Cleaning out my EMail:
Thank you for taking an interest in Energy BioSystems. Your question about lubricity in diesel fuels is an interesting one, and we have some data that can answer your question to some degree.
First, we have not as yet done any extensive product testing, such as engine tests, on treated fuels from our BDS pilot plants. We have, however, submitted small samples for all of the standard product quality tests that are required in the industry. We generally pass all of these tests.
One interesting discovery has been made, and it does relate to lubricity. For your reference, as the degree of hydrotreating increases, problems with lubricity also tend to increase. With future fuel specs. for sulfur in the range of 50 ppm, lubricity problems are anticipated. Tests of the product fuels from biodesulfurization do not show any degradation of the lubricity of the fuels. In fact, there is preliminary evidence that there may be enhanced lubricity. Another interesting discovery is that it appears that the oxidative stability of the fuel may also increase. All of these results are based upon hydrotreated diesel fuel. I can't comment on comparisons to non-hydrotreated diesel.
I hope that this answers your question.
Regards,
Philip M. DiGrazia, Ph.D.
Director, Customer Technical Service
FWIW, lubricity problems are already showing up as heretofore unseen wear patterns in injection pumps, according to the injection shop I use. This could be an advantage for BDS-ed diesel.
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