Response Strategies For Ethanol and Blended Fuels

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Response Strategies For Ethanol and Blended Fuels

• Presented by
• Bobby Breed
• Specialized Response Solutions
• Response Contractor for
• Shell and Motiva

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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

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Arrival on Scene
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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

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Ethanol Properties (continued)
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Scene Size-up Continued
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Additional Scene Photos
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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?

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What can be done?
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From below the bridge
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Burning ground under bridge
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Burning wall
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Cars on top of abutment
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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.

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Burning car on top of Bridge
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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.

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Tear in car on top of bridge
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The Morning After
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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?

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Day-time Firefighting Ops
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Extinguish car on bridge
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Specialized Equipment
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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

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Ethanol and Blended Fuels Incidents

• Questions and Comments
• Bobby Breed [phone]