Most Diesel Engine Failures
Originate In The Fuel Tank

AXI International (formerly ALGAE-X) provides a variety of Fuel Conditioning and Tank Cleaning Systems that will fit the needs of a Fuel Management Program that may be instituted in any industry, enterprise or by an individual:

AXI Fuel Conditioning and Tank Cleaning Systems provide all users of diesel fuel with protection, performance, fuel economy and lower maintenance costs. Whatever your mission, purpose or enterprise may be, if you depend on diesel fuel to power your equipment, you must have fuel that is as good as it was when it left the refinery. According to Caterpillar, the shelf life of diesel fuel is 12 months, and 6 months for bio-diesel fuel (up to B-20) from when it left the refinery. AXI Fuel Conditioning and Tank Cleaning Systems assure your fuel is in optimal condition at all times, and maintains your diesel fuel in storage in top condition, theoretically forever, for continuing use.

And if your fuel already is showing the symptoms of degradation, all is not lost. Clogged and hazy filters, dark, hazy fuel, floating debris in tanks, sludge build up in tanks, lost power and RPM, excessive exhaust smoke, corroded and pitted fuel injectors, or foul odors coming from your fuel tank can all be reversed without the need to incur the expense of disposing the fuel. Treat the core problem, don’t just treat these symptoms. The AXI Systems perform Fuel Polishing, not just filtration.  Your fuel will be returned to that clear and bright condition it had when it left the refinery, and the fuel tank will become a clean and reliable fuel storage asset.

AXI Fuel Conditioning and Tank Cleaning Systems are true Fuel Polishing systems. Don’t be mislead by claims that a system that merely circulates your diesel fuel through a set of filters, augmented by a heavy dose of a biocide fuel additive, will condition your fuel, clean your tank, and solve your problems. Review the Real Story of Bad Diesel Fuel article on this web site to understand what is really happening in your fuel tank. AXI Fuel Conditioning and Tank Cleaning Systems, all of which incorporate the AXI patented Fuel Conditioner as the core component of each System, are designed and built in the USA to reverse these problems with degraded and contaminated diesel fuel. To understand the significance of the Fuel Conditioner and how it contributes to the most critical part of fuel polishing, review the web page on this site that explains the technology behind this amazing device.

You may need to start by determining if you really have a diesel fuel related problem. If you have been treating your diesel fuel with a biocide, but still find you have the symptoms of fuel deterioration mentioned above, you have looked far enough. Commonly used chemical testing procedures will show a negative presence of bacterial and fungal growth as a result of the biocides. Concluding that the fuel is in acceptable condition and the fuel system is healthy because of the lack of active bacterial or fungal growth would be a misinterpretation of test results. This does not mean that the diesel fuel is in acceptable condition. Use of biocides do not solve the problem, but they do present new and different problems to diesel fuel maintenance.

If you have not used biocides in the past, the first step to determine if you have a microbial contamination problem may be to use Liqui-Cult fuel test kits as a way to monitor fuel tanks for microbial activity. Liqui-Cult accurately detects and quantifies bacterial and fungal growth in fuel and other fluids. This microbial growth requires water to exist and resides in the fuel-water interface where it feeds off the additives and nutrients in the fuel. However, if you can see that you have the above mentioned symptoms, you can bypass this step, but Liqui-Cult testing periodically is an important component of a preventative maintenance and Fuel Management Program.

The next step is to determine how much water is in the bottom of the fuel tank and plan for it’s removal. The extent of water contamination can be determined using Kolor-Kut Water Finding Paste. Place a line of the paste on a rod and insert it into the tank extending to the bottom of the tank. The paste on the rod that comes into contact with water changes color, providing an  indication of how much water is in the bottom of the tank.

A small siphon can be used to determine the condition (visual signs of growth) of the water. You can also use a length of 1/2 inch PVC or more flexible PEX pipe like a soda straw to extract water from the tank bottom. With your thumb over the end of the pipe, insert the pipe to the bottom of the tank. When the pipe end is resting on the bottom, remove your thumb allowing the bottom tank material to rise up inside the pipe. Replace your thumb over the end, remove the pipe, and empty the contents of the pipe into a clear plastic 2-liter soda drink bottle (place the bottle inside a 5-gallon bucket to catch any spillage). Repeat the process to fill the bottle and then allow it to sit overnight.

Visually inspect the contents of the soda bottle after it has settled and separated. If the fuel is clear and bright with no water separation on the bottom or dirt, sludge or clumps of debris in the bottom, then your problem is not in your fuel. But if these signs are present, read on.

If a large amount of water is present, the water should be pumped out. The TK Series Portable Tank Cleaning System or, for a larger tank or multi-tank installation, the MTC Series Mobil Tank Cleaning Systems, mounted on a cart or pallet, allows you to pump water off the bottom of your fuel tank for proper disposal.

Since every tank configuration is unique, and sometimes the access to a tank is only the fuel filler neck, it may be necessary for you to customize a soft copper pipe or other semi-flexible pipe product, such as PEX, to snake into the bottom of the tank. Pump the water from the tank bottom into a bucket or drum for proper disposal. After all the free water that can be removed has been removed, small residual amounts of water can be removed using the AFC Series 705 Diesel Fuel Catalyst, Stabilizer and Tank Cleaning Additive. The AFC 705 additive contains a surfactant that will emulsify the residual water into the fuel. During the circulation phase (see below) the emulsified water will be filtered out of the diesel fuel in the fuel polishing process. For post-2007 engines requiring additives that are Tier-4 compliant, the AFC Series 710 Diesel Fuel Catalyst, Stabilizer and Tank Cleaning Additive will clean the tank and stabilize the fuel, but does not have the surfactant component.  AFC-710 has a chemical affinity to the hydrocarbons in your diesel fuel, helping your engine tap into your fuel’s full potential by burning it more completely. While it is doing so, it’s also cleaning your fuel system from the fuel tank, to your injectors, to your combustion chamber, and through to your exhaust.

The addition of AXI AFC-705 or 710 Diesel Fuel Catalyst will stabilize the fuel and enhance and accelerate the tank cleaning process by breaking down, dispersing, and dissolving existing tank sludge and slime, stabilize and restore fuel quality, decontaminate compartments of the tank that are out of reach of the suction line, and eliminate costly contract tank cleaning and fuel disposal fees. Treatment with the LG-X Series Fuel Conditioner completes the process of returning the diesel fuel to a clear, bright, efficient, and usable fuel.

Using a Water Block Filter Element in the TK Series Portable System, the MTC  Series cart or pallet mounted system, or an appropriately sized STS Series or FPS Series Automatic Fuel Cleaning and Tank Management Systems will remove the emulsified water from the fuel while also filtering particulates.

The fuel circulation process is handled in two ways. Any time an AXI Fuel Conditioning and Tank Cleaning System is used, the fuel tank should be full and be treated with a dose of AFC Series 705 or 710. The first time a tank is treated, especially when it has a known contamination problem, the dose of AFC-705 should be a double dose (1 oz. additive to 20 gallons of diesel fuel) and the fuel should be circulated five times. A periodic preventative maintenance treatment would include a regular dose of AFC-705 or AFC-710 (1 oz. additive to 40 gallons of diesel fuel), and the fuel should be circulated three times.

As an example, a contaminated tank has a capacity of 500 gallons. You have a TK-240 XT Portable Tank Cleaning System that has a circulation rate of 240 gallons per hour. To circulate the fuel five times, you would circulate a total of 2,500 gallons of fuel. At 240 gallons per hour, you would need to operate the circulation system for 10.5 hours. You do not necessarily need to perform the treatment for a continuous time. The 10.5 hour run time can be performed over two or three contiguous days.

How often you would perform a preventative treatment depends largely on regional climate conditions. More humid locations may require a treatment every 4 to 6 months. More arid areas may only require treatments once each year.

As an ongoing preventative maintenance procedure, water in the fuel tank can be dealt with by using the Water Eliminator. The Water Eliminator can be kept in the tank and monitored at each refueling to determine the presence of water. Additional diesel fuel filtration and water removal can be achieved with the installation of a supplemental Fuel Filter/Water Separator.

To further reduce the potential of moisture entering into your equipment or fuel storage tank, the addition of a desiccant breather to the tank vent will significantly reduce the moisture in the air drawn into the fuel tank as fuel is consumed.

The most important feature of all AXI Fuel Treatment and Tank Cleaning Systems is the simple fact that, when a fuel tank is determined to be  badly contaminated and cleaning is necessary, you no longer need to incur the cost and hassle of:

Many of our customers have quickly learned that the investment in an AXI Fuel Conditioner and Tank Cleaning System quickly pays for itself, and more often than not, more than offsets the ongoing expense of accepting the low performance of contaminated fuel, and the high cost of shortened engine filter and fuel system component life that has become considered by many as a necessary and acceptable practice.

Please enjoy browsing the Diesel-Fuels.com web site, and do not miss the numerous Articles available on this site about specific applications and industries that depend on stored fuel, as well as the Guides to Maintaining Diesel Fuel that provide printable papers for reading and distribution.

Contact Pecuniary, Inc., and solve your diesel fuel problems once-and-for-all!