In his 1967 book, “The Use of Lateral Thinking” Edward di Bono introduced the concept identified in the book’s title. He contrasted “lateral thinking” against “linear thinking” and argued that successful resolution of any challenge required both types of thinking. What does this have to do with detecting microbes in fuel systems. Standard Practices, such as PEI’s RP900 “Recommended Practices for the Inspection and Maintenance of UST Systems”, are examples of excellent linear…

When I ask petroleum retailers if they have microbial problems in their fuel systems, almost always, the answer is: “No!”. After reading EPA’s recent report – Investigation of Corrosion Influencing Factors in Underground Storage Tanks with Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel Service – I felt better; sort of. The report’s Executive Summary states: “We observed 83 percent of the inspected tanks had moderate or severe metal corrosion. Prior to our research inspections, less than 25 percent of…

ASTM E2694, Method for Measurement of Adenosine Triphosphate in Water-Miscible Metalworking Fluids, was first approved in 2009. The 2016 revision of the method has just been published by ASTM (www.astm.org). This version includes a new Appendix X4 that provides a protocol for differentiating between bacterial and fungal contamination in metalworking fluids. I had first written about this protocol here in my 04 May 2015 blog. The original research on which the ASTM E2694 revision was based was…

I’ve recently had the privilege of co-authoring a paper with Dr. Griselle Montenaz, and others, on the use of LuminUltra Technology Ltd’s QGO-M test method to screen aqueous polymer emulsions (APE) for microbial contamination.  The paper describing the use of  QGO-M XL measuring cellular adenosine triphosphate (cATP) in aqueous polymer emulsions (APE) has just been published in the journal: International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation (IBB; 114 (2016) 216-221;…

The US EPA has just released a report of the results of a series of 42 UST inspections that were performed in January and February 2015. Despite the tiny percentage of ULSD UST inspected and sampled, the report highlights the considerable disconnect between observed corrosion (83% of the systems inspected had moderate to severe corrosion) and corrosion awareness (only 25% of site owners were aware of corrosion issues. The report also does a nice job of listing the different ways in which…