Today’s LA Times has an article about a new lubricant that has been added to diesel fuel, beginning today. The article mentions “truckers and other users” but there is no specific mention of railroads.
This new additive is intended to solve a ‘lubricity’ problem in diesel fuel; the new requirement came from ASTM International.
One concern about this new additive is that it leaves a residue in pipelines, referrred to as ‘trail back’. This residue could contaminate other fuels, such as jet fuel, that travel through the pipelines (I did not realize different commodities flowed through these lines).
Because of the residue problem, terminals would be required to add the new ingredient at the fuel terminals, instead of running the new fuel through the pipelines. The upshot is that the requirement by some states that diesl include this additive could result in spot shortages of fuel.
In the absence of any really decent magazines-Trains,MR,Classic Trains, etc.- I was looking at my stepson’s car and driver, and an editorial on automobile fuels. One point noted was that fuel pipelines contain some water, from where I am not sure. Most petroleum products just float on the water, but ethanol will absorb or mix with the water. (Whiskey and water anyone?) Consequently ethanol is shipped to petroleum terminals for blending prior to delivery to the pump.
And so it may go with the diesal additive.
The same article noted that there are more than 50 different gasoline blend requirements meeting various state environmental protection agency requirments. And yes, many of these blends may be shipped through a given pipeline.
Maybe there is a rail/pipeline fan among our membership who can tells us how that works.
IIRC, product is moved thru the pipeline, then a slug of something else (kero?) is inserted, along with a bit of radioactivity. Then the next product is inserted. When the receiving station gets the radioactive kero, it knows to send the next product to the appropriate tank.
Bear in mind that the product is likely moving in huge quantities, so any product crossing will have minimal effect.
Water can be used as the ‘slug’ between products. There is also the possibility of condensation in the line when the product at surface temperature of say +100F drops into an underground pipeline at +52F.
Ethanol is commonly mixed into gasoline in the delivery tanker. The customer specifies the blend and the delivery driver will put X gallons of gas into the tanker hole and then top it off with Y gallons of alcohol to spec. The gasoline gets to the tank farm by pipeline and the ethanol comes via truck or tank car.
I would suspect the lubricant could be blended at the point of delivery or fueling facility without difficulty.
I thought that I read somewhere fairly recently that President Bush signed legislation to reduce the sulphur content of diesel fuel, to reduce particulate matter and pollution issues with Diesels. Dave Williams http//groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
That’s what the article cited…there is a requirement for ultra-low sulphur content diesel fuel as of June 2005. Because the fuel could not be sent through the pipelines, each state had to determine what the fuel terminals would need to do (the states needed to set new deadlines for compliance). No mention of dedicated trains of tank cars – don’t think that will happen. Califronia moved its date to May 31, 2005, but the ConocoPhillips terminal in Colton went ahead and updated its terminal already to dispense the new fuel mixture.
Ohhhhhh, this is low sulfur diesel your talkin about. Still dont have that around here but will be glad when i do. So then i can have not only a highly efficient truck, but the satisfaction of knowin im cleaner than those hybrid but still gasser cars. hehehe