A pioneering local study on microbial contamination of aviation fuel and its handling system in the country has commended the management of CITA Petroleum Nigeria Limited for complying with the numerous industry and company’s Proprietary Policies, Standards and Procedures (PSP) covering the entire supply storage and distribution of aviation fuel.
The study which drew samples from CITA tank farms at various locations, found that microbial contamination has been contained within the International Air Transport Association (IATA) guidelines, which ensure that fuel is on-specification at point of delivery to aircraft.
The study also urged quality control agencies to intensify monitoring to enhance quality of supply to the industry. The study which was carried out by a team of researchers from the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, recommended among others the incorporation of microbiological standards into the specification requirements of Jet A1/allied products.
The first of such study in Nigeria was aimed at assessing microbial contamination of aviation fuel and fuel handling system at CITA Petroleum Tank Farms located in Lagos, Port-Harcourt and Abuja.
The six points on the storage facilities selected for sampling included the bulk fuel, the oil-water surface, the bottom water, the inlet and discharge filters as well as sludge from the separation tanks and environmental surfaces.
Samples were also collected on three different occasions between September 2014 and May 2015 representing rainy, harmattan and onset of rainy season, in other to evaluate the effect of seasonality on the detection and frequency of occurrence of the microbial contaminants.
Albert Olayemi, lead researcher and lecturer at the Department of Microbiology, University of Ilorin said though the work might not be enough to establish microbiological quality standards to classify Nigerian fuel (aviation) and fuel handling system, it is nonetheless a first approach to underscore the importance of microbial contamination in aviation fuel and safety.
Olayemi said based on the findings, it is recommended that the current practice of removing accumulated bottom water be sustained, coupled with periodic tank cleaning.
He said: “Since most of the microbes are located in the aqueous phase of the water – hydrocarbon interface, the main way to avoid growth and fuel spoilage is removing the accumulated water. Although it may be difficult to prevent microbial contamination because of the impossibility of maintaining sterile conditions in the farm tanks and during transportation, its negative effects can be diminished.”
Olayemi added that the combined monitoring and preventive action costs would normally be less than the costs associated with crises response strategy.
An official presentation of the research report was done within the week to Thomas Ogungbanbe, CITA’s chief executive officer CEO and Olasimbo Betiku, chief operating officer at the CITA’s head office in Lagos preparatory to official unveiling of same at the second IATA Aviation Fuel Systems Management Symposium in Miami next month.
During the presentation, Ogungbangbe highlighted the importance of this research in a tropical African environment stating that most of the assumptions in the field of science, aviation, engineering and technology are mostly based on the European, American and other environments that are outside Africa; as such it was always very difficult to achieve success during incident investigations.
IFEOMA OKEKE
