Setting The Bar For Safety

When will we get to sell E85 dispensing equipment again?

In his State of the Union address on January 23, President Bush called for an increase in the supply of alternative fuels by setting a mandatory fuels standard that will require 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuels by the year 2017, displacing 15 percent of projected annual gasoline usage.

And how will all that fuel be dispensed? On UL-certified fueling equipment, of course. And when will that fueling equipment be certified? Good question.

Background
Up until October 5, 2006, all the component parts of an E85 dispensing system had the Underwriters Laboratories stamp of approval. But it was on this day that UL rescinded all of its previous certifications on E85 dispenser equipment. A few months earlier, UL received a request, its first, for certification of a complete system, and realized that the sum of the parts may not have been equal to the whole.

Acting quickly, UL invited industry experts to a Technical Forum on E85 Dispenser Material Compatibility held on November 1 and 2 at UL's Northbrook, Illinois, headquarters. Attendees included representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy, fuel dispensing equipment manufacturers, ethanol producers, fuel station companies, and experts on ethanol fuels. The goal of the forum was to gather substantive technical information related to the unique aspects of the use of high percentage ethanol fuels, including fuel conductivity, material compatibility, fire suppression and consumer interface. It was hoped that the information gathered from this forum could be used to develop dispensing equipment safety requirements that would be used as a basis for certification requirements.

At the end of the meeting, UL announced that much of the data offered by the experts were not the hard, scientific data needed, and were too anecdotal. Additional technical data would be necessary to proceed, and UL extended the deadline. Forum participants were asked to provide more information. In the case of proprietary information, UL even offered to visit manufacturers' facilities.

By December 2006, UL received additional in-formation from 12 organizations. However, in a Status Update released in early January 2007, UL reported that a significant portion of the information was not substantiated with technical data, nor relevant with respect to some of the material compatibility testing protocols for E85 dispensers. Some of the information also contained contradictory conclusions about the suitability of certain materials when exposed to alcohol blends.

It was now clear that UL did not have enough substantive data to write a standard for E85 dispensing systems. As the clock ticked down to President Bush's announcement on January 23 of an alternative fuels standard, the clock at UL's global headquarters in Illinois began ticking, too, though in this case, it was counting up toward developing a standard pursuant to safety requirements for E85 dispensers. In other words, this was going to take some time!

Safety Cannot Be Rushed
“We do not function on political pressure,” says John Drengenberg, UL's consumer affairs manager. If anything, adds UL spokesman Joseph Hirschmugl, “UL is putting its own internal pressure to complete this. It's a high priority item and we are working on it full time, as fast as we can.” Drengenberg, a graduate engineer, knows the industry is losing patience, but after many years of working on UL standards development, he knows that safety cannot be rushed.

Since its founding 104 years ago, UL has developed more than 800 Standards for Safety, in the process testing millions of products and their components. Citing its commitment to no one or nothing but the safety of the consumer, the independent organization says Standards are essential to help ensure public safety and confidence, reduce costs, improve quality, and market products and services.

To achieve UL certification, or listing, a product must go through a three-stage process.

• First, the standard is established.
• Next, products are tested to the standard.
• Finally, the product is certified.

Setting the Standard
John Drengenberg says UL knows three things about dispensing E85: “We know that ethanol contains a high level of alcohol. We know that alcohol interacts with soft metal. And we know it interacts with some plastic materials. A dispensing system's components are made of a variety of materials. We can't afford to say 'We think this is good.' That just won't happen. We need technically sound standards before we move forward.”

In addition to the usable information from the Technical Forum, UL will do its own research. Says Drengenberg, “We're going to run these tests, look at the results, then determine if we have the data we need to say that certain materials are suitable with ethanol fuel or not. If the results don't give us this data, we're going to do more tests.”

As of press time (February 1), testing parameters had not been finalized. These parameters include materials, ethanol concentration, temperature and testing procedures, among others. Even the location is a point of discussion. Says Drengenberg, “We are dealing with a volatile fuel, so the facility has to be able to handle hazardous materials.” One possibility is that testing will take place at UL's 1.5 million square foot headquarters facility in Northbrook.

Fail Safe
UL will be looking again at E85 fueling systems in Brazil, a country where E85 has been dispensed for some time. Other countries using high level blends of ethanol include Sweden, Germany and France. Australia and Thailand are currently considering it. Phil Lampert, executive director of the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition (NEVC), points out that 80 percent of the vehicles sold in Brazil in 2006 were flexible fuel vehicles, and there has been no report of failure in the E85 equipment. “For that matter, why can't we just say we've been dispensing it in the U.S. for 14 years? Why do we have to reinvent the wheel?” Lampert asks.

UL has studied Brazil's standards and what they found doesn't hold muster in the United States. “We would love it if Brazil had a written standard that indicates how to test various materials and their interaction with ethanol. Unfortunately, we don't have that. We have anecdotal information. What we need is firm, university-generated, scientific data backed with repeatable tests. Brazil's standards are not scientifically based to the extent we require in the United States.”

Despite the lack of scientific data, Lampert notes, “UL, by their own admission, has said three very important things:

1. There has never been a failure of an E85 pump.
2. There has never been any evidence of a failure of an E85 pump.
3. There is no evidence of even any corrosion in an E85 pump.

“We're talking about fail safe at this point in time.”

Products in Limbo
For manufacturers of E85 dispensing products, UL's de-listing threw a curve into product development. Both Husky Corporation and Gilbarco Veeder-Root participated in UL's Technical Forum, and both manufacturers are eager to start selling UL-listed equipment.

Husky Executive Vice President Brad Baker says Husky has nozzle products that have been designed and developed for E85 fueling systems, “but we're just sitting on them right now. We can't, with any level of confidence, say the previously certified products will be certified in the future, because we don't know what the standards will be.”

Bruce Sprague, a product specialist at Gilbarco, adds, “We really don't know what to design to, and with no timeline for release of the UL specifications, it's frustrating. Not having a timeline is the real issue for us.” Once the standard is issued, product turnaround time will depend. Notes Sprague, “UL may say everything we have today is fine; they may say we have to use a metal we're not currently using that may be unfamiliar to us. Of course, that will add time to our product development.”

Husky's Baker is thinking a lot these days about a stainless steel nozzle, particularly if the UL standard does not accept nickel plated aluminum. “We'd have to start over and figure out how to make a stainless steel nozzle, if that's what the standard requires.” While stainless steel is very expensive and difficult to machine, Baker believes “it is a material that would work pretty well for the application.”

Gilbarco's Manager of Marketing Communications Lucy Sackett points out that Gilbarco has customers who are proceeding without approval. “So we simply manufacture the pumps and don't put a UL label on them.” Adds Sprague, “If a distributor wants a unit with components we think might be E85 compatible, he or she can certainly get a non-UL unit.”

While state fire marshals say only UL-approved components can be used, Baker says, “The reality is that in a lot of places, many small marketers know the fire marshal never comes around to their stations. So they may not care if the equipment is UL-certified or not.”

NEVC's Phil Lampert says that a number of state fire marshals have indicated that “UL is not the be-all and end-all of this particular conversation. Again, there has never been a failure, a report of a failure, or evidence of a failure.” In fact, according to Lampert, some state fire marshals are taking a proactive stance. “In Minnesota, Ohio, Missouri and Kansas, they're saying we're not going to interfere with this; we know this process is underway and it will take some time, but we think—at least in our states—that companies should be able to go ahead and put in E85 fueling equipment.”

Currently there are 1,103 E85 fueling stations across the United States, and that number is increasing. Most of these stations, according to the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition, are small organizations. Says Lampert, “Insurance carriers for the larger, big box companies may be insisting that management wait until UL certifies the equipment.”

Automakers Fuel Interest
Right now there are six million flexible fuel vehicles on U.S. highways, and that number is growing rapidly. Automakers have pledged to produce half of their total vehicle production as flexible fuel vehicles by 2012. Charles Territo, spokesman for The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, says automakers are focused on manufacturing more flexible fuel vehicles. “While The Alliance does not take a position on the fuel distribution system, everyone recognizes that there has to be a larger E85 infrastructure.” Several automakers are involved in the Midwest ethanol corridor.

Automakers are carefully watching state legislation mandating the number of flexible fuel vehicles on the road. Says Territo, “All we ask is that there is a realization that the ethanol infrastructure needs to be improved so that the six million flexible fuel vehicles that are currently on the road can actually run on E85.”

Are We Almost There?
“UL understands the safety aspects probably better than anybody,” says UL's John Drengenberg. “We are always on the side of safety, the safety of the consumer. If a material were degraded by E85 and there were a leak and somebody created a spark while they were pumping gas, there could be a tragedy. While we don't want to stand in the way of progress, we cannot go ahead capriciously. We're moving fast, but the bottom line is, UL always does the right thing for safety. We can't just do something quickly and hope it works. That will never happen here.”

“The delay in UL certification is inevitable,” notes the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition's Phil Lambert. “If you want to certify a hairdryer and want UL certification, there is a 150-page standard available that has to be met. That's the scope of the minutiae of the process.”

“From past experience, if everything goes correctly,” Lampert predicts, “we'll have a standard by the second quarter of 2008.”

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The PEI Journal • First Quarter 2007 • Volume 1, No. 1 • Contents are Copyright © Data Key Communications, Inc.
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