May 22, 2008

In-keeping with many of the government’s attempts to promote environmentally friendly policies, the current legislation to mix vegetable juice with diesel is proving to be something of a disaster.

The bacteria found inside filling station tanks, if not cleaned out properly, is reacting with the vegetable or wheat based fuel and forming oil clots.  This jelly-like precipitate is blocking up fuel filters, which provide clean diesel to the injectors and starving the engine of fuel. 

The AA has already blamed a spate of mechanical breakdowns nation-wide on the jelly-like lumps. It says they make their way into fuel tanks, and block the filters that provide clean diesel to the injectors. This leads to the motor cutting out and, ultimately, a repair bill for the owner.

If it were the case for a petrol engine it would be quite an irritation but many diesel engines need their fuel lines bled before they’ll start again, which may require a visit to your local garage and a bill.  Also because diesel has greater lubricating qualities than petrol, the fuel systems of diesel engines use the diesel as a lubricant, if the lubricant is reduced or removed from the moving part it can cause engine damage.  The use of low sulphur diesel initially caused the same engine wear issues, as the low sulphur fuel isn’t as effective as a lubricant as regular diesel.  Clean lubricants have subsequently been added to diesel at the pumps to avoid engine wear.

Government rules enforcing all diesel sold in the UK to contain at least 2.5% of the so called ‘eco-friendly’ fuel.  Under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation this is due to rise to 5% in 2010 so there looks no way to avoid the issue escalating in the future.

An AA spokesman cautioned: “Fore-court owners need to be prepared for managing the biodiesel properly, not simply flushing out the fuel reservoirs whenever they think it’s necessary.”
Ray Holloway, head of the Petrol Retailers Association, said that action is already being taken to rectify the situation. “We’ve issued a set of guidelines to fuel stations to help them tackle the problem,” he said. “These include testing tanks for excess water – which helps the bacteria to breed – and taking advice from their supplier about the exact biofuel content of the diesel going into the tanks.”

The AA added motorists should be particularly vigilant at small filling stations. Its representative said: “The situation isn’t as serious at large sites, where all the pumps have a high flow rate from the constant usage. It’s more prominent at less busy rural outlets, where the pumps might not be used so often.”  Given the increased number of small filling stations that are feeling the pinch with the rampant increase of fuel prices, this current news bears more bad news for the small, local filling station.

Leave a comment

Type into the box below