Dispensing Equipment Testing With Mid-Level Ethanol/Gasoline Test Fluid

This publication received minimal editorial review at NREL. NOTICE This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States government. Neither the United States government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States government or any agency thereof. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) Nonpetroleum-Based Fuel Task is responsible for addressing the hurdles to commercialization of fuels and fuel blends such as ethanol that are derived from biomass. One such hurdle is the unknown compatibility of new fuels with current infrastructure, such as the equipment used at service stations to dispense fuel into automobiles. The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Vehicle Technology Program and the Biomass Program have engaged in a joint project to evaluate the potential for blending ethanol into gasoline at levels higher than the present allowance of nominal 10 volume percent (E10). This project was established to help DOE and NREL better understand any potentially adverse impacts caused by a lack of knowledge about the compatibility of the dispensing equipment with ethanol blends higher than what the equipment was designed to dispense. This report provides data about the impact of introducing a gasoline with a higher volumetric ethanol content into service station dispensing equipment from a safety and a performance perspective. The project consisted of testing new and used equipment harvested from the field (all equipment UL listed for up to E10). Testing was performed according to requirements in Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) Outline of Investigation for Power-Operated Dispensing Devices for Gasoline and Gasoline/Ethanol Blends With Nominal Ethanol Concentrations up to 85 Percent (E0-E85), Subject 87A, except using a CE17a test fluid based on the scope of this program. The primary focus was to identify leakage and assess other safety-related equipment performance as addressed by applicable UL requirements. The overall results of the program were …