SurePure Breaks Ground in Contaminated Marine Diesel Purification

SurePure, Inc., a specialist in liquid photopurification, announced a breakthrough in the microbiological purification of contaminated marine diesel fuel, using SurePure’s technology as an alternative to biocide addition or excessive micro-filtration.

The contamination of diesel fuel is a significant problem for the maritime shipping industry, leading to extensive waste of fuel and environmental contamination.

The industry is seeking to improve conventional means by which it cleans fuel where micro-organisms have proliferated. SurePure, in conjunction with a South African oil industry consultant Lemon Tree Holdings, applied its proprietary Turbulator technology in a test conducted in April at Stellenbosch, South Africa.

In the test, a simple initial centrifuge first separated the slurry formed as by-product of microbial growth in the marine diesel fuel on the diesel/water interface and split the bio-film “micro-web” that had formed inside the fuel.

Then, the fuel was processed through SurePure’s patented Turbulator technology to kill the micro-organisms in the fuel. The results of the test showed a total log reduction of 3.40 (log reduction is the accepted measurement for purification) achieved from a starting Total Viable Count (TVC) before centrifuge at some 24,800 colony forming units per millilitre (commonly referred to as cfu/ml) and finishing TVC after treatment by SurePure’s Turbulator technology at only 10 cfu/ml.

With an analysed industry average of “refinery fresh” diesel generally being measured at 480 cfu/ml, the SurePure process results are indicative of the potential to clean marine diesel fuel even if severely compromised by micro-organism infestation.

Full color restoration to the normal yellow diesel colour from a black contaminated diesel tone was also observed in the test. Simple burnability and in-use in engine testing evidenced no deficiency in the rejuvenated diesel samples.

Guy Kebble, CEO for SurePure said, “These early test data are extremely promising for the marine diesel industry in particular, but possibly for all fuel diesel in time to come. Not only could the immediate environmental benefit from a significantly reduced amount of contaminated diesel fuels to be dumped or aimlessly burnt, but the recovery of severely contaminated marine diesel may be able to deliver considerable savings to the industry and increased profits to processors.

“Indeed, it may be possible in the future that small SurePure installations on-board ship could help eradicate microbial contamination of marine diesel at the source, with commensurate savings in tank cleaning, and fuel loss. Cleaner fuels may also ensure better fuel economy and engine efficiency and even the extension of the life of engine components. This is only the beginning of our exploration of the potential benefits of SurePure’s Turbulator technology in the diesel industry but we believe that, together with the right petrochemical partners, we may be able to extract significant value from this application.”

[mappress]
Press Release, April 24, 2014