KenJennings wrote:
railguy wrote:
... fuel stations (along with the environmental agencies) take a dim view of spilled fuel. Diesel fuel is especially bad because it does not readily evaporate like gasoline and tends to soak into the ground. ...
I heard diesel is biodegradable. One of the problems with long term storage of diesel is all kinds of stuff will start growing in it. There's a thread around here with a picture of horribly degraded fuel that appears to be chock full of algae.
Now, gasoline spills that soak into the ground (or leaking underground fuel tanks) are a big problem. There's all kinds of nasty chemicals in gasoline.
You are almost half right!!!
What causes the things to grow in diesel fuel is pariffin, it also causes the fuel to jell in the winter.
When you use #1 diesel you can store for years in colder climates like the US did durring WWII, but even #1 D has enough pariffin in it to have some growth if conditions are right.
The new ULSD has VERY LITTLE paraffin, about like #1 diesel and was the cause of the big worry about being hard on fuel pumps & injectors if they didn't add some type of lubrication additive, such as a small amount of bio-diesel or some other type of lube additive.