FUEL & FUEL SYSTEM MICROBIOLOGY PART 24 – PETROLEUM EQUIPMENT INSTITUTE’S 2018 CONVENTION

The Petroleum Equipment Institute (PEI) held its 2018 convention at the Las Vegas Convention Center from 07 to 10 October 2018. As usual, the PEI convention was held in conjunction with the much larger National Association of Convenience Store (NACS) convention. Today, I’ll focus on a few items that are particularly relevant to fuel and fuel system microbiology. I’m not going to attempt to provide anything approaching an overview of the entire convention. Instead I’ll report and discuss a few statements I heard from speakers during PEI’s Tuesday 09 October education sessions.

Regulatory issues

EPA Regulatory Update – Carolyn Hoskinson, Director of EPA’s Office of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST) and several members of her staff spoke to the current state of affairs regarding UST regulations. Tony Raia reported that with the 13 October 2018 compliance deadline looming, 32 states had updated their UST regulations to harmonize them with the 2015 updated US EPA regulations. Tony identified five state categories:
1. State Program Approval (SPA) States that have completed their updates and which are now in full compliance
2. Non-SPA States that have completed their updates to comply with the 2015 regulations
3. SPA States that have delayed revising their state regulations
4. SPA States that have updates in progress
5. Non-SPA States that have not yet updated their regulations per the US EPA 2015 regulations.
Bottom line is that we are entering a period during which there will be some confusion over compliance.

U.S. EPA UST Enforcement – Mark Barolo – the US EPA OUST official responsible for enforcement – noted that in nearly all cases, individual States were responsible for enforcement. Recognizing the confusion, Mark opined that inspectors were going to address violations on a case-by-case basis. Generally speaking, retailers who had been incompliance, had the required documentation, and demonstrated that they were making good-faith efforts to ensure that they remained in compliance, would experience less enforcement grief than those who have not. Mark’s colleague, Cho Yi Risher noted that the regulations do not prescribe the time permitted for site owners to repair or replace non-compliant equipment. Moreover, the inspections required by the 2015 regulations identify non-compliant equipment. There is no incentive for owners to institute predictive maintenance programs (see my 16 January 2017 post) that would detect failure trends before equipment became non-compliant.

Failure to detect uncontrolled microbial contamination and biodeterioration before they cause valves to seize or tanks and lines to leak is a false economy. A few pennies saved during regulation-mandated inspections can lead to remediation expenses in excess of $0.5 million.
Although for some of us, it’s hard to believe that the UST installed in 1987 – in compliance with the original UST regulations – are now beyond their 30-year warranty life. Discussion during the session’s question and answer period indicated that all stakeholders shared a common interest in ensuring that sites with tanks that were more than 30-years old would be able to continue to operate. I anticipate seeing articles to this issue in PEI Journal in the coming months.

Fuel Quality and Corrosion
Scott Boorse – PEI’s Technical Program Manager; recently retired from a major fuel retailer – made several observations that validated much of what I’ve been discussing in Fuel Microbiology What’s New posts. He suggested that in his experience, 100 % of all retail site fuel systems had some corrosion. He attributed much of this corrosion to the bacterial genus Acetobacter converting ethanol to acetic acid. I am convinced that most of the headspace and spill containment well acid production comes form chemical oxidation of ethanol to acetic acid. Microbes are involved in an estimated 50 % of all system corrosion issues, but – as I’ve written previously – microbes produce a variety of organic acids. These acids can react with chloride, sulfate, and nitrate in fuel-associated water to form organic bases (or salts) and strong, highly corrosive, inorganic acids – hydrochloric, sulfuric, and nitric acids, respectively. Still, Scott was on spot suggesting that UST system corrosion was much more wide-spread than most stakeholders realize.

Rebbeca Moore – GM and chair of the automotive industry’s Top Tier Detergent Gasoline and Diesel Fuel consortia – discussed the importance of fuel quality on engine performance. Top Tier is an auto industry sponsored compliance program intended to go beyond ASTM product specifications typically cited in state regulations. I’ll steer clear of the perennial debates between engine manufactures and petroleum producers that enliven our semi-annual ASTM D02 (Petroleum Products) subcommittee A (Gasoline and Oxygenated Fuels) and E (Burner, Diesel, Non-Aviation Gas Turbine, and Marine Fuels), but Rebbeca made an important point. ASTM specifications are often misused. They are meant to indicate whether a product (i.e., fuel) is fit for use at a single point and place in time (i.e., when and where the sample was collected). The petroleum industry’s infrastructure is vast and complex. Moreover, product ages (if it didn’t it wouldn’t combust so well in engines). Specification tests provide little information about how the product will age during storage.
Rebbeca illustrated the dilemma by listing the typical components of 7,500 gal of in-specification ULSD delivered to UST:
• 1 cup of dirt
• 1 to 2 gallons of water
• Up to 325 gallons of FAME (B5 ULSD is now included in ASTM Specification D975 Diesel Fuel Oils)
• 1 gallon of glycerin
• 5 to 40 gallons of additives
At sites that receive frequent deliveries, these trace amounts of dirt and water add up! Not surprisingly, along with measures that are outside the retail site or fleet owner’s control, Rebecca recommended more aggressive water removal and better dispenser filtration (there is an ongoing debate among stakeholders with some recommending that all dispensers have 5.0 µm, water absorbing filters and others arguing for 100 µm particulate filters). I share Rebecca’s view that all dispensers should have 5.0 µm, water absorbing filters. Marketers who are focused only on low rates and not product quality have argued for eliminating the filtration requirement completely.

Ryan Haerer – of US EPA’s OUST (https://www.epa.gov/ust) – wrapped up the session, sharing a few notable points. First, Ryan reminded attendees that UST regulations apply only to system components that are in contact with the soil. The US EPA does not regulate the condition of internal components that are not in direct contact with the soil (for example, submerged turbine pumps – STP – and their associated hardware). He also explained that under the UST regulations, there is a requirement that system components be compatible with the substance stored. This is likely to become interesting as new products (for example, E15 gasoline or substitution of ethanol with isobutyl alcohol) are introduced into the commercial fuel infrastructure – here I’m using interesting – in the same way it is used in of the phrase: “May you live in interesting times.” (Austen Chamberlain – British Foreign Secretary, 1924 to 1929 wrote that he had been told that this was an ancient Chinese curse, but his claim has never been verified).

Bringing it home

At this point we are enjoying an interesting paradox. Regulators, insurers, and an increasing number of retailers recognize that waiting until fuel systems fail is a problem. However, the system largely provides incentives for site owners to wait until failures have occurred. After failure, insurance covers component replacement costs. In many states, superfund monies cover remediation costs. When site owners invest in predictive maintenance, they only see the costs. Although there are benefits – not the least of which is customer satisfaction and a positive corporate image – they are intangible. How do we break the paradox?

Please share your thoughts on this issue with me at fredp@biodeterioration-control.com. I’ll compile comments and post them anonymously as a future What’s New column.