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Ethanol Spills
The US Department of Transportation’ s
National Response Team
(NRT) has released their Quick
Reference Guide: Fuel Grade Ethanol Spills (including E85)
information. This information is the first of its kind, providing
critical information for the emergency response community in the
unlikely event of an ethanol spill. The reference guide covers
response criteria topics from chemical properties including a comparison
of fuel ethanol and gasoline properties, environmental response
techniques as well as general health and safety information. It also
includes valuable regulatory and waste disposal information.
As the use of ethanol continues to expand across the country, it is important that those responsible for the safety of
these communities are well prepared and trained for responding to
ethanol related emergencies. Becoming familiar with
the NRT Quick Reference Guide is an essential part to first responder training.
This guide outlines health and safety precautions to take such as
protective clothing suggestions, evacuation considerations and other
safety concepts that must be followed
when facing an ethanol emergency. Also covered are varying water
effects a first responder may experience due to different water types
mixing with an ethanol spill, such as still or slow water, large deep water bodies,
flowing or fast water, and small shallow
water bodies. This guide is critical for all emergency responders to
know and should be readily available to first
responders at headquarters and out in the field on duty.
The Ethanol Emergency Response Coalition (EERC) wants to make sure that those involved with ethanol safety are well
trained and prepared for any ethanol emergency response. For more
information on ethanol safety, please visit
www.ethanolresponse .com.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Paul Montpetit on
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or take a Flammable/Combustables class offeredy the State.....
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Permalink Reply by Roy Walker on
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Any tidbit we pick up regardless of where we get it is invaluable as long as you research it's validity . That's what makes this site so valuable.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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A pure ethanol spill is generally not a huge problem unless there is a fire or if there is a large spill into a small body of water. Ethanol is completely miscible in water, and the polar solvent nature (OH group) of the alcohol will let it dilute into the water in non-hazardous quantities.
E85 is a bigger problem, due to the high percentage of gasoline in the mix. If spilled into a body of water, the ethanol will eventually be pulled out of solution with the gasoline and will become miscible with the water. The gasoline is a big problem because like any other petroleum hydrocarbon with a low specific gravity, it will float atop the water and pollute a large area.
Fires are the biggest problem, because the ethanol-gasoline mix is difficult to extinguish with either water or with traditional foams. AR-AFFF in the 1% x 3% concentrate is a good solution, but it may take a lot of concentrate to extinguish anything bigger than a car fire.
National Foam's Gold AR-AFFF is one of the better AR-AFFF concentrates, because it is 100% biodegradable and doesn't add pollutants to the runoff from either firefighting or vapor suppression.
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Permalink Reply by Trainer on
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Ethanol as produced is grain alcohol, it does not leave the plant until it's mixed with, and I can't remember if it's 1% or 5% gasoline, if not the federal government would tax it as liquor.
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Trainer, that's not entirely true. Rubbing alcohol can be around 97.5% to 100% pure ethanol. It is often shipped in tractor-trailer loads, although broken down into many smaller containers.
Rubbing alcohol is not produced, sold, or taxed as liquor. It is manufactured under a specific U.S. Pharmacopia formula (23-H) and regulated by the FDA as well as the BATF. The USP designation classifies rubbing alcohol as a drug, not as liquor.
"It may interest you to know that the Chemistry Department purchases 190 proof (95%) ethyl alcohol in 55 gallon drums for $3.72 per gallon. This alcohol cannot be used for beverage purposes. If it were, it would be subject to a Federal tax of $12.83 per gallon, i.e. the tax is more than three times the purchase price. "
See any IV bag or medication package on your local ALS unit for the USP label.
The half-life of rubbing alcohol in water can be up to 20 days, depending upon the concentration, the time of year, and the weather.
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Is ethyl alcohol, pure grain alcohol or is it a petroleum product?
The people at our plant tell us that they have to mix to ship other wise it is taxed as consumable alcohol.
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It depends upon whether it will be used as a fuel, a drug, or a drink.
If it's a fuel, then the rules your fuel plant tell you are accurate.
If it's a drink, then the ATF alcohol rules - and taxes - apply.
If it's a drug (rubbing alcohol) then neither apply.
The small rubbing alcohol continers can have up to 100% alcohol by volume.
The 55-gallon containers can have up to 95% rubbing alcohol by volume.
The result for firefighters and hazmat teams is that we can have a spill or fire involving up to a tractor-trailer load of nearly-pure ethanol in either small containers or 55-gallon drums, or we can have tanker loads of E-85.
Neither one will be much fun to deal with.
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Yes but it's not a fuel plant, 100% grain alcohol is produced, mixed with a small amount of gas and then shipped to a refinery in Texas to produce ethanol. I understand what you are saying but let me ask you this, can alcohol also be produced from crude oil?
Recently 80 miles north of us had a ethanol train derail, I believe 3 tankers ruptured, it was a stand back and watch it burn off, however several gallons made it to a mid size river and killed fish for close to 50 miles, this was not E-85 but product direct from the ethanol plant(again 1 or 5% gas) shipping to the refinery for further processing.
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What is the product that the Texas plant produces? If it is fuel, then what your plant is shipping still falls under the "fuel" category for ethanol. My understanding is that in the eyes of the law, a fuel precursor is still a fuel, not a drink or a drug.
Ethanol 99% or 95% is either 99% or 95% miscible with water, but in rail tanker quantities, it's likely that the half life is on the 20-day end of the spectrum. Any sizeable amount will kill fish, as their gills can't process oxygen from it.
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In Texas they produce E-85 and other blended fuels, final products.
And yes that is the point I'm trying to make, what is shipped is "fuel" only because it is blended with trace amounts of gas and is not a consumer product yet, what is produced is grain alcohol and could be taxed as such if shipped that way.
We don't have the rail through our district but we get all the semi tankers of gas and other nasties for production right past the station.
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Gotcha. After they put any amount of gasoline in the ethanol, it's "fuel" anyway. The gasoline would be considered a contaminent if the ethanol was later sold as a drink or a drug.
The bottom line is that it doesn't matter what the shape or size of the container, a tractor-trailer of a liquid containing high concentrations of ethanol is going to tax just about any fire department and hazmat team out there.
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