Well today I went to the station to get a couple cans of diesel fuel for the tractor, I use off road because its 60 cents a gallon cheaper, than over the road, but at still 3.89 same price and reg gas. Anyway when I got there , there was a pumper truck emptying the tank. I asked what he was doing and he said the fuel had been contaminated. Like with radioactive waste or what? He said he didn't know but that he was to empty the tank and haul it back to the depot. I asked what are they going to do with it? He said dispose of it. Now Im thinking to my self how do you dispose of diesel fuel? If it was water run it through water filters, if it was gasoline, run it through they system again and drive off the gas vapors, or just mix it what home heating fuel.... So what do they do with contaminated diesel fuel????
What do they do with it?
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Lil Foot
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
1979 B7100DT Gear, Nissan Hanix N150-2 Excavator
I'd be interested to hear that myself…..
Years ago, when I was captain of a fire department, we were certified once a year at either the city of Phoenix Fire Academy or at the Luke Air Force Base facility. The city of Phoenix took all their contaminated gasoline, diesel, solvents, etc. gave it to the Academy, who pumped them into an old car hulk, (under varying pressure) lit it, & used it for training purposes. Luke did the same with their contaminated JP4, gasoline, solvents, etc., except they pumped it into a large, full size steel aircraft mockup. I understand that is no longer ecologically sound practice, so I have no idea what they do with the contaminated fuel, or how they train for such scenarios.
Years ago, when I was captain of a fire department, we were certified once a year at either the city of Phoenix Fire Academy or at the Luke Air Force Base facility. The city of Phoenix took all their contaminated gasoline, diesel, solvents, etc. gave it to the Academy, who pumped them into an old car hulk, (under varying pressure) lit it, & used it for training purposes. Luke did the same with their contaminated JP4, gasoline, solvents, etc., except they pumped it into a large, full size steel aircraft mockup. I understand that is no longer ecologically sound practice, so I have no idea what they do with the contaminated fuel, or how they train for such scenarios.
TripleR
Active member
Equipment
BX2200, BX2660, L5740 HSTC, M8540HDC and some other tractors and equipment
Several years ago an employee of a local bulk storage delivery system diverted some gasoline into the diesel tanks to hide the fact he was taking payoffs and changing the books diverting the money to his own use. Hundreds of thousands of gallons was contaminated. My father in law owned a bulk distributorship and contracted to sell the contaminated fuel to places of business who could use it in their burners, one was a cat litter processing plant that used it to dry clay.
Russell King
Well-known member
Equipment
L185F, Modern Ag Competitor 4’ shredder, Rhino tiller, rear dirt scoop
A while ago I purchased a small property and the former owner had left containers of unknown "stuff" on the property.
I took it to a commercial hazardous waste disposal place. They took all kinds of stuff (if you paid them to take it) and identified if it burned or not.
For the most part, if it burned they sold it off to other people that then mixed it with waste oils and fuels and sold it for commercial plants that needed heat generated for their products (as stated by others).
I took it to a commercial hazardous waste disposal place. They took all kinds of stuff (if you paid them to take it) and identified if it burned or not.
For the most part, if it burned they sold it off to other people that then mixed it with waste oils and fuels and sold it for commercial plants that needed heat generated for their products (as stated by others).
In my area cement kilns will accept almost any liquid fuel that will burn. Not up on current law but a few years ago kilns were a recognized method to properly dispose hazardous materials because of the high temps they operate with.
More practically, if there is a refinery in the area (not all areas, some places only have fuel distribution depots) they'll take back contaminated fuels and use it as mix with their incoming raw material and re-refine it.
A lot depends on what the exact composition of the 'bad' fuel is. Most if not all refineries have a 'slop oil' storage tank into which they run all their off-spec output.
A little wet- or gasoline-contaminated diesel would be a bonus for them and routine in its handling.
And I don't know of a refinery that will take true 'hazardous material', primarily because of the potential to ruin their catalysts (ungodly expensive in so many ways) and perceived liability problems with the public.
Believe it or not, refineries are finely tuned instruments somewhat sensitive to raw material upsets. No one plant will run everything, and not everything will work through any one plant. Getting the 'right' crude oil input mixture is a constant balancing act.
More practically, if there is a refinery in the area (not all areas, some places only have fuel distribution depots) they'll take back contaminated fuels and use it as mix with their incoming raw material and re-refine it.
A lot depends on what the exact composition of the 'bad' fuel is. Most if not all refineries have a 'slop oil' storage tank into which they run all their off-spec output.
A little wet- or gasoline-contaminated diesel would be a bonus for them and routine in its handling.
And I don't know of a refinery that will take true 'hazardous material', primarily because of the potential to ruin their catalysts (ungodly expensive in so many ways) and perceived liability problems with the public.
Believe it or not, refineries are finely tuned instruments somewhat sensitive to raw material upsets. No one plant will run everything, and not everything will work through any one plant. Getting the 'right' crude oil input mixture is a constant balancing act.
One possibility: Use it a blacktop plant. They use a large rotating drum with a monster flame, to dry the aggregate before it is mixed with hot asphalt. You usually can spot them by the smoke plume they produce. EPA is pestering them to clean up.
I know refineries typically reprocess off spec product if they catch it before it leaves the plant. Once it's offsite, the only way they can get rid of it is to downgrade it to something else. I doubt a refinery would take it back to reprocess, but there is a term called Slop Oil in a refinery where it's the waste from several different units. The slop is mixed with crude for reprocessing.