Diesel bug is a term used for
microbial and bacterial organisms that grow on fuels. They live and feed at the interface
between water and diesel, creating biomass, biofilms and damaging by-products. They can reproduce quickly and cause
serious problems in fuel systems. Diesel bug is more likely to occur in
fuels that contain biodiesel, which is hygroscopic and attracts water.
The
diesel bug occurs when the bio content of the fuel attaches itself to water
droplets that may be floating around in a fuel storage tank, this is called
hyper-suspension. Water content within a
tank occurs naturally over time due to condensation caused by temperature
changes. Other factors that may
speed up this unfortunate issue vary from damage to the tank or container that
is used to store said fuel, missing caps allowing rainwater to seep in to where
the fuel is located.
The diesel bug will closely resemble a slime, the colour itself may vary depending on the type or types of microorganism making the slime its home but it is often dark brown or black in colour. It will sit between the water and fuel layers of the tank when present and may give of a rather unpleasant smell, somewhat akin to rotten eggs.
While it’s important to make sure you have clean fuel in your tank, we know it's not always so easy looking in your tank to check so here are a few other ways in which you might notice some early warning signs so that you can act in time.
As the old saying goes “Prevention is better than cure” and with diesel bug that is no different, now there are a few ways to approach this.
That’s easy! Just contact our team via phone or email for more information on fuel, whether it's about fuel standards, quality, alternate fuels or additives that help you increase your fuel economy. Our team has the answers and are more than happy to help. If you want to read more information though we also have a blog post about Exocet's Gas Oil conditioner which you can read about here.
