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.