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Membranes for Reverse Organic-Air Separations--Compact Membrane Systems, Inc., 325 Water Street, Wilmington, DE  19804; 937-252-8969

Dr. Stuart Nemser, Principal Investigator

Mr. Glenn Walker, Business Official

DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-00ER82976

Amount:  $100,000

 

Fugitive Emissions of VOC’s from gasoline marketing facilities continue to be an energy, safety and environmental issue.  Beginning model year 2000, all vehicles are required to have an Onboard Refueling Vapor Recovery System (ORVR), which will increase fugitive emissions of refueling stations because of the interface between ORVR vehicles and gasoline station underground storage systems (UST).  The increase of VOC’s is attributed to the ingestion of fresh air into the (UST) mixing with the gasoline causing an approximate 40 percent vapor growth.  This growth increases the UST pressure and vents VOC’s into the atmosphere.  Conventional VOC recovery membranes (silicone rubber) preferentially transport organics over air, while this system has shown success in some gasoline/air separations it is not appropriate for air venting in UST.  Therefore in this program we will develop a reverse membrane system that allows for rapid venting of air while retaining gasoline in the UST.  This membrane system will represent a simple single stage one unit operation versus alternative technologies that are more complex.  CMS has developed a system that uses a specially coated membrane and pressure differential that separate the clean air from the VOC’s and allow the fresh air to be exhausted into the atmosphere.  Currently, one technology to deal with UST venting is to burn the excess VOC’s, which adds to the greenhouse gases rather than collecting the excess hydrocarbons.  This system will be built and evaluated first in our laboratory and then at an actual gasoline station.  At least three different membrane materials will be evaluated (CMS-3 and two new membrane materials).

 

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee:  Preliminary laboratory work indicates that the membrane system will control 95 percent of this emission.  This program will enhance this performance to 98 percent emission reduction by introducing novel system enhancements.  Preliminary field tests indicate savings ranging from 0.15 percent - 0.25 percent of all retail gasoline delivered in the United States.  Based on a total of 118 billion gallons of gasoline dispensed in the US, 0.15 percent recovery represents a potential product savings of 180,000,000 gallons each year.