JACKSON, NJ - A newly released white paper from Newson Gale Inc., Jackson, NJ, provides detailed guidance for the safe transfer of combustible materials to or from tanker trucks. The paper cites specific applicable safety standards to be observed and describes currently available technology to eliminate static electric buildup before it reaches the level when a potentially dangerous spark might result in a fire or explosion.

The paper is now available, free of charge for review or downloading, from the Newson-Gale website: http://www.newson-gale.com/Documents/TankTrucks.pdf.

The loading and unloading of tank trucks containing flammable or combustible products has been recognized as a major fire or explosion hazard for decades. For example, a 1967 study published by the American Petroleum Institute cited more than 60 incidents of static-spark ignition. Covering both current preventive standards and advancements in spark elimination technology, this new paper details the concerted progress that has been made in recent years in dealing with this hazard.

Step by step, the paper discusses how and where static electric charge can accumulate and under what circumstances a potentially dangerous spark can result. This includes graphs showing the levels of voltage generated on a tank truck during the transfer of an electrostatically charged liquid and also potential minimum ignition energies present during filling operations.

It then proceeds to highlight the provisions of the currently applicable safety standards, specifically NFPA 77, API RP 2003 and CLCTR 50404. And it concludes with a review of acceptable grounding systems, including the recently developed truck-recognition technology and what constitutes an effective grounding source.