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Response Strategies For Ethanol and Blended Fuels

Response Strategies For Ethanol and Blended Fuels. Presented by Bobby Breed Specialized Response Solutions Response Contractor for Shell and Motiva. Incident Considerations. Knowledge of Products involved Knowledge of container carrying product

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Response Strategies For Ethanol and Blended Fuels

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  1. Response Strategies For Ethanol and Blended Fuels Presented by Bobby Breed Specialized Response Solutions Response Contractor for Shell and Motiva

  2. Incident Considerations • Knowledge of Products involved • Knowledge of container carrying product • Identify sensitive receptors and critical structures around scene • Understanding ICS and Unified Command • Work to provide value to the outcome and rapid resolution of the incident

  3. Arrival on Scene

  4. Ethanol Properties: • Fire hazard greatest threat. • Largest volume flammable liquid in rail and highway transit becoming more prevalent in barges and water transit • Completely miscible in water

  5. Ethanol Properties (continued):

  6. Ethanol Blended Fuels • Ethanol blends such as E-95, E-85, and various blends of Gasohol reduce the total consumption of gasoline and therefore it is understandable, that in transit this reduction in total volume of gasoline reduces the environmental impact proportionately to the blends ratio of ethanol.

  7. Open Water Response • Gasoline film formed on the water surface as a result of ethanol/gasoline blend spill can be treated as pure gasoline spill. • Environmental impacts of dissolved ethanol can be reduced by introducing additional volume of clean water (if possible) and increasing water mixing (aeration). • Monitoring and sampling of ethanol plume will be a most likely response scenario.

  8. Ground Water Spill • In ground water, the abiotic mechanisms for the attenuation including sorption, volatilization, and abiotic degradation will not contribute substantially to the decreased mobility or loss of ethanol in aquifers. • Therefore, the fate and transport of ethanol will primarily be controlled by biodegradation and dilution.

  9. Ground Water Cleanup • In case of underground spill of ethanol/gasoline blend, cleanup strategies that stimulate biodegradation under anaerobic conditions should be considered. • The most common engineered bioremediation approaches used for cleanup are aerobic, introducing oxygen to stimulate biodegradation. Applying sufficient oxygen to meet the high oxygen demand exerted by ethanol will likely be technically difficult and prohibitively expensive.

  10. Open Water Spill • Standard gasoline and water are almost completely immiscible. Ethanol is infinitely miscible with water. • Ethanol/gasoline blend released in an aquatic system will rapidly partition leaving hydrocarbon film on the water surface and ethanol dissolving in the water column. • In a high-energy environment ethanol may act as a weak surfactant and facilitate dispersion of hydrocarbons into water column. • Ethanol can be toxic to aquatic life at high concentrations.

  11. Ethanol and Blended Fuels • Ethanol is degradable and can be stripped from static water columns as well as porous soil regions. • Rapid implementation of an aeration strategy is successful in dealing with elevated chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) in bodies of water.

  12. Scene Size-up Continued

  13. Additional Scene Photos

  14. What is our Plan? • What do you see as the incident priorities? • Should the fire or potential fire issue be addressed at this point? • Can we extinguish some and let some burn? • Does the Fire Department have the proper equipment and foam to effectively fight this fire?

  15. What can be done?

  16. From below the bridge

  17. Burning ground under bridge

  18. Burning wall

  19. Cars on top of abutment

  20. Producers Support • What resources are needed from the Producer? • What role does the producer play in the ICS system? Liaison? Technical Specialist? • Product knowledge that the producer can provide can be the difference in the incident.

  21. Burning car on top of Bridge

  22. Firefighting Considerations • Foam? What kind, and how much? Alcohol Resistant Foam is required. • Surgical application a must • Pre-cooling of vessel and post-cooling the key to successful extinguishment. • Less than 5 gallons of AR/AFFF used to extinguish fires in each railcar.

  23. Tear in car on top of bridge

  24. The Morning After

  25. Regulatory discussion • What environmental issues do you see with this incident? • What are the priorities? • What impact to the river can be expected? • How would this differ in a still body of water and how can it be mitigated quickly?

  26. Day-time Firefighting Ops

  27. Extinguish car on bridge

  28. Specialized Equipment

  29. Specifications • 1500 gallons per minute pumping • 550 gallons AR/AFFF • 20,000 portable water storage • Multiple pumping configurations • Hand lines and eductors for surgical application of foam

  30. Ethanol and Blended Fuels Incidents Questions and Comments Bobby Breed (877) 506-0025

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