But cleaner Diesel doesn’t only mean reduced sulphur content. To get the best performance from your vehicle, fuel quality counts and that’s where the issue of diesel fuel cleanliness comes in.

This is the fifth post in our Cleaner Diesel series, looking at how fuel quality is critical for getting the best performance and productivity from your equipment. So far, we’ve looked at Agriculture, Aviation, Mining, as well as the Ports and Marine transport sectors.  This time, we’re looking at Trucking – the most common mode of transport that Australians use to distribute products around the country.

Since 2009, the maximum limit for sulphur content in diesel fuel is 10ppm. Prior to 2009, trucks and any other diesel engine could use fuel that had a sulphur content of as high as 5000ppm.

While the widespread use of cleaner diesel fuel has contributed significantly to Australia’s reduction in carbon emissions, the change in the fuel standards did present some problems for older vehicles - defined as those manufactured before 1994. Every day, there are fewer and fewer of these old vehicles on the roads as the major road transport operators opt for the most efficient vehicles available in order to reduce their bulk fuel costs.

Final Filtered Diesel^® refers to filtered diesel fuel that has been through a final filtration process before it enters the fuel tank. As fuel is transferred from the refinery to fuel tankers to holding tanks to road tankers and finally, petrol stations, it’s common for agents such as water, algae, bacteria, fungus, dust particles and other microbial organisms to occur.

By filtering diesel, these contaminants that have infiltrated the fuel at various stages of the supply chain, can be removed. The effect of even low level fuel contamination on today’s highly sensitive fuel injection systems includes:

• Clogged intake valves
• Premature wear and tear on engine components
• Reduced air flow
• Reduced engine power and performance

The end result is increased downtime for unscheduled maintenance, along with the additional costs associated with repairing fuel injection hoses, nozzles and seals. Using Final Filtered Diesel^® fuel reduces the risk of this happening.

At Bulk Fuel Australia, our high quality single pass filter units use a fine micron element to remove free water and small particles. To increase the power and maintain the reliability of your truck fleet, contact us today to find out more about Final Filtered Diesel^®, bulk fuel and on-site refuelling. Give us a call on 1300 57 9990.

We have two more post to go in our Cleaner Fuel blog series. Next time, we’re looking at how rail manages to use both electricity and cleaner diesel fuel to achieve the highest energy efficiency rating of all the different transport modes.