Since the phase-out of the gasoline additive MTBE and the introduction of the Renewable Fuels Standard in 2006, the gasoline market in the northeast corridor has switched to blending 10% ethanol in all gasoline. As part of the industry’s effort to educate policymakers and professionals from the biofuels industry on the workings of the petroleum products distribution system, Colonial and Plantation pipelines, the two major pipelines that deliver gasoline, diesel and other fuels to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast from the Gulf Coast, recently hosted technical tours of facilities in the greater Washington, DC.
On June 4, 2008, AOPL and Colonial Pipeline hosted a field trip to Colonial’s Dorsey Junction Tank Farm in Maryland to provide members of the National Commission on Energy Policy (NCEP) Biofuels Task force the opportunity to gain a better understanding of the processes and complexities of fuels transportation and distribution. Representatives from the Department of Energy, the US Department of Agriculture, ADM, the American Trucking Association, NCEP, Deloitte, and API participated in the tour.
The NCEP Biofuels Task Force, chaired by Norm Szydlowski, former President and CEO of Colonial Pipeline, is undertaking a project to identify gaps and pinch points in the current fuels infrastructure system and develop recommendations to meet future needs for the increasingly diverse fuels market. The task force is composed of public and private experts representing biofuels producters, fuels transportors (pipeline, rail, trucking), distributors, retailers, auto manufacturers, and government regulators.
At Dorsey Junction, petroleum products scheduled for delivery to terminals in the Baltimore area exit Colonial’s incoming 32-inch mainline, which originates at Greensboro, N.C. The products scheduled for local delivery are placed for a short period of time in one of the 23 breakout tanks at Dorsey. They are pumped from these break¬out tanks into local lateral lines to shipper terminals. There is a dedicated line that delivers jet fuel to the Baltimore Washington International Airport, for example. Products in Colonial’s incoming 36-inch mainline pass directly through Dorsey into a 30-inch mainline that terminates at Linden, New Jersey. These products, destined for delivery to points north of Baltimore, do not enter local breakout tanks.
Participants toured the tank farm, which included stops at the facility’s control room and an insiders’ tour of a jet fuel storage tank. The storage tank roof was being replaced, so tour participants had the unique experience of walking around inside. The tour also stopped at Kinder Morgan’s “transmix” operations on the site.
To meet the public’s diverse fuel needs, pipelines ship fuels in large batches with one batch abutting the next. Transmix is the blended fuel at the interface of two batches of different fuels. Sometimes the transmix can be blended into one or the other batch without altering the overall fuel integrity. Transmix between regular and midgrade gasoline, for example, can be mixed into the batch of regular gasoline. Transmix between gasoline and diesel has to be removed and processed into separate fuels before it can be put back into the system. For more information on multi-fuel batching check out Pipeline 101.
The tour was a successful, educational, and enjoyable afternoon – until a fierce thunderstorm rolled in and all headed for the bus to get back to Washington, DC.
