How does ethanol get blended into gas

[Jonny Z]

Okay, I am aware of a couple of things,

1st, for most metro areas, all gases come off the same terminal / storage facility, and the branded additives get blended into the base fuel and make it into Shell, Chevron, whatever, when the tankers come pick it up;

2nd, ethanol cannot be transported in pipelines, and they have to be added at the terminal / storage facility.

My question is, does the facility just dump 10% ethanol into the base fuel and serve it to everyone, or does the station gets the choice of additives only, or additives + ethanol.

I wonder because E10 invaded my area, almost over night. That would support the blind 10% for everyone thing; also makes me think the few stations that do not have the E10 labels, simply have neglected to do so.

 

[OilNerd]

I suspect that it is post-blended at the terminal. The gas at the station I frequent comes out of the Montreal Ultramar terminal and is ethanol-free, but I imagine the same terminal serves other areas that use ethanol.

 

[LTVibe]

Originally Posted By: Jonny Z
2nd, ethanol cannot be transported in pipelines...

It can be now:

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2010...fuel-gasoline/2

Quote:
...Stephens toured the Kinder-Morgan fuel storage center in Orlando because that facility is doing something no other company in the U.S. can. It uses a 16-inch, 115-mile pipeline that leads from Tampa's harbor to the Orlando facility to carry ethanol...

...Houston-based Kinder-Morgan developed a proprietary package of additives that, for reasons known only to them, negates the effect of the ethanol on the pipe. As for the valves and pumps and such, the company spent millions making them ethanol-friendly, which includes removing any gaskets or washers that were rubber, and replacing them with a DuPont-made substance not affected by ethanol.

 

[severach]

From what I'm told it's blended by the trucker on the truck. Blending ethanol in the tanks would make it harder to keep fresh and E0 wouldn't be available for the customers that need it.

When you ask what is in the tanks, it's always ## octane where ## is 3 less than the delivered fuel. 87 octane E10 comes from an 84 octane tank.

 

[Minou]

Originally Posted By: OilNerd
I suspect that it is post-blended at the terminal. The gas at the station I frequent comes out of the Montreal Ultramar terminal and is ethanol-free, but I imagine the same terminal serves other areas that use ethanol.


Are you sure it's ethanol free? Whenever I go to Plattsburgh and fill up, all stations have the 10% ethanol sticker on them. My mileage also drops significantly. But it still comes out much cheaper so I don't complain too much.

 

[[RT] ProjUltraZ]

you're right, the ethanol is added at the rack before delivery to prevent absorbing water condensation as much as possible

 

[Drew2000]

Originally Posted By: LTVibe
Originally Posted By: Jonny Z
2nd, ethanol cannot be transported in pipelines...

It can be now:

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2010...fuel-gasoline/2

Quote:
...Stephens toured the Kinder-Morgan fuel storage center in Orlando because that facility is doing something no other company in the U.S. can. It uses a 16-inch, 115-mile pipeline that leads from Tampa's harbor to the Orlando facility to carry ethanol...

...Houston-based Kinder-Morgan developed a proprietary package of additives that, for reasons known only to them, negates the effect of the ethanol on the pipe. As for the valves and pumps and such, the company spent millions making them ethanol-friendly, which includes removing any gaskets or washers that were rubber, and replacing them with a DuPont-made substance not affected by ethanol.



Yeah, but that seems like a dedicated pipeline just for ethanol. Most pipelines carry multiple product batches (gasoline, diesel jet fuel, home heating oil etc.) at the same time and that's where the biggest compatibility problem is.

Most refiners get ethanol by rail-freight tank cars and a few by barge.

 

[Samilcar]

That's a batch pipeline as well. The article says that the ethanol batches don't mix with the gasoline batches (as was first feared).

 

[EricF]

I know that MTBE, that should be outlawed very soon in California, is 35% of a fuel load. Pretty nasty stuff!