How does fuel stability affect the user?

Fuel stability is a serious concern for the diesel fuel user.

The chemistry of diesel fuel instability involves the chemical conversion of precursors to species of higher molecular weight with limited solubility. The conversion process often involves oxidation of the precursors. Fuel solvency plays a role, since the development of insolubles is always a function of both the presence of higher molecular weight species and the fuel capacity to dissolve them.

We all realize that fuel is an unstable, organic liquid that goes "bad". Your vendor will always sell you the highest fuel quality possible. However, due to a variety of circumstances fuel may have "aged", oxidized and/or contain water. It may have been contaminated before it was delivered to you or to your vendor.

Fuel has to travel from the refinery to the end user destination. It is pumped through pipelines, barged, trucked and stored in tank farms. Diurnal changes in temperature and exposure to the atmosphere will cause condensation and water in storage systems. None of this will help improve fuel quality.

When your fuel is finally used, it is exposed to the heat and pressure of engine injection systems, centrifuges, pumps, heaters causing an increase in asphaltene agglomerations, which negatively impacts combustion efficiency and emissions.