Take a look inside our lab at of some of our test equipment and our Cold Room. A brief description follows each photo. If you have any questions or would like to arrange a personal tour please contact us.
MAIN LAB WORK AREA
The main lab area is used to organize the required testing procedures on fuel samples coming into the lab. Every samples is assigned a “lab control number” to protect the privacy of the sample source.
Viscosity Test is used to determine the thickness of a fuel which affects the atomization of the fuel when injected into an engine cylinder.
Microbiological Growth (fungus & bacteria) testing is used in a proprietary method to determine if active colony contamination is growing in the fuel during storage (growth will cause fuel injection problems).
Distillation - unit is used to distill fuels Initial Boiling Point (IBP) through the End diesel fuel. Boiling Point (EBP). Also calculates the 4 Variable Cetane Index for diesel fuels.
Sulfur Testing - this machine is utilized to determine to distill fuels to determine the sulfur content in heavy distillates in a diesel fuel. Current ASTM regulations allow for a maximum of 15ppm of sulfur in diesel fuel used in on road/highway applications.
Viscosity Test is used to determine the thickness of a fuel which affects the atomization of the fuel when injected into an engine cylinder.
Reid Vapor Test (on right) is used to determine the vapor pressure of gasoline.
Karl Fisher Water Testing (on left) is used to determine the amount of moisture present in liquid fuels. Moisture is a fuel contaminant and will absorb (carry) all other contaminants in the fuel delivery system.
Cold flow preparation area is used to organize diesel fuels prior to testing for Winter Operability conditions of diesel fuels.
The automatic Cold Filter Plug Point (CFPP) Machine is used to help determine the temperature at which a fuel filter will plug when the fuel temperature drops below the fuel cloud point. Measured in Celsius and converted to Fahrenheit for convenience.
Cloud Point - the temperature at which a fuel becomes so cloudy/opaque that a projected point of light can no longer measurably pass through a sample of fuel.
Pour Point - temperature gelling point at which a fuel will no longer pour as it has effectively solidified.
Photo Spectrometer is used in a proprietary method to determine the amount of Detergent Additive in a diesel fuel or fuel additive.
(for Gasoline and Diesel Fuel) (for Bio-diesel blends)
Gas Chromatograph provides a “finger print” of liquid gasoline, diesel, and bio-diesel fuels for determining cross contaminations, bio content, and potentially some Fuel Additive Component review analysis.
The HFRR Machine is used to determine the Lubrication Value of a diesel fuel or other liquid fuel and prove the value of adding lubricity additives to distillate fuels.
UNIQUE 'REAL WORLD' COLD ROOM TESTING
10’ x 10’ Cold Room Testing Unit (-40F Capability) 1 of 2 Cold Room racks with 6 sample capacity
The in-house Fuel Filter Cart is equipped with three different micron sizes of OEM diesel fuel filters (10um, 7um & 2/5um) and six individual OEM electric diesel fuel pumps. Diesel fuel is pumped from individual diesel fuel containers and flowed through the fuel filters at normal operating pressures. Any fuel filter plugging is noted on the pressure gauges located on the inlet side of each fuel filter. Fuel flow loss is also measured and recorded for each test sequence (four separate single pass tests through the selected fuel filter are conducted on each test fuel) for an accurate determination of real world Fuel Operability.
The in-house Cold Room is used to lower the temperature of diesel fuels on the fuel filter cart over a 24-hour period of time so fuel can be pumped (one pass basis only) through various sizes of fuel filters and checks made on the inlet side of the fuel filter for pressure buildup. This simulates fuel filter plugging in “real world” equipment operating conditions.
If you have any questions or would like to arrange a personal tour please contact us.