National Petroleum News (NPN) has been the independent voice of the petroleum industry since 1909 as the opposition to Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. So, motor fuels marketing and retail is not just a sideline for us, it’s our core competency.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/121500
MARKETING & SUPPLY Maintain Vapor Recovery? With the rush to decommission Stage II, there are some considerations for maintaining use of the vapor recovery equipment, particularly solutions designed to deal with emissions from the UST tank vent. ORVR can pressurize the tank forcing out vapor, but so can environmental changes and the fueling process at high-volume sites. Arid Systems, based in Wheaton, Ill., provides vapor processor technology to address these concerns. The company does a lot of business in Europe where Stage II solutions are in place, but ORVR is not an issue. Excess air still gets in the system, pressure spikes still occur with tanker deliveries and atmospheric pressure variations and to relieve the pressure they use an orifice plate to constantly bleed off the pressure in the tank. When used in conjunction with Stage I, a membrane processor system will capture vapor during a delivery spike and incrementally reduce environmental risk to groundwater from the pressures by forcing vapor through any failure into the ground. The vapor is returned to the tank as liquid fuel. "You definitely want to mitigate emissions from the storage tank itself so that would involve considering a processor," said Ted Tiberi, Arid president. "If you already have Stage II installed or might consider putting it in and if you have a high-volume site, there is a credible argument that could be made for a favorable economic payback in combination with Stage II, ORVR and a processor. There is also a credible argument for payback with a processor alone if Stage II is not present. You can even make an argument for a low volume site at today's wholesale prices where you could be saving as much as two gallons per thousand. So a site that does 100,000 gallons per month in business could potentially be saving 200 gallons." Of all the states, Illinois is out in front with actually promoting decommissioning. "Illinois is requiring that starting January 1, 2014 not only do you not have to put Stage II in, but there is a three year window where the stations in the seven impacted counties have to remove the equipment," said Dzierzanowski. He noted that most states require that if you are decommissioning station, you let the state know in writing, and there is typically a checklist. PEI's Recommended Practices for Stage II, Section 14, covers decommissioning and it has commonly been adopted by the states as their decommissioning guidelines. DECOMMISSIONING PROCESS Decommissioning Stage II equipment generally involves capping off and disconnecting various Stage II components including disconnecting the VAC pump motor; reprogramming the dispenser to let it know that is no longer involved in the system; permanently plugging the vapor pipe at the bottom of the dispenser and making sure that it is below the height of the frame of the dispenser; and swapping out the old hanging hardware at the dispenser (also tied into the UL 87 certification). The final requirement is to change out the 1 APril 2013 decals on the dispenser related to Stage II requirements, such as not topping off the tank. Regulations generally require facilities to decommission their entire Stage II system rather than replacing equipment at individual dispensers. Dzierzanowski noted that "unless you run into something exceptional, it should not be a problem to decommission a site during a single day." Because Stage II systems involve flammable vapors and possibly flammable liquids, state agencies suggest fuel marketers take proper measures to understand the risk factors involved in decommissioning. Wisconsin, for example, considers improper decommissioning a fire safety concern subject to regulatory enforcement. State agencies will monitor the decommissioning process carefully. In Missouri for example, the Department of Natural Resources said it will use its enforcement discretion to guard against deviations from established decommissioning procedures. MARKETER CONSIDERATIONS Operating Stage II equipment has a cost to marketers and retailers typically related to maintenance and the replacement of Stage II compliant components as they wear out. Hanging hardware components alone can NPN Magazine n www.npnweb.com