Fuel tank cleanliness when using biodiesel

Biodiesel will purge the tanks and remove any build-up of deposit. This can even happen when the tank’s been cleaned, as biodiesel’s cleaning power will remove any residues left. So you should use a filtration system if there isn’t one already.

Before adding any biodiesel to your bulk fuel tanks, you should get them cleaned and checked as most will have some sort of contamination. If you have tank filters, you may not need to make further checks as often. Any contamination will pass through to the filters.

These must be monitored for the first month to ensure the tank is clean. This is similar to the vehicle fuel tanks when all contaminants are cleaned out. The higher blends like B50 – B100 will push through the filter quicker until the tanks are clean.

EN14214 (a standard published by the European Committee for Standariation) that describes the requirements and test methods for FAME) grade biodiesel should be used within six months. Fuel quality and performance can decline if stored for long periods of time.

Fuels can produce some settlement as residues cleaned from the tank will usually go to the bottom. Fitting a drain means this can be easily removed.