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14 MAY 2014 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com FUELS By Stephen Bennett and Keith Reid the Corrosion Question Since Ultra-Low Sulfur Fuel Was Introduced There Have Been Reports of Equipment Corrosion. What's Causing It? U LS fuel oil is now being distributed throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic and has been mandated in such states as New York. It forms a key foundation for the industry's fuel of the future — Bioheat TM — when combined with biodiesel. On the motor fuels side, ultra-low sul- fur diesel today is ubiquitous in on-road, off-road, locomotive and marine applications. Problems with the fuel have been limited — in fact far more limited than many in the industry anticipated. While some extra care needs to be taken in areas like lubricity, the environmental benefits are exceptional and in heating oil applications those benefits cross over into areas like easier boiler and furnace maintenance. However, shortly after the fuel began to come into widespread use some diesel marketers noted corrosion issues within their stor- age systems, and they believed this was linked to the new fuel. This does not seem to have crossed over to dedicated heating oil dealers or marketers or to their customers' tanks. Nor, it should be stressed, has it become a firestorm issue in the motor fuels world. While nothing definitive is known today, efforts to find out what is potentially causing corrosion on equipment in under- ground storage tanks holding ultra-low sulfur fuel have begun and are continuing. The Battelle study, issued in September 2012, was under- taken for the Clean Diesel Fuel Alliance, which includes the American Petroleum Institute, Environmental Protection Agency, Independent Liquid Terminals Association, Petroleum Equipment Institute and Steel Tank Institute. The members exchange informa- tion and aim for technical coordination to facilitate the transition to ultra-low sulfur fuel. This represents the only current, formal research on the matter. As early as 2007 some distributors began noticing corrosion issues that they believed were connected to the newly mandated ULSD. The corrosion was in many cases severe, but sporadic and incon- sistent and there was no obvious "smoking gun," such as a specific supplier, to provide an easy explanation. The corrosion occurred in both liquid and vapor areas and metallic wetted and unwanted areas. Further, similar corrosion could not be traced to refineries or pipelines or tied down to specific geographical regions. When found, the impact was noticed on virtually any metallic component in the fuel dispensing infrastructure from the tank to the nozzle. To pursue the matter further, the Clean Diesel Fuel Alliance commissioned the Columbus, Ohio-based research firm Battelle in conjunction with the underground storage tank testing and compliance services provider Tanknology, based in Austin, Texas, to study the matter. The results of the completed study were presented at the 2012 PEI/NACS show in Las Vegas, Nev., and raised some controversy. In general, the corrosion was tied to microbial action relative to the presence of ethanol in the tanks from cross contamination. As the conclusion states: …the project final hypothesis is that corrosion in systems storing and dispensing ULSD is likely due to the dispersal of acetic acid throughout USTs. It is likely produced by Acetobacter bacteria feeding on low levels of ethanol contamination. Dispersed into the humid vapor space by the higher vapor pressure and by dis- Photos courtesy Steel Tank Institute