NTSB to Prioritize Safe Shipment of Ethanol

by Matt Thompson (Ethanol Producer Magazine) The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board recently released it’s Most Wanted List for 2019 and 2020, with a focus on the ethanol industry.

According to the list, the safe shipment of hazardous materials—including ethanol and crude oil—can be achieved by upgrading current tank cars to the new DOT-117 cars. NTSB notes 16 percent of the U.S. tank car fleet that carries hazardous material has been upgraded so far.

... Federal Railroad Administration requires cars that are used for shipping ethanol be upgraded or retrofitted by 2023.

In addition to the newer tank cars, Hall (Robert Hall, NTSB’s director of the Office of Railroad, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials) said the NTSB issued a recommendation to Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to research whether it’s safer to ship undenatured ethanol than denatured. The recommendation followed a 2017 derailment near Graettinger, Iowa. “It’s safer in the undenatured state,” Hall said. “You have environmental issues when you have a spill of denatured ethanol. The undenatured ethanol, from an environmental damage standpoint, is a much easier product to clean up. The cleanup is greatly simplified without the gasoline in it.” READ MORE