the clear choice for clean fuel

Complete diesel decontamination and optimisation technology

Refrigerated haulier giant HFR Transport

reduces carbon emissions, saves fuel

By equipping its fleet of 200 plus horses and as many refrigerated trailers with diesel decontamination tech-nology, HFR Transport will prevent a staggering 1524 tonnes of carbon diox-ide (CO2) emissions from spewing into the environment and in doing so, slash its fuel bill by 4.10 percent. At the same time it will be prolonging the lifecycle of the engines’ fuel injectors and fuel pumps thereby increasing productiv-ity and decreasing downtime. Bertus Brink, general manager at HFR Transport says the company has been concerned about the environment and how badly the ozone layer and subse-quent global warming is being affected by the carbon emissions emitted from diesel engines. “As South Africa’s largest privately owned refrigerated haulier company, we believe we have a responsibility to the environ-ment and need to think seriously about reducing the harmful carbon emissions from our engines. We investigated a tech-nology that claims to decontaminate die-sel and the resultant benefits.”

Brink continues: “Fuel is a very

big expense in our world and even if we save 3% it is worth several hundred thou-sand rand a month. We managed to better that and achieved a fuel saving of between 4% and 7% de-

pending on the engine and the environment it is operating

in.” On the environment issue, Brink is ex-tremely positive: “In line with the new contd. Page 2

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

After analysing the quality of the diesel stored in eight fuel tanks at South Af-rica’s prime leisure re-sort Sun C i t y s h o w e d that more than 90% of the fuel failed to meet specifi-cations and could have led to breakdowns and contd. Page 2

Contaminated diesel de-tected at OR Tambo Air-port Page 4

Life Healthcare Group moves proactively to safeguard hospital gen-sets Page 3

Mozambique horror—pg 3

Gambling with fuel integrity not

an option at Sun City

FIRST QUARTER 2008

Vodacom is im-plementing

Algae-X technology and a fuel maintenance programme—see

next issue

Complete diesel decontamination and optimisation technology

cont from page 1 Carbon Emissions Act we be-lieve in being proactive rather than wait for an official to knock on our door. Now we can show that we have acted in good faith and done something in the right direction. We have certifiably reduced carbon emissions by 127 000kgs a month or 1524 tonnes per year.” These factors prompted HFR transport to take the decision to fit its entire fleet with the decon-tamination technology which, through the reduced fuel bill pays for itself in less than three months making the technology a very compelling Return on In-vestment (ROI). Motorists and truckers will visibly see the steps that HFR Trans-port has taken to reduce carbon emissions because it has agreed to participate in a Carbon Foot-print Reduction Project by plac-ing stickers at the rear of each vehicle proclaiming “This vehicle has been fitted with carbon re-ducing technology.” “We are quite happy to do that. It may prompt other diesel vehicle owners to take similar proactive steps. We should all be doing something about reducing emis-sions and protecting the environ-ment.” Brink says the other advantage of Algae-X is that it can prevent engine failure through blocked fuel injectors or pumps. “Each refrigerated trailer contains per-ishable products. Should the refrigeration generator fail many thousands of rands worth of pro-duce can be lost. It’s better to take preventative action by in-stalling an affordable solution.”

cont from page 1 even replacement of the generators. The fact that contaminated diesel fuel could have disas-trous consequences led Marco Rupp, Resort Engi-neering Manager at Sun City to having the fuel analysed and tested by Wearcheck, an independent testing facil-ity. “We were shocked to learn that the diesel had deterio-rated to a point where it was unsafe to run the generators that power the resort’s facili-ties in the event of a power failure. While we run our generators on test mode for a few hours every week, the fuel had aged over the years and was no longer of a high quality.” Rupp contracted the services of Brilliant Energy Efficiency, the Al-gae-X distributor in Gauteng to carry out the evaluation. “They were very professional in their presentation and the audit reports highlighted that attention to the situation was required urgently. We were fortunate that we managed to detect the prob-lems in time because there is no doubt in our minds that if we had run the generators for any prolonged periods of

time which we are currently ex-periencing through load shed-ding, severe ramifications could have resulted,” Rupp said. Otto Bornman, CEO of Brilliant Energy Efficiency said the work at Sun City involved tank clean-ing using the Algae-X Mobile Tank Cleaning (MTC) system as well as the installation of Al-gae-X fuel maintenance and optimisation technology. “Not so long ago two genera-tors had been replaced, but be-cause they were running on the same contaminated diesel their longevity was not secure. “Unfortunately the diesel fuel in tanks for generators is more prone to deterioration and con-tamination because of the long periods of time that the fuel

stays in the tanks compared to normal fuel tanks.” Bornman said that if Sun City had disposed of the contami-nated fuel which was the only option it had other than the Al-gae-X solution the replacement costs of more than 100 000 litres would have been enor-mous. It would mean disposing of such a huge volume in an environmentally friendly man-ner.

HFR Transport reduces carbon emissions

Fuel integrity not a gamble at Sun City

Complete diesel decontamination and optimisation technology

ALGAE-X NOW AVAILABLE IN MOZAMBIQUE

Horror pictures (left and right) are evidence of desperate

need for fuel decontamination technology in Mozambique

The desperate need for a fuel de-contamination technology to cope with the poor quality diesel in Mo-zambique has prompted Algae-X to appoint a distributor in Maputo to serve the region. Norman Harper, of Algae-X Mozambique says the prob-lem with diesel there is much the same as the rest of Africa - poor quality to start with followed by a total lack of maintenance of storage and transport tanks. “One of the local oil companies con-firmed that they expect to have about half a meter of sludge and contaminates in the bottom of their main supply tanks that supply Southern Mozambique with diesel. That means that every tank of diesel delivered to a filling station from this supplier will be contaminated.

Norman Harper siphons a sample of fuel - note the dirt

I have taken samples from filling stations along the main EN1 highway running North from Maputo that was ex-

tremely contaminated with sand, water and algae, the owner of this filling station runs a transport company and he fills his trucks with diesel from these tanks, the problem is any passing traffic that fills up at this station is using diesel that could seriously damage a diesel engine. Diesel theft is also a major problem in Mozambique; the guys steel the diesel and then top up the tank with water to make the theft less obvious. I think it’s safe to say that at least 80% of generators in Maputo are running on contaminated diesel.

Concerned about the state of the diesel fuel that run the mission critical generators at hospi ta ls and cl in ics throughout the country, the Life Healthcare group has taken the proactive step of ensuring that its power re-mains uninterrupted thanks to a decontamination and fuel maintenance pro-gramme. The group is a key player in the South African healthcare sector. Its primary business

is acute hospital care and com-prises one of the widest geo-graphical spreads of acute care hospitals and same day surgical centres in southern Africa. Life Healthcare operates 62 acute care facilities in seven South Afri-can provinces and Botswana and enjoys the support of approxi-mately 2 700 doctors and special-ists.

Samples of fuel taken from storage tanks at a number of hospitals and clinics in the Gauteng region by Brilliant Energy Efficiency, the Algae-X distributor in the region revealed a degree of con-tamination that could not be left unattended. “Hospitals and clinics are true mission critical environ-ments,” says Otto Bornman, CEO of Brilliant Energy Effi-ciency. “We are experienc-ing the worst power crisis in the country at this time and no organisation that deals with saving lives can afford genset failures.”

Life Healthcare maintains high diesel integrity for its generators

Complete diesel decontamination and optimisation technology

Passengers and crew are totally dependant on lighting and control room facilities . No room for error which is highly possible if a generator fails through fuel decontamination

South Africa takes great pride in its air safety employing the highest calibre air traffic con-trollers and using the most so-phisticated and up-to-date ra-dio and radar technologies. But all this ultra safe equipment can be rendered worthless if, in the case of power failures, the standby generators fail be-cause the diesel fuel in the storage tanks is contaminated jeopardising the lives of pas-sengers and crew at SA’s busi-est airport This is exactly what happened at OR Tambo Aiport and neighbouring facilities – where an inspection of the bulk fuel tanks that feed the radar, trans-mitters and UHF radios proved to be below the accepted SANS specifications. Confirming that the diesel fuel had been sent off for independ-ent analysis was Louis van Rensburg supervisor mainte-nance at Air traffic Navigation Systems of SA. ATNS provides an advanced air traffic man-agement service for users op-erating within the designated

South African airspace and im-plements and maintains a reli-able navigation infrastructure. “Part of our safety requirements is that we have back up standby generators to replace the normal power supply in the event of power failures. Al-though we hardly experience any failures we need to ensure that the diesel supplying the gensets is in good shape. It is quite irresponsible to rely on a single power supply,” he said. A proactive decision was made to inspect the diesel and the service of a diesel specialist company Brilliant Energy Effi-ciency that uses Algae-X diesel decontamination and optimisa-tion technology was employed. The diesel in the bulk storage tanks at OR Tambo Airport was restored to its original integrity as well as the radar sites that feed the airport from Wak-kerstroom and Mokopane (radar) and and Isando (receivers and transmitters). The most contaminated diesel was detected in the 9 000 litre

tanks at OR Tambo Airport which van Rensburg said was most likely because there have been no power failures at that site for the past four or five years. Nevertheless weekly checks are made when the generators are turned on and load tests are carried out both by ATNS and an outside contractor. “Interestingly, the diesel fuel at the other sites of Wak-kerstroom, Isando and Mokopane was significantly cleaner because the tanks there are replenished more regularly as they experience frequent few power failures. Two sets of gensets at these facilities have been deployed effectively making a back up of a back up. Whilst the degree of contami-nation has not yet been deter-mined, samples have been sent off for an independent opinion. Van Rensburg said he wel-comed the technology avail-able through Algae-X because it meant that for the first time the diesel fuel could afforda-bly be decontaminated and restored to its original integ-rity.

Contaminated diesel detected in Oliver Tambo Airport’s generators