A major producer in the mid-continent area operates a 100 KBPD refinery where high sulfur diesel fuel is refined and sold. The high sulfur diesel is pumped to tankage for shipment via truck or pipeline. This high sulfur diesel fuel is produced in batches of 50,000-70,000 barrels or even more, as dictated by market demand.

Typically the high sulfur diesel fuel would have to sit in tankage for a period of time prior to shipment. The reason for this was to provide enough settling time to separate the solids from the fuel, enabling the diesel fuel to pass the D2500 Cloud Point Test. The time spent sitting in tankage delayed shipment to the field, which delayed the sales of the product. Furthermore, as additional product is produced, additional tanks would have to be used. If the product did not properly settle and failed the Cloud Point test, two additional problems were created:

1. The pipeline shipping the product would not have product to ship at the scheduled time. Shipment schedules would have to be revised.

2. Or, if the fuel was scheduled to be transported by truck, this truck would have to be sent to another station to pick up its scheduled shipment of high sulfur diesel fuel.

Refinery management installed the Pall Ultipleat® High Flow filtration system upstream of their
holding tanks. The Pall Ultipleat High Flow filter successfully removed solid particles 10 micron and larger from the high sulfur diesel steam. The system configuration consisted of (31) Ultipleat High Flow glass fiber elements.

The High Flow filtration system has provided on-spec high sulfur diesel product since its installation in December 1997. This enabled the product to be shipped when it was needed, and eliminated the need for settling time. Alternate tankage is not needed during times of high production since product could now be shipped right away. Pipeline and truck schedules were no longer affected due to off-spec product being produced.The first set of filters processed 300,000 barrels of high sulfur diesel. The cost to filter the fuel is 8 cents/barrel. This does not take into account the benefits derived from the ability to ship on- spec product quicker, and any costs associated with rescheduling pipeline or truck shipments. It is estimated that the cost associated with delays alone is 1 cent/gallon. This resulted in savings of over $40,000 per year.