Tank-bottom contamination found
A major offshore operator was changing fuel filters every 2 days to 1 week, and two other additive programs had already been tried with only minor effect. Inneron's diagnosis went past the bulk fuel sample and found the real source sitting at the bottom of the tank.
Two previous additives failed to stop filter blocking
The operator's offshore fuel system was blocking filters on a cycle as short as every 2 days, never longer than a week. Two other fuel additives had already been tried, and both gave only a small improvement, not the lasting fix the operation needed.
Inneron's first step was diagnosis, not dosing. A fuel sample was tested for Filter Blocking Tendency (FBT) per ASTM D2068, the industry method for predicting how much a fuel will foul a filter. The bulk fuel came back at an FBT of 2.36, high enough to explain frequent blocking on its own.
Based on that result, Inneron recommended its additive. Lab testing brought the bulk fuel FBT down to 1.35, a clear improvement, enough to move the additive from the lab into a field trial on the real system.
Tank-bottom fuel tested far worse than the bulk sample: FBT 6.08 vs 1.35
A passing bulk fuel sample can hide tank-bottom contamination
Frequent blocking was already a cost problem
Filters changing every 2 days to 1 week meant constant intervention, spend on consumables, and downtime risk before the trial even started.
Two additives had already failed to fix it
The operator had already paid for two other treatments with little effect, so the next one had to be proven, not just promised.
The real contamination was hiding at the tank bottom
A bulk fuel result of FBT 1.35 would have looked like a success on its own, while settled sludge at the tank bottom, FBT 6.08, kept feeding the filters.
Offshore filter changes carry extra risk
Every extra filter change offshore means more manhours, more waste handling, and more risk, nothing like a simple onshore swap.
Inneron targeted tank-bottom contamination, not just bulk fuel
After the encouraging lab result on bulk fuel, Inneron pushed the diagnosis further in the field trial and sampled fuel from the tank bottom, where sludge is most likely to settle. That sample returned an FBT of 6.08, far worse than the bulk fuel result, and a likely explanation for why the two earlier additives hadn't worked.
Treatment continued through the trial period, targeting that tank-bottom contamination directly. FBT at the tank bottom came down to 1.68, and the operational result followed: filter life extended out to 2 months, up from a cycle that had been running as short as every 2 days.
Filter life extended from days to 2 months after treatment
The headline number is filter life going from a matter of days to 2 months. What made it repeatable was testing the tank bottom separately from the bulk fuel, so the treatment addressed where the problem actually was.
See Turbio Longlife →Still swapping filters every few days after trying an additive?
Inneron tests bulk fuel and tank-bottom fuel separately, so the treatment addresses the actual source of contamination, not just what shows up in a routine sample.