T.R. Consulting, Inc. Fuel Testing and Additive Services
ILFC, Inc.
International Lubrication and Fuel Consultants, Inc. (I.L.F.C.) was founded in July of 1982 by George and Nancy Kitchen at the request of Bill Schlicter, Executive Director of the Bell Laboratories Material Center, The major goals of the new company were to engage in a consulting business which would deal primarily with problems related to stand-by-power systems (S.P.S.). The first customers were telephone companies.
Starting ILFC was a natural extension of the Kitchens' 26 years of research at Bell Telephone Laboratories. The breakup of the Bell System into regional companies provided a good opportunity for them to service these new companies Stand-by Power System (SPS) needs.
Since their founding, ILFC has provided a scientific approach, both through on-site and laboratory practices, to identify problems associated with idle S.P.S. (static storage) as well as more rapidly consumed fuel (dynamic storage). Today's catalytically cracked diesel fuel oils are significantly less stable than the 1970's straight run fuel. The cracked fuels begin to deteriorate the minute they are refined. As it ages, fuel in storage repolymerizes forming microscopic particles that score fuel metering injectors. As repolymerization continues, the molecular chains become longer and longer, forming large agglomerates (macroscopic sludge). Eventually the fuel may become unpumpable and even noncombustible.
ILFC is at the front of the field of forensic investigations of fuel contamination. This is due to a combination of state of the art computerized analytical equipment, an ILFC developed database combined with The National Bureau of Standards GC-MS database, and extensive analytical experience with fuels and lubricants.