Life and near-death for oilman in round - Downstream Magazine

Sulphur-free gas oil
Are your customers ready for spec change?
The fuel changes will affect all sorts of non-road machinery from farm through forestry, construction and gensets to water craft
THERE HAS BEEN PLENTY of publicity in the industry about the
change to nominally sulphur-free gas oil (SFGO) for non road
mobile machinery (NRMM) from 1 January 2011, but are your
customers prepared?
NRMM includes tractors and other agricultural equipment,
forestry equipment, construction equipment, forklifts, portable
generators, inland waterway vessels, recreational craft –
Speed, service and
environmental integrity
0800 592827
24hr Emergency Response
www.adlerandallan.co.uk
� Oil spill response, site audits, drain, forecourt
& separator services
� Tank supply, installation, cleaning, repairs,
testing and removal
� Fuel deliveries, polishing, installation services,
uplifts & transfers, waste disposal and
tankering
anything that isn’t bolted down. Railway vehicles are also
covered, but with a delayed implementation date of 1 January
2012.
Refiners and importers have been busy taking their gas oil
tanks out of service to prepare them for the new specification
and most will have SFGO available by early December. But
what about customers’ tanks?
Whilst it will still be legal to use the old specification fuel after
1 January 2011, the new fuel may be essential to the operation
of some newer pieces of equipment, such as tractor engines
meeting the latest European emissions standards. It is a big
drop from 1000ppm to 10ppm and few, if any, end users will
be cleaning out their tanks. That means there will still be a
volume of 1000ppm gas oil in their tanks when they top up
with the new fuel.
THREE REFILLS TO REACH THE REQUIRED SPECIFICATION
For example, take a 5,000 litre tank. If there is 1,000 litres of
the old specification gas oil in it when it’s topped up with the
new spec, the resultant mixture will be about 208ppm sulphur
– way above the 10ppm limit (although there is a +10ppm
tolerance to allow for contamination in the distribution
system, ie a top limit of 20ppm). A further fill with SFGO will
bring the level down to around 50ppm. Only at the third fill
will the tank contents meet the SFGO specification.
A further issue that may lead to comeback from customers is
the change in colour and smell of the new product. It may
make them think there’s something wrong with it – because it
looks more like diesel. This is also bringing problems for drivers
with line changes as it is more difficult to see the colour
change between the gas oil and derv in the sight glass.
MORE INFORMATION
More information on the changeover can be found under the
Information tab on the FPS website, www.fpsonline.co.uk
where there is advice from the Department for Transport and
also information on how users of gas oil for heating will be
affected.
Downstream Winter 2010 10 www.downstreammagazine.co.uk