As I understand it the lube to diesel fuel is added at the tank farm when the fuel is being loaded in to the tanker for delivery. The reason being that other types of important fuel are sent through the pipeline like Jet fuel and the lube for diesel fuel can interfere with it and the other fuels if it was added at the refinery and sent to the tank farms through the pipeline.

One other thing is that screw ups happen at the tank farm that affect our fuel like to much gas an diesel fuel getting mixed with each other or even kerosene or Jet fuel being mixed in to gas and diesel fuel. Small amounts get mixed from time to time but in some cased more gets mixed then usual and very seldom will they shut down the pipe line so they can send it back to the refinery to get it taken care of.

IIRC Flint Hills: http://www.premiumdiesel.com/ has some of the best diesel fuel made, its call Gold Diesel and Gold Diesel Plus. They even have a location finder showing what fuel stops between MN and TX carry their diesel fuel and what state thay are in.

 

That might all depend on the tank farm and how everything is plumbed. Most of the places I've seen (like the big refineries in Houston) have seperate piping for each type of fuel.

Lube isn't added to diesel normally (except in the case of ULSD). Sulfur isnaturally present in diesel fuel. As far as I know, ULSD is the only one that has any sort of sulfur replacement chemicals added and if you believe everything you read on the internet (no pun intended here) it seems even that may not be the case.

Of course, there are aftermarket additives that you can buy made specifically for diesel fuel that increases lubricity, etc and like any other aftermarket additive, you will see many testimonials touting the benefits and just as many stating they aren't necessary or can/will ruin your engine. I dunno. I've tried various additives over the years in my gas engines and frankly, never saw any benefit to any of them. The onlyadditive I've ever usedthat did work (and was necessary) was octane booster. I had a '73 Z-28 with 12.5:1 compression in the worked 350 cu in engine and it would not run on straight pump gas without knocking and pinging like a ****. That engine later gota blower added, and the compression dropped to 7:1 (necessary when using a blower) and the octane booster was no longer needed.

 

I read that as well. As a matter of fact, i think I read it in a TDR magazine and THAT'S what started me thinking that I need to add something to my fuel. As I read it ( if I remember right ) the "lube" is added as it goes into the tanker that takes it to the fuel stations and it wasn't really watched too closely.

I dunno .... all I know is that once I started adding 2 stroke at a rate of 1oz per gallon, my engine sure got a heck of a lot quieter and seemed "happier"

 

It is a violation of federal law totransport aviation fuel in any tank or pipe that has had any other type of fuel in it.

 

As far as mileage goes I have a buddy that has an 02 and he tracks his mileage religiously and he noticed that when he was using ULSD he lost a little over 2 mpg. He took off his timing box and the mileage went back up to where it was with the LSD. He tried putting the box back on and he lost the mileage and whenever he took it off it went back up. He has had the truck for quite a while and babies it, so being harder on it with the box on is not the issue. With the LSD he got an increase with the box on. I am a mechanical not chemical engineer so I don't really know the difference between LSD and ULSD, but to me it almost sounds like maybe the LSD burns a little slower so more timing is better. If the ULSD burns a little faster than a little added timing might actually cause a slight loss in power. Anyone have any thoughts?

 

My brother owns a trucking company running Kenworth T600's with Catepillar engines and he told me that ULSD has cut MPG of his fleet from 6.6 down to 6.1

Part of the problem is BTU per gallon
and the other part of ths engine efficiency problem
is that injection timing is now a little off with ULSD.

Diesels don't have sparkplugs but they do have to have injection timing set so that peak pressures are about 10-15 degrees past top dead center.

At least some of the ULSD blends have different flame speeds compared to the older diesel blends....some faster and some slower which makes re-calibrating the engine difficult if you are trucking from coast to coast.

Flying J has put out some notices claiming they are trying to get their fuel suppliers to deliver a consistent flame speed ULSD across the country so that truckers can re-time injection and get part of the MPG loss back.

The newest light duty diesels have their injection timing retarded to reduce NOx pollution, along with the cats, throttles, particulate filters, etc.
This is another reason why a 1998 12V Cummins has noticeably better MPG than the newest 5.9 and 6.7 models......and why aftermarket 'bomb' chips can show such gains without smoke.

 

VERY interresting !!

This is the first time that I've heard about this. What has he noticed once the winter mix sets in ( ULSD Winter Mix ) ?

 

Well we areboth from MN and in the winter if it is going to get cold you mix in some number 1 which drops the mileage even further. As far as the different mixes I don't know if they change the number 2 as they offer number 1 or an "arctic" diesel which has some additives in it which are supposed to give you the power and mileage of summer diesel, but the cold weather properties of the number 1. The arctic seems to get pretty close to the same mileage and I have never had it gel, but then again if I knew it was going to be 30 below or anything I would still put in number 1. Sorry I don't have a great answer for you.

 

I have also read that ULSD is more prone to bacterial growth due to the lower sulfur content.

 

The 3 major sources of ultra low sulfur for refining into diesel are:

Nigerian Delta oil wells
West Texas Oil wells
synthetic diesel made from natural gas (dimethyl ether and similar)

When you hear news stories about civil war in Nigeria
or a hurricane/massive rains hitting Texas
or one of the USA's major natural gas pipelines going down,
expect ULSD to shoot up in price at your local stations.

If the 'Green Party' in Germany/France/Euro nations convinces the governments there to lower their European standard Low Sulfur diesel levels down to ULSD levels you can also expect ULSD to shoot up in price and get even less BTU per gallon.

Did you know that when sulfur particles drift up into the higher reaches of the atmosphere they combat global warming?

ULSD will actually increase global warming,
both by reducing sulfur particles in the air
and also by causing all diesel engines burning it to emit more carbon dioxide as its MPG gets worse.
{ULSD is all about reducing NOx gases}

Pray for a big volcano eruption somewhere to put a lot of sulfur in the air.
Pray for peace in Nigeria and better weather in Texas.
Pray that American construction companies like Bechtel will quickly finish the huge natural gas to ULSD plants being built in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia where they have excess natural gas they usually 'flare' off.