Water has long been the enemy of fuel. What many commercial and retail fuel site operators don’t realize, though, is that with the introduction of fuels with increased ethanol content, water intrusion has become an even more vexing quality control issue.
This is because ethanol-blended fuels are vulnerable to phase separation, a condition when the ethanol becomes oversaturated and can no longer be suspended in the fuel. Phase separation causes distinct layers of inventory to develop in the tank, with a water layer and a alcohol-and-water layer nearest the submersible pump’s intake tube. If this contaminated fuel is dispensed into a vehicle, it causes significant – and costly – engine damage.
Earliest Detection
Very little water is needed to ruin inventory. In a tank with 10,000 gallons of E10, phase separation can occur when just 40 gallons of water enters the tank – that is a concentration of less than 1%. OPW’s Aqueous Ethanol Float Sensor provides the earliest detection of in-tank phase separation, enabling operators to address phase separation before contaminated fuel is distributed and fuel inventory is beyond correction.
Reducing False Alarms
In addition, the Aqueous Ethanol Float Sensor’s real-time density readings are net-corrected for thermal changes within the tank. This feature prevents false phase separation alarms, a common headache that operators experience with competitor devices during fuel drops.
“OPW’s AEF Sensor compensates for temperature swings that occur during deliveries. This is something that no other phase separation detection device can do,” said FMS Global Product Manager Pete Neil.
OPW’s AEF: See The OPW Difference in Action
Watch the video at
www.opwglobal.com/aef to learn how OPW’s Aqueous Ethanol Float Sensor outperforms competing water-detection solutions.