemical form used the people makingthe solid form biocides They're committed
(16:59):
to try and make as many inroads into asmany different areas of use as possible.
, in order to do this, they haveto make a case about why someone
should use a solid bank account.
biocide stick in that area.
They must make a case that solidbiocide sticks offer important
advantages over liquids.
(17:22):
And they have to make the casethat those advantages are ones that
are valuable or that they shouldmatter to various, the various types
of consumers they're targeting.
And the case that they're making forthe advantages of these solid biocide
sticks, using them over the liquid forms.
It's often framed by giving someversions of the following arguments.
(17:46):
First one is a conveniencein handling argument, okay?
Solid biocide sticks are cleaner andeasier to handle than liquid biocides are.
And that can matter if you're a companythat's got inexperienced personnel
working with biocides and maybethey're not sure how to use them.
(18:07):
It can also matter if the conditions arehot, sticky, and sweaty, increases the
chances that you spill some of the liquid.
So, that might be a situation whereyou might say, Hey, maybe a solid
stick that I can pick up in my handlike this, you know, my gloved hand.
Maybe that would be better.
So there's a conveniencein handling argument.
There's also an ease of dosing argument.
(18:28):
Because liquids require liquidvolumetric measurements.
And that can be messy and involves,again, that risk of spillage.
Whereas a solid bar side stick, in theory.
is easier to dose if you follow theirsimple direct if you, a solid biocide
stick theoretically is easier to doseif you follow their instructions.
(18:51):
And then there's a third aspectof the argument they would make,
which is the microdosing ability.
A solid biocide stick, when you drop theminto a tank, they're going to sit there
and they're going to dissolve over time.
And that means, in theory, you coulduse them to maintain a constant micro
(19:11):
dosing of biocide into the fuel, orthe liquid, over a longer period of
time than liquid dosing would allow.
Okay, so, convenience in handling.
Easer dosing and micro dosing ability.
On the face of it, those points mightseem to be worthwhile characteristics
(19:32):
that may have substantial appeal to afuels manager or to anyone else who might
be aware of the, , important criticalrole that biocides play in resolving
microbial contamination problems orpreventing them in the first place.
So far, this all sounds prettygood for the solid sticks.
And I always like to say thatNothing is completely good,
(19:57):
and nothing is completely bad.
Even if you have something that seemsto have a lot of problems, there are
still always at least some good pointsthat that thing will bring to the table.
And, vice versa too.
And that's the kind of situationthat we have here as well.
In spite of those positive claims madefor the advantages of those biocide
(20:20):
sticks, solid biocide sticks stillhave some substantial hurdles that may
either negate some of those advantagesor might even, and this is important to
talk about, Might even prohibit theirusage altogether in certain markets and
certain usage areas that they otherwisemight be seeking to make inroads into.
(20:43):
And if you're someone who's looking atpossibly using a solid biocide stick as a
solution for your stored fuel to eliminateor control microbial contamination,
there are some things that are goingto be really important for you to know.
Things that might end up helpingmake your decision for you.
(21:06):
And we're going to summarize these as sixproblems that solid biocide sticks have.
Let's start off with the onethat might be the most important
consideration depending on howyou're proposing to use the biocide.
And that problem number one isthey are not approved for use in
on road fuel or Fuel storage tanksthat have on road fuel in them.
(21:31):
Okay, so remember we're talkingabout the bronopal Chemistry here.
So bronopal solid biocide sticks Cannotbe used in either on road fuel That's
gasoline or diesel or in storage tanksholding on road fuel and they can't
be used there for one big ultimatelyinsurmountable reason They do not have
(21:55):
legal approval to be used in on road fuel.
Again, gasoline or diesel.
And that applies both to the solidbronopole forms, as well as if you happen
to find a liquid bronopole formulation,it would actually apply to that too.
That chemistry cannot be used there.
So, let's explain.
Remember from earlier, We said,it's not legal to use a biocide
(22:20):
in ways that the biocide is notlegally approved to be used in.
And that is what is the case here.
So what are we actually saying?
Are we saying that Bronnopol doesn'thave approval to be used as a biocide?
No, obviously not, because it hasbeen legally used as a biocide
(22:41):
by lots of people in lots ofdifferent industries for decades.
So that is not the problem here.
But remember, what we talked about a fewminutes ago, biocide registrations and
biocide approvals, those are conditional.
Every approved biocide The approvalhas terms and limitations that define
(23:05):
how and where and when it can be used.
The big problem that Bronipol has foranyone considering using it in on road
fuel is its approval with the EPA Officeof Pesticides does not include approval
for use in on road fuel, which meansit's not legal to use Bronipol there.
(23:28):
Okay, so is this a case wherethe necessary approval just
hasn't been granted becausenobody happened to ask for it?
You know, nobody submitted an applicationfor approval for use in on road fuel?
No, it would not beaccurate to say that either.
And we can say that because we can knowfor sure that even if they did apply
(23:51):
for that approval, bronopil would notbe approved for use in on road fuel
because of two inherent characteristics.
Number one, That bronopal chemistry,remember that long name we said?
2 bromo 2 nitropropane 1 3 diol.
(24:11):
The bronopal chemistry containsa halogen element called bromine.
It's an element not normally foundin distillate petroleum fuels
like number 2 diesel or gasoline.
That means that any biocidemolecule containing bromine, it
will not meet the EPA's standards.
(24:31):
essential, substantially, chemicallysimilar requirement for something to be
approved to be added to on road fuels.
So, even if they did apply to try andget Bronopil approval to be used in on
road fuel, they would be turned down,the application would be rejected by the
Office of Pesticides because you're notallowed to add bromine to on road fuels.
(24:55):
Number two, something more specificto the solid form biocides, not
necessarily to the liquid, but forthe solid biocide sticks, or the
pucks, or the diamonds, all of thosethey have to use a calcium carbonate
binder to produce their solid form.
Now, calcium, like bromine, also failsthe substantially chemically similar
(25:21):
requirement for addition to on road fuel.
So the bottom line is, if a biocide isnot legally approved for use in a specific
situation, like in wastewater or in onroad fuel, If it's not legally approved
for use in a specific situation, then it'snot legal to use it in that situation.
(25:42):
And for both of those reasons we justmentioned a moment ago, the Brawner Paul
bug sticks are not and likely will neverbe approved for use in on road fuel.
That means that it wouldbe illegal to use them.
to put bug stick solid buyer sides inthe on road storage tanks for facilities
(26:04):
like retail gas stations that somepeople pitch them for because maybe
they don't know about this proviso.
So first big hurdle number one of sixis you can't use them in on road fuel.
Now we go on to the other five hurdles,which are practical problems for the bug
sticks instead of regulatory problems.
(26:24):
So problem number two, Bronner Paulsolid biocide sticks are known to be
water soluble but not fuel soluble.
What that means is, if you were to dropthem in, say, a diesel fuel storage
tank that had a little bit of waterdown the bottom, which is almost every
tank, but it's only got a little bitof water down there at the bottom.
(26:48):
It's not going to dissolve very wellbecause it needs water to dissolve.
It requires the presence of asizable water bottom layer in
a tank in order to dissolve.
That's a key reason why solid biocidesticks are popular for use in bulk
crude or fuel oil storage facilities.
(27:09):
But Any success that they have in thosesituations would not necessarily translate
to them then working equally well ina place like a retail gas station.
A retail gas station does not tendto have a lot of water in it, whereas
an 8 million gallon storage tankfor a crude oil is going to have a
(27:30):
pretty big water bottom layer, andtherefore that's thick to dissolve.
Any tank of that size is going to havea very sizable water bottom in which
that stick can dissolve successfully.
And then when you contrast that witha retail gas station tank or one of
those small to medium fuel storagetanks at let's say a fire station
(27:51):
those tanks have negligible waterbottoms in the grand scheme of things.
And that means dropping a bug stickinto such a tank, you're going to
get incomplete or even negligibledissolving of that biocide stick.
And that means the biocide chemistryitself is not going to be getting
into the fuel as you're intending.
So, problem number one, youcan't use them in on road fuel.
(28:13):
Problem number two, they onlyreally dissolve in water, not fuel.
Problem number three alsoconcerns how the sticks dissolve.
See, not only do they require waterto dissolve, there's one other
necessary condition that they need,and that is presence of a fuel flow.
Moving fuel, moving liquid.
(28:35):
Solid biocide sticks dissolveoff the principle of what
they call erosion feeding.
Where you have, if this is your puck,or your diamond, and you have liquid
moving over its surface, that liquid,as it moves, is going to slough off, or
it's going to erode, continually, thattop layer of the stick, or the popcorn.
(28:59):
Or the diamond.
And that allows the biocide chemistryin that top layer to disperse
into the liquid around it, right?
If that biocide stick, that solid biocideform, is going to fully dissolve, it's
going to need continual fuel flow to keepsloughing those outside layers off until
(29:21):
it's gone, until it's fully dissolved.
Now, how much flow does it actually need?
Now Requirements are a little bitsituation dependent, so we have to
make it a little bit of a generality.
But the general rule of thumb, ifyou ask someone in the industry, is
a biocide stick is going to need aminimum fuel flow of about five gallons
(29:42):
per minute in order to fully dissolve.
Plus, having a free waterlayer present at the same time.
Now, as you may guess, most non industrialfuel storage situations, they don't
have five gallons per minute fuel flow.
in order to enable this to happen.
And this helps explain why there are manynon industrial users who have used these.
(30:06):
biocide sticks over time.
And they almost universally reportpartially dissolved biocide sticks in
the bottom of their storage tanks monthsor even years after dropping them in.
And if you have a partially dissolvedbiocide stick, that means that the fuel
was not being treated with biocide asyou intended when you put it in there.
(30:29):
So that's number three.
Problem number four is Thesesolid biocide sticks tend to be
associated with tank corrosion.
I mean, it is one problem for you toadd biocide to a tank because you've
got microbial contamination, and maybeyou come to find out that the biocide
didn't actually make its way into thefuel to do the job you intended to,
(30:52):
or it just didn't do its job at all.
I mean, it's one thing to say that, Butit's also known within the industry that
as these partially dissolved biocidesticks sit on the bottom of the tank,
you know, ever slowly dissolving ormaybe not even dissolving at all, they're
sitting there and they're contributingto a problem that is on the face of
(31:15):
it much greater than the microbialproblem that they were putting the
tank to eliminate in the first place.
And that is tank corrosion damage.
There've been plenty of reports thatbronopal sticks sitting on the fuel
storage tank bottom surfaces have beenshown to damage the integrity of the
storage tank in the area where they sit.
(31:36):
And if that happens, now you're lookingat a much bigger problem to deal with.
Because Yeah, microbial contaminationcan be expensive to remediate, but
fixing tank corrosion damage, thatultimately dwarfs any kind of microbial
contamination you might be dealing with.
So that's four.
Problem number five, bronopalcauses engine deposits
(31:59):
when it's used in gasoline.
So we discussed how bronopal solidbiocide sticks, they haven't been
approved for use in on road fuelbecause they contain bromine.
That means they don't meetthe chemically that means they
don't meet the substantiallychemically similar requirement.
This requirement for only biocide or fueladditive chemistry constituents that are
(32:23):
substantially chemically similar to fuelcomponents, this kind of requirement
is put into place in order to minimizethe chances of damaging the engine.
Minimize the chances of damagingcompounds being present or being formed.
Thank you.
in the treated fuel.
They don't want that to happen.
Now it's known within the industrythat the bromine compounds in
(32:47):
bronopal, they form damaging depositswhen they're used in gasoline.
So when you put bronopal in gasoline,then you expose it to the heat and the
pressure of the engine environment.
The bromine doesn't just Disappearor change into another, you know,
magically change into another element.
No, it breaks down intovarious byproducts.
(33:10):
Some of the byproducts are lessvolatile, meaning they don't evaporate,
they don't fly away, so to speak.
They stay in the gasoline.
And because they're less volatile,they will condense onto engine
components like injectors.
Some of these byproducts arebromine containing compounds.
Because when the fuel is being burned andyou're in a very hot, hot environment,
(33:34):
the bromine will form bromine radicals,and these radicals will then look around
looking for something to react to.
And they'll combine with other substancesin the fuel and they'll form what's
called Brominated hydrocarbons, andthose form deposits, or they're one
of the things that form deposits.
And there's also nitro compounds,or elements that have nitro
(33:56):
groups coming off of them, likenitrogen and oxygen, or like NO2.
Those will also react duringcombustion, and they will also form
these nitro compounds that alsowill contribute to deposits forming.
So, bronopal forms engine depositsbecause both of these are parts of its
active molecule, the biocidal molecule.
(34:19):
That problem is substantial enough thatfuels professionals will unequivocally
advise against using bronopal in gasoline,whether it's arnold gasoline or otherwise.
So that's number five.
And the last one, problem six ofsix, for using bronopil bug sticks
is the problem of erratic dosing.
(34:41):
Now recall that one of the benefitsthat they attributed to using these
bug sticks was this conceptual microdosing scenario where you put a solid
stick into a storage tank and youleave it to dissolve and it dissolves.
at a constant rate over time, and as it'sdoing that, it's going to deliver this
low, constant rate of biocide treatmentinto the fuel over a long period of time.
(35:07):
Now, on the surface, when you describeit like that, that scenario is portrayed
as advantageous to the user, becausethe user, theoretically, could expect
that their storage tank would becontinually treated by this steady dosage
of biocide over a long period of time.
(35:28):
So it sounds good.
on the surface.
But the reality of the usage isactually pretty different than that.
, leaving aside the hurdle that the biocidestick isn't going to dissolve as expected,
it's also known within the industry thatthis erosion feeding characteristic of
the biocide stick or the puck or thediamond, what that means in terms of
(35:51):
how much biocide or the rate that thebiocide is getting into the fuel, what
that means is that biocide feed rate.
The treat rate of the biocidethat's getting into the fuel.
It starts off relatively high in thebeginning, but then it decreases over
time until it becomes pretty negligible.
(36:12):
So it's not a constant rateof feeding into the fuel.
It's actually more of a curve.
And that's a problem if you'reexpecting a constant dosage.
, this idea that you're going to get thisconstant, steady, low dose, micro dosing
of your tank if you use a biocide stick,it just isn't what they find happening
(36:36):
in practice when people use them.
So, it's a good theory that droppinga biocide stick into your storage
tank will give you long lasting,continual dosage protection, right?
It's good in theory, but Thereality looks very different
and is, you know, unfortunately,much less attractive than that.
(37:00):
So there we have it.
The realities that solid buyer sidesticks, like the bug sticks, have some
large hurdles to overcome in order tocompete in the liquid buyer side market.
So, how would we sum all this up?
All the stuff we talked about inthe last 40 something minutes.
If you are in a position makingdecisions about the management and the
(37:24):
maintenance of store fuels or storagetanks or fuel distribution systems, you
likely are going to be presented witha choice of considering this new form
of biocide treatment for your system.
The solid biocide sticks, whether it'sthis bug stick trade name or another.
(37:45):
similar product trade name.
They are indeed popular for use incertain industrial verticals like
fuel production, pipelines, bulkcrude or bulk fuel oil storage.
They are used in those areas.
Because those areas haveinherent characteristics that
(38:06):
mitigate the disadvantages thatthe solid form biocides have.
Yet, there is a reason these solidbiocide sticks have not been used.
outside of these market verticals,these industrial verticals.
Some of these stem from the practicalnegatives, like the inability to
dissolve without water, the inabilityto dissolve without constant liquid flow
(38:31):
contribution to corrosive tank damageand inconsistent biocide feed rate.
Those are all hurdlesfor them to get over.
But even if those negativesdid not exist, You still have
the regulatory prohibitions, noregistration or no approval for
(38:51):
using these solid biocide sticks inareas dealing with on road fuel, i.
e.
retail gas stations.
And you also have their known contributionto the formation of prohibitively
damaging gasoline engine deposits.
Even without the practical problems, theseother additional negatives Make bronopal
(39:13):
solid form biocide sticks and frankly,an untenable choice for many non bulk
or non industrial fuel care scenarios.
So, those are all things you should keepin mind when you're looking at having
to make a choice for the fuels andthe systems that you are involved in.
(39:34):
And if there's one thing that welike to do here on the Fuel Pulse
Show podcast, it's to give you theright information that you need.
so that you can confidently make the bestdecision, the right decision for you.
And so that's going to do it for thisepisode of the Fuel Pulse Show podcast.
As always, Links to things that we talkedabout in this are in the show notes.
(39:58):
If you haven't done it already, feelfree to subscribe to the Fuel Pulse
Show Podcast at your favorite podcastpurveyor of choice, whether that's
Apple Podcasts, whether it's Amazon,Google, Spotify, Stitcher, any of those.
Also, if you haven't done so already, Andif you liked what you heard, feel free
(40:21):
to give a good review because reviewsare really important things to help
the algorithms help people to find us.
So, that's going to doit for today's episode.
Thank you very much for joining me today.
And we will catch you nexttime at the next episode of
the Fuel Pole Show podcast.
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