Fuel additives and blending components

Yes, and it is asked more often than any other additive question. With ATEX-certified pumping and injection equipment we can dose into shore tanks, vessels and barges, including during ship to ship transfers and OPL anchorage operations. The compliance work happens before the hose goes in: the additive must meet the destination specification and legislation, and the dosage is confirmed by laboratory trial.

No, not meaningfully: EN 228 restricts metallic additives, and MMT's manganese deposits degrade emission control systems, so for European road blends these products are off the table. Outside the EU they are unrestricted in most of the world, which is exactly the market they serve. We check the destination specification and the local law before anything is quoted.

Almost always the additive, and it is not close. Treat rates sit between 1 and 1,200 ppm depending on the treatment, while the traditional fix adds whole percentages of gasoil, kerosene or premium gasoline to the cargo. The additive route also leaves density, sulphur and volume untouched, so the entire cargo is upgraded instead of diluted.

A laboratory hand blend on your actual base fuel, at a partner laboratory, is how every serious treatment starts. Datasheet numbers are indicative; wax composition, stream history and the existing additive package all move the treat rate. We run the trial, you see the measured result, and only then is anything ordered.

Yes. Additive and blending chemical supply is a genuine part of what we do alongside the brokerage. On the brokerage side we introduce buyer and seller and take a commission without taking title. On the additive side we arrange supply against a firm requirement, which is a supply transaction rather than an introduction.

A pour point depressant. Diesel, gasoil and biodiesel contain paraffin waxes that crystallise as the fuel cools; the crystals grow, link up and eventually stop the fuel flowing. A PPD does not prevent wax forming, it changes the crystal shape and size so they stay small and separate and the fuel keeps flowing at a lower temperature.

Know which of the three temperatures you are fighting first. Cloud point is where wax becomes visible, CFPP is where it blocks a filter and actually stops the engine, and pour point is where it stops flowing entirely. A cold flow improver or PPD treats the CFPP, and a wax anti-settling additive keeps flocs dispersed instead of dropping out in the tank. Dose rate depends on the base fuel, so a hand blend test beats a datasheet. Do not write a cargo off because it looks bad cold.

Often, and it is usually worth more than discounting the parcel. Cold flow failures and oxidation stability failures are the two most treatable. We run the theoretical blend calculation, arrange a hand blend at a partner laboratory, and tell you honestly whether treatment brings it into specification. If it does not, we place the parcel instead rather than sell you a drum on hope.

Yes. Through our partners we hold local additive stock in West Africa rather than shipping every drum from Europe, and we have inspection and laboratory support in the region for both feedstocks and finished product. For urgent cases we also fly product in as classified dangerous goods, and additives can be delivered to a vessel alongside rather than to a shore tank.

MMT is methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl, a manganese-based octane booster that also protects valve seats in older engines running unleaded petrol. In the EU it is capped by the Fuel Quality Directive at 2 mg of manganese per litre, reduced from 6 mg in 2011, because combustion releases manganese and the deposits degrade emission control systems. Outside the EU it is unrestricted in most countries. So the honest answer for a European blend is: check the manganese arithmetic first, because the cap binds long before anything else does.

Because it is a Category 3 drug precursor under EU rules. Trade within the EU falls under Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 and trade with third countries under Regulation (EC) No 111/2005, which requires documented operators and import or export authorisations from the competent authority. Suppliers who decline are not being awkward, the controls are genuinely strict. Treat anyone who offers to move it without those authorisations as a risk rather than a find.

Butylated hydroxytoluene is an antioxidant. It slows the oxidation that degrades fuel in storage, which matters most for FAME and FAME blends where oxidation stability is a specification limit that quietly falls over time. It is the straightforward one among the common raw materials, widely traded and without the regulatory complications of MMT or toluene.

Yes, and we are actively looking for both supply and buyers. Octane improvers and anti-knock preparations sit in their own customs headings, CN 3811 11 and 3811 19, separate from other fuel additives under CN 3811 90. That distinction matters on an export declaration and is one of the more common classification errors we see.

Often yes, including by air where the product can travel as classified dangerous goods. A blender or refinery waiting on an additive usually loses more per day than the freight costs, so tell us the deadline rather than the budget and we will tell you what is genuinely possible. Sea freight in IBCs or ISO tanks for volume, air for the emergency.

Broadly CN heading 3811. Anti-knock preparations and octane improvers fall under 3811 11 and 3811 19; other prepared additives for oils generally under 3811 90. Confirm the exact code with your customs agent for your specific product and destination, because a wrong heading holds the container and can change the duty.

Yes. We supply KM32 into North African markets including Tunisia for biodiesel production, so the shipping route, the documentation and the payment practice are familiar to us rather than something we would be working out for the first time on your order.

Potassium methylate 32 % solution in methanol, also written potassium methoxide. It is a transesterification catalyst for biodiesel production. Compared with the sodium equivalent it is more reactive, separates the glycerol phase more cleanly and gives a higher yield. The practical dividing line used in the industry is free fatty acid content of about 1.0 %: below that sodium methylate is the economic choice, above it potassium methylate is offered. That threshold is exactly why KM32 is the catalyst for plants running used cooking oil and animal fats rather than clean vegetable oil.

NM30 is sodium methylate 30 % solution in methanol, the most widely used biodiesel catalyst worldwide and the cheaper of the two. The practical dividing line is free fatty acid content around 1.0 %: below that NM30, above that KM32 for the extra reactivity, the cleaner glycerol separation and the yield. Both are effectively water free, which keeps purification cost down.

Carefully. They are dissolved in methanol, so the flammability and toxicity of methanol travel with them, and the alkoxide itself is corrosive and highly moisture sensitive: contact with water or humid air degrades it and generates the corresponding hydroxide. They move under nitrogen blanket in dedicated equipment, with the safety data sheet and full transport classification. This is not a product to improvise on.

Pour point depressants, CFPP and cold flow improvers, potassium hydroxide, methanol, and named grades including KM32 and NM30. On request also antioxidants, biocides, lubricity improvers, cetane improvers, demulsifiers and anti-foam. Tell us the base fuel and the target specification rather than the product name and we can usually be more useful.

Both are process chemicals for transesterification, the reaction that turns oils and fats into fatty acid methyl esters. Methanol is the alcohol that supplies the methyl group, and potassium hydroxide is a commonly used alkaline catalyst. Neither is an additive to the finished fuel; they are inputs to making it.

Agreed per transaction. Prepayment is normal for this trade, particularly on first business and on smaller lots, which is standard practice in chemical supply rather than anything unusual to us.

Often, and we would rather answer that honestly than sell you a drum. We can run a theoretical blend calculation and arrange a hand blend tested at a partner laboratory. Sometimes the answer is that no additive brings the material into specification, in which case the parcel needs a different outlet rather than a treatment.

Supply runs with the safety data sheet, the correct classification and the transport documentation the mode requires. Methanol is toxic and highly flammable and potassium hydroxide is corrosive, so this is not paperwork to be improvised at the loading bay.