Micro-Biological Contamination to A/C Fuel Tanks
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 1998
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
From: hong kong
Micro-Biological Contamination to A/C Fuel Tanks
Anybody got any Gen on what can be done with the fuel after treatment with Kathon or Biobor mix at Shock Treatment level(270 PPM-Biobor) has been completed, Typically the AMM skips over this and just states that fuel tanks are to be drained. I presume that unless you are more reliably advised by the fuelling companies that you could end up with your expensive fuel being dumped by the fuel companies or used for fire practice...
( rather expensive if a full fuel load for B747 / A340 ).???
I have read somewhere ( cannot remember where
-old age kicking in !!) that if the removed fuel is put through a 5 micron filter , it should be okay for use , as the gunge is dead already ...right or not ???
( rather expensive if a full fuel load for B747 / A340 ).???
I have read somewhere ( cannot remember where
-old age kicking in !!) that if the removed fuel is put through a 5 micron filter , it should be okay for use , as the gunge is dead already ...right or not ???
Guest
Posts: n/a
Dear Dr Johnson,
Interesting problem, and not a bad idea to pour it into your ramp vehicles. Personally I would buy a diesel car or use it to heat my house, should I be faced with the problem of having some 100 tons worth of fuel to get rid of. (Hrm 3 tons a year consumption to heat my house, would give me the next 33 years without a heating bill. The mind boggles!!!)
Seriously, after speaking to our fuel company here, there should in theory be no problems of re issue to A/C other than logistics. This as all fuel that is being de-fuelled are filtered at 5 micron, and again when being re issued. Plus all the normal test of density, conductivity, colour etc.
And as long as you have a fair size bowser (30 tons or so) you could empty, filter, filter and re fuel one tank at the time. Still pretty time consuming exercise but better than wasting the fuel.
Point to keep in mind is that the fuel has to be diluted before flight, as the engines do not fare well on such a strong mixture.
That is, should you have filled the A/C full, well then you are back to where you started!
Much better idea is to do a preventative treatment every so often with a weaker mixture. The Manufacturer of Biobor also (how convenient!) makes a special rig that can be connected in series between A/C and bowser during normal fuelling, for injecting/mixing Biobor. And so this procedure of preventative treatment can be carried out on the ramp during a normal turnaround. Problem solved.
The US (Houston based I think) company that manufactures Biobor is Hammonds, and their address you can find on the back of their Biobor cans. (No I don't get a commission!)
Interesting problem, and not a bad idea to pour it into your ramp vehicles. Personally I would buy a diesel car or use it to heat my house, should I be faced with the problem of having some 100 tons worth of fuel to get rid of. (Hrm 3 tons a year consumption to heat my house, would give me the next 33 years without a heating bill. The mind boggles!!!)
Seriously, after speaking to our fuel company here, there should in theory be no problems of re issue to A/C other than logistics. This as all fuel that is being de-fuelled are filtered at 5 micron, and again when being re issued. Plus all the normal test of density, conductivity, colour etc.
And as long as you have a fair size bowser (30 tons or so) you could empty, filter, filter and re fuel one tank at the time. Still pretty time consuming exercise but better than wasting the fuel.
Point to keep in mind is that the fuel has to be diluted before flight, as the engines do not fare well on such a strong mixture.
That is, should you have filled the A/C full, well then you are back to where you started!
Much better idea is to do a preventative treatment every so often with a weaker mixture. The Manufacturer of Biobor also (how convenient!) makes a special rig that can be connected in series between A/C and bowser during normal fuelling, for injecting/mixing Biobor. And so this procedure of preventative treatment can be carried out on the ramp during a normal turnaround. Problem solved.
The US (Houston based I think) company that manufactures Biobor is Hammonds, and their address you can find on the back of their Biobor cans. (No I don't get a commission!)
