Originally Posted By: Rosetta
So we got tanks with ethanol here for decades and the issue is very rare. And what COULD happen, doesn't happen so often as a negative propaganda will spread out. Or FAIRY TALES
Google "underground tank corrosion Brazil"...apparently your Government seems to think it's a real, and happening thing. Everyone who has an underground tank has to have a monitoring and inspection programme, have their tanks registered, and take liability...I doubt that you've held any responsibility for underground tanks, I have.
It, and the thread aren't stating that it's ONLY ethanol, it's DIFFERENT with ethanol. Petroleum bugs in low sulfur fuels don't make acid...acetobacteria, the ones that turn fermented liquids into acetic acid (vinegar, which I'm sure you believe in, and may have seen some with your own eyes, and maybe even touched it).
Tanks designed with this as a risk from first principals will have linings, or be made from plastic, not be 30 year old steel tanks filled recently with ethanol.
Keeping tanks full,and not breathing is great...however, you can't have a tanker/umbilical sitting there on the forecourt keeping the tank full 24/7, so the tank has to breathe, draw down, and make space for the next refill...drawing in air, which unless Brazil is in Arizona probably contains moisture...Arizona doesn't have "rainforests", so I'm assuming that humidity in Brazil isn't a fairy tale.