RAFIBRA

Fuel tank cleaning and maintenance service

The cleaning and maintenance of fuel tanks is a basic procedure to extend their use life and as a preventive measure to prevent accidents in oil installations.

At Rafibra, we are specialists in the cleaning, repair and reconversion of tanks, with more than 30 years of experience in the sector.

Fuel tank maintenance service

The cleaning and maintenance of fuel tanks is an urgent task because ceasefires don’t exist in nature.

Factors such as changes in humidity, temperature and even the internal pressures of the tank can speed up these processes, causing the accumulation of water, the formation of inert substances and new microbial fauna.

The fuel’s natural microscopic impurities also accumulate, which are inevitable in any refining process and will slowly damage the tank due to the differences in densities of its components.

Why perform a fuel maintenance and cleaning service?

Problems due to the lack of maintenance of industrial diesel tanks

  1. Cracks occur in the tank’s material
    The corrosion of the tank’s material is one of the first problems that arises. The lack of maintenance of a diesel tank causes the reproduction of iron-reducing bacteria, since the bacteria feeds off the steel, transforming the ferrite into rust. This situation reduces the use life of the tank, leading to high investments being required within a shorter time period than initially planned.
  2. The proliferation of bacteria in the system occurs
    The reproduction of bacteria, yeast and microscopic fungus is very high nowadays, since European legislation requires diesel to contain less sulphur and more biodiesel. This, although favourable for the environment, is unfavourable for the use life of diesel tanks when they are not rigorously maintained. Lower quantities of sulphur in diesel reduces the mechanical protection of the diesel and higher quantities of biodiesel increases condensation. In other words, the proliferation of a humid environment, which favours the reproduction of bacteria.

If diesel tanks are not suitably maintained, this bacteria will cause the collapse of the filters and the bacteria will spread throughout the environment. They will be present in the filling of the tanks, in the cracks and in the polyurethane lining; as well as in the rest of the system that will be powered by the contaminated diesel.

  1. A lower calorific performance of the fuel occurs
    The presence of bacteria in industrial diesel tanks manifests itself in the form of a film, surface foam, sludge, suspended particles and silt. The presence of this bacteria causes an increase in fuel consumption and is directly responsible for the infection of systems they drive.  This low performance is easily captured by end diesel users, who will soon express their dissatisfaction, both for the low performance of this fuel and because of the increase in extra maintenance costs that will inevitably be caused.
  2. There is a risk of sanctions and other liabilities established by law
    The management of diesel tanks involves complying with a set of rules and requirements when it comes to their construction, installation and maintenance required in order to avoid legally-established sanctions. Active tanks must undergo regular cleaning and maintenance as a passive and active protection system of the installations against corrosion. Inactive tanks must also undergo periodic maintenance in order to prevent fire risks. Failing to comply with the law in this regard produces victims which, as well as causing regret which is difficult to placate, also leads to a poor reputation for the company and costly sanctions to be paid which may cause the closure of any business.

Reasons fuel tanks need to be cleaned

Hydrocarbons are substances that tend towards degradation due to their organic origin. Although this process is slow and doesn’t close its complete cycle due to the energy transformation process, they accumulate large volumes of waste. For this reason, regular cleaning of fuel tanks is vital.

Otherwise, the moment could come where this dirt could harm the engines that it powers, thereby turning a problem which is easy to solve into a problem that would lead to financial losses for the company.

The cleaning and repair of fuel tanks is an essential procedure to extend the use life of your tank and as a preventive measure to prevent accidents in oil installations.

Advantages of cleaning the fuel tank

An appropriate servicing/cleaning of fuel storage tanks guarantees that this waste does not alter its optimum working.

Carrying out servicing on time can guarantee an increased use life of the tank to determine whether it requires cleaning, repair or has to be removed from service because it’s too late.

Remember only to service industrial diesel/petrol tanks with authorised companies like RAFIBRA S.L., to ensure the cleaning maintenance is effective and legally valid.