Fuel Conditioning

Diesel Defence fuel polishing preserves power for Scottish islanders

A fuel cleaning operation identified thick layers of sludge at the bottom of SSE’s two 1,000,000-litre bulk storage tanks. The contamination threatened the reliability of the entire power station. Arnish provides top-up power for the Isle of Lewis. The island’s 20MW cable supply from the mainland does not meet the peak demand of 27MW. If contaminated fuel caused the power station’s generators to fail, islanders would face brownouts or blackouts. SSE had to take action. “The filters were coming out black” The contamination in Arnish’s fuel stocks was evident without the need for a fuel test. When they were removed, spent filters were black and clogged with solid…

Telecommunications Company

IPU were called in by a leading generator service company to analyse fuel samples at 10 sites. The fuel was tested by an independent UKAS approved laboratory. All the fuel samples failed to meet specification on initial testing. Challenges faced The company’s outdoor storage tanks were vulnerable to water contamination. This had encouraged microbial growth in the fuel (“the diesel bug”) and caused particulate contamination from rusting tanks pipework. This nationwide telecommunications company would face huge consequences if contaminated fuel crippled its emergency generators. It is critical that fuel is kept in a clean, dry condition. Solutions delivered Fuel was tested at 10 sites.…

IPU Fuel Conditioning Case Study - Facilities Management

Protecting back up power for Facilities Management

IPU were called to a critical data centre near Chester after a critical power failure. During a power cut its generators stopped running after just 4 minutes. After investigation the client discovered water in their fuel tanks. Challenges faced A high water table and heavy rainfall meant the fuel tank manhole was full of water. This overwhelmed the sump pump and allowed water to enter the tank via a sheared dip cap. High levels of groundwater were also identified in the tank and diesel was visible in the flooded manhole. This meant the facility posed a serious environmental risk. Solutions delivered Thankfully, IPU’s Fuel Team attended the site and removed 9,000 litres of water and…

Fuel Conditioning Programme protects Kent & Canterbury hospital

An IPU DieselCheck fuel test showed that the hospitals diesel was heavily contaminated. Action was needed as the consequences of a blackout would be catastrophic.

Maintaining clean fuel at Canary Wharf

IPU’s fuel team were called by a facilities management company at Canary Wharf to sample the diesel in their two 70,000 litre bulk tanks. Challenges faced Analysis showed that the fuel was heavily contaminated with water, colloid carbon, ashphaltine deposits and gums, resins and varnish crystals. Such was the level of particulate, it was not possible to assign an ISO cleanliness code because the samples were out of range. Solutions delivered IPU Group and Optimum Power Services (OPS) proposed replacing the legacy fuel polishing system with Diesel Defence DD90. The DD90 will reliably maintain the fuel, be autonomous in operation and could be effective on diesel that included up to 20%…

Ensuring Clean Fuel at Good Hope Hospital

Following an IPU DieselCheck test Good Hope Hospital found that their diesel was heavily contaminated. It contained substances such as colloid carbon (a substance that can clog filters and causes poor combustion). This meant the hospital needed to act quickly as the consequences of a blackout at a hospital would be catastrophic. Challenges faced Good Hope Hospital approached IPU with 7 unique fuel tanks, each in different locations including indoors, outdoors and underground. The test results had shown that all were showing signs of contamination. Solutions delivered IPU’s ClearTank service removed the contamination and restored the fuel to quality standards EN590 and ISO 4406. The…

back of Stafford County Hospital Ambulance

ClearTank fuel tank cleaning service safeguards County Hospital Stafford

Following a routine DieselCheck fuel test by IPU, County Hospital Stafford became aware of a problem lurking in the fuel tanks. The results showed that the stored diesel was heavily contaminated with water and asphaltene (hard, brittle particles that can agglomerate). If left this could have blocked engine filters, damaged fuel injectors or caused total generator failure. The team at County Hospital knew they had to act fast as the consequences of a total blackout would be catastrophic. In hospitals, banks and data centres power is critical. If the mains supply fails they still need a constant source of electricity so they typically install backup generators. As part of this they also need…

Data centre protection against water contamination with Diesel Defence

IPU were called in the investigate issues related to fuel at a site for a critical data storage centre in a secure location.

Diesel Defence prevents failure at vital bank data centre

IPU were contacted after the company’s five data centre sites were experiencing different levels of issues; from filters blocking, to difficulty with backup system start up and even unreliable running of generators. Challenges faced Fuel was highly contaminated with serious water contamination found in one tank and critical levels of particulate contamination in the other 4 tanks. Solutions delivered Tanks were cleaned to immediately remove the heavy particle and water contamination. Diesel Defence units were installed onto all five tanks to continuously maintain and improve the cleanliness of the stored fuel. A regular testing schedule was also recommended by IPU. Please download…

DD28 Fuel Polishing System with Particle Counter for Data Centre

IPU Group were called in to check out the storage tanks supplying diesel to a bank of generator sets maintained by Puma Generator Service Ltd. The generators are supplying vital back up power to the data centre of a leading law firm in the City of London. The Puma engineers were concerned about the quality and cleanliness of the diesel fuel in the storage tanks and the potential for premature engine filter blockage and fuel system wear. Challenges faced High levels of particle contamination were found after thorough testing on fuel tanks. Solutions delivered IPU supplied a Diesel Defence 28 fuel polishing unit with inbuilt particle counter for the fuel tanks. Fuel is now tested on a daily…