Fuel Contamination

[Ftlausa]

I'm curious if anyone else has suffered fuel contamination similar to what I recently experienced after fueling at VQQ.  The fuel contained up to inch long (and many smaller) pieces and particles of a very very thin black carbon material.  The lab test came back as mostly carbon with traces of iron.  The material was jet black and so thin that if you rubbed it between your fingers is just smeared to a brown stain.  The FBO is denying they are the source.  The material, however, was in both tanks after taking on fuel at the airport (last two fuelings were there) and necessitated draining and straining both tanks to get the material out.

Has anyone ever seen that type of fuel contamination before, and more importantly, identified the source?       

[DVA]

I think if there was a fuel anomaly at such a large airfield that it would become known pretty quickly - not implying it can’t happen. Maybe a call to the flight school to see if they had any issues during that time frame?

Did you have any recent work on sealing or patching of your tanks? And did you find this on both sides?

 

[mike_elliott]

I was just about to email you to see if the lab had identified this for you Robert.

[Ftlausa]

8 minutes ago, DVA said:

I think if there was a fuel anomaly at such a large airfield that it would become known pretty quickly - not implying it can’t happen. Maybe a call to the flight school to see if they had any issues during that time frame?

Did you have any recent work on sealing or patching of your tanks? And did you find this on both sides?

 

No tank work at all on the plane.  It is definitely not sealant. 

[Mooneymite]

Looks suspiciously like decomposing rubber.  FBO fuel hose, or your fuel line?

Keep us posted on the outcome.

[Ftlausa]

2 minutes ago, Mooneymite said:

Looks suspiciously like decomposing rubber.  FBO fuel hose, or your fuel line?

Keep us posted on the outcome.

Lab test shows that its carbon and iron, so not consistent with the airplane's fuel line deteriorating.  Also, it was in both tanks simultaneously.  

[Mooneymite]

16 minutes ago, Ftlausa said:

Lab test shows that its carbon and iron, so not consistent with the airplane's fuel line deteriorating.  Also, it was in both tanks simultaneously.  

That's  why I thought it might be something inside the FBO fuel hose.  In both your tanks and it wouldn't  necessarily show up when they drain their sump.  They'd  have to take a sample from the hose.

[RLCarter]

Any major fires in the area? They burn Sugar Cane in our part of TX and the ash goes/gets everywhere, I've seen it at altitude as high as 7500msl

[ArtVandelay]

In Theory they have a filter on the fuel hose so if true, then could be inside of fuel hose.

[Yetti]

There was some delivery of the wrong gas instead of 100LL on the North East Coast a month or so ago.  I think it was the alcohol that was causing the break down of the rubber.  Looks similar.  Has the plane been  up to the North East?

[ArtVandelay]

There was some delivery of the wrong gas instead of 100LL on the North East Coast a month or so ago.  I think it was the alcohol that was causing the break down of the rubber.  Looks similar.  Has the plane been  up to the North East?

OP said tests came back with carbon and iron, anyone with chemistry background know whats in our synthetic rubber hoses?

[Yetti]

 

[Yetti]

https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/100ll-contamination.105885/

 

[mooniac15u]

Is it possible that your fuel cap o-rings are degrading and shedding material into your tanks?

[Ftlausa]

20 hours ago, mooniac15u said:

Is it possible that your fuel cap o-rings are degrading and shedding material into your tanks?

Analysis shows its carbon and iron, so not coming from the O rings.  Also inspected the O rings and they are fine having been replaced at the last annual.  

[mooniac15u]

40 minutes ago, Ftlausa said:

Analysis shows its carbon and iron, so not coming from the O rings.  Also inspected the O rings and they are fine having been replaced at the last annual.  

What technique was used for the elemental analysis?  Did they provide you with mass percentages of the elements detected?

Depending on the technique hydrogen may or may not be identified so it could be difficult to distinguish elemental carbon from hydrocarbon materials. The iron may also be unrelated to the carbon material and may have just contaminated the sample by accumulating in the same location.

If the elemental analysis truly represents the composition of the sample then it sounds like you have rust flakes from steel.