Thread: Diesel that doesn't foam up

Interesting

less detergent????????

I had been told that bio diesel foams less than dino diesel.

My experience seems to confirm that. Whenever i fill with cheap diesel from independent outlets, I get very little foaming. I believe that those servos have some bio diesel mixed in with the dino diesel.

Hey there,

I read somewhere that BP have been progressively rolling out their "Ultimate" Diesel across the country for the last couple of years.

This is supposed to contain less sulphur, be less harmful to DPF systems and better for the modern diesels. A whole bunch of stuff if you go for all their blurb. One of it's characteristics is also that it foams less when dispensed.

It's all there to read on their website somewhere if you can be bothered.

Don't know if this is the case for your servo but it could explain the lower foam during your top up.

Cheers,
Iain

My experience is that diesel varies in foaminess from batch to batch (even from the same bowser) for no apparent reason, probably dependent on where the base crude came from. The specification of diesel is continually getting tighter, but the amount of foaming is not part of the specification, as far as I know, and components that change this but do not affect the factors that are part of the specification are likely to be ignored by the refiners. And some changes in foaming are likely to be the result of refining changes made to meet the specifications for diesel.

To indicate just how wide the scope is for different composition, consider that both dinodiesel and biodiesel can meet the same specifications, despite having completely different chemical composition - biodiesel is composed mainly of long chain esters, while conventional diesel is primarily hydrocarbons, two completely different chemical compounds.

John

After reading some of the threads on dino diesel I decided to try the BP ultimate yesterday. Definitely less foaming compared to Caltex. Will be interested to see how the fuel consumption goes. I know biodiesel blend uses about 5% more than dino diesel.

I have been told there is winter diesel and summer diesel when I complained about the problem I had pumping fuel from my bulk tank. The filter blocked with wax from summer fuel used in winter. May have something to do with foaming too.

Originally Posted by 123rover50

I have been told there is winter diesel and summer diesel when I complained about the problem I had pumping fuel from my bulk tank. The filter blocked with wax from summer fuel used in winter. May have something to do with foaming too.

I don't think the amount of wax as such is related to foaming, but is a good example of the differences in composition.

John