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Fuel additives are used in diesel fuel for various reasons. For example, poor lubricity of some low sulfur and ultra low sulfur fuels necessitate the addition of lubricity additives to maintain acceptable protection of fuel system components. However, with today's high pressure fuel systems and lubricant oil recycling practices, some lubricant mixing with the fuel is unavoidable. As a result, an increase in fuel filter plugging was reported when lubricant components are present in the fuel. This paper shows filter plugging resulted from the interaction of basic lubricant additives with acidic fuel additives. Attempts to reduce the plugging by supplemental fuel additives were technically successful, but not economically feasible. The linkage between filter plugging and additive interactions is demonstrated in this paper. Part II of this series will explore the mechanisms of the additive interactions, and other causes for filter plugging.

Sulfur containing species as well as other polar molecules provide lubricity and thermal stability to diesel fuels. During the refining process to produce low and ultra-low sulfur diesel fuels, these components are removed. As a result, fuel additives such as lubricity agents and antioxidant may be added to protect fuel stability and prevent fuel pump wear. Some lubricity additives, such as dimer acids, resulted in fuel filter plugging. The plugging mechanism was related to the capability of aliphatic acids to form agglomeration by interactions with the overbased detergents, delivered into the fuel as oil contaminants. Other sources of acids, derived from thermal degradation, can lead to the same problem. In this study, individual lubricant additives were mixed in the fuel to form single- and dual-component systems. Levels of compatibility and amounts of interaction products were evaluated for individual solutions.

Nine identical 40-ft. transit buses were operated on B20 and diesel for a period of two years - five of the buses operated exclusively on B20 (20% biodiesel blend) and the other four on petroleum diesel. The buses were model year 2000 Orion V equipped with Cummins ISM engines, and all operated on the same bus route. Each bus accumulated about 100,000 miles over the course of the study. B20 buses were compared to the petroleum diesel buses in terms of fuel economy, vehicle maintenance cost, road calls, and emissions. There was no difference between the on-road average fuel economy of the two groups (4.41 mpg) based on the in-use data, however laboratory testing revealed a nearly 2% reduction in fuel economy for the B20 vehicles. Engine and fuel system related maintenance costs were nearly identical for the two groups until the final month of the study.