Continuing the discussion from What does the colonial pipeline actually carry…fuel, yes…but how?:
Following up on the question from @md-2000 about the dye in diesel fuel. Anybody know when or where dye is added to diesel fuel? Diesel fuels are dyed based on their usage, for heating oil and diesel fuel for off-road use the oil is dyed red to indicate it has not been taxed for highway funds. Most varieties of diesel fuel are interchangeable but may also contain additives as well as the dye, additives might be lubricants or stabilizers that are usage specific.
ETA: Red dye also indicates possible higher sulfur content.
IDK but just a story about that dye. I had a tank of dyed kerosene for home heating. After several problems and very high prices with the oil company with very few options I decided to fill the tank myself from the nearby gas station that sold untaxed clear kerosene at a lower price then I could get delivered. Every so often I would fill 40 gallons at a time of it into my 275 gal tank and did this for several years. After a furnace service one year the tech commented where I got clear fuel from. I looked at the rag he used to sop up the kero and there was no sign of red anymore. I was amazed I though that would persist forever, but there is a level of dilution when that went away.
Interested in this discussion. My daily driver is a diesel, and like all late model diesels are these days it requires ULSD fuel. I don’t think it has any dye, IIRC the fuel is clear.
Before I switched from an oil fired furnace to NG, I asked my supplier about the red color in home heating fuel. He explained the dye is added before he receives it, presumably by the supplier in order to differentiate it from motor vehicle fuel that is taxed at a different and higher rate.
Some years ago during high fuel prices, people driving diesel vehicles who also heated their homes with heating oil, would siphon oil from the home tank and use it in their vehicles because it was cheaper.
This seems to be obscure information. At least we have a report from @Dereknocue67 that it isn’t the drivers adding the dye in the delivery truck. Back in the original thread @dtilque tells us that the drivers do put the additives in gasoline in the delivery truck. In that case, no one would notice if the driver didn’t put the additives in. It could be a crime to do omit the dye with diesel.
See Page 3, Figure 1 for a schematic of the US distribution network here. https://www.convenience.org/getattachment/Topics/Fuels/Assessment-of-the-US-Fuel-Distribution-Network/Assessment-Of-The-US-Fuel-Distribution-Network.pdf?lang=en-US
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The general/usual Steps are Refinery–>Bulk Terminal—>Pipeline —>Distribution Terminal ---->Tankers —> Gas Station
There are IRS rules for when a business can or cannot account for the sale as highway diesel or not. There are EPA rules as to composition limits.
A supplier may not want to add the dye until the final steps, but to avoid IRS and EPA regulations, the Dye is usually added at the Refinery or at the Bulk Storage terminal.
I had a friend who had both a diesel boat (fishing boat) and a diesel truck. He also sometimes filled up his truck with the red-dyed stuff, knowing fully that he could be busted for it. But the red-dyed stuff for boats was SO much cheaper. (This was in an expensive western state on the Pacific.)