The explanation for the aberrant behaviour you ask?
Well that is not clearly understood but the link to marine
transport and the active and reversible nature of the
chemistry may hint at exposure to inert gas components
which are known on occasion to contain acidic sulphur
combustion products due to the high sulphur contents of
marine residual fuels. It is possible that traces of these
sulphur compounds react with dissolved water in Jet to
produce an acidic product in the fuel. This could then
result in an acid base reaction with the active
components in Stadis 450, preventing the additive from
behaving as a conductive species when dissolved in Jet.
The increased conductivity after passage through
pipelines could be due to high surface areas to volume
exposure to mild steel and reversal of the reaction.
However due to the subtlety of the chemistry, occurring
as it does at the part per million level or less, there is no
noticeable impact on any fuel property except occasional
increases in total acid number and of course conductivity
which, as we all now know, is measured in units of 10-12
Siemens: a unit small enough that it feels as if it could be
affected by the flutter of a nearby butterfly’s wings.