Fuel Vapour Recovery

[empip]

I believe 'stage 1" - for deliveries of fuel etc.. has been implemented.
Stage 2 -- anyone??

http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/consult/pvrstage2/02.htm

Petrol Vapour Recovery Controls
69. The Government also proposes to bring forward legislation to ensure that emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from vehicle refueling are properly controlled, which will reduced levels of benzene and ozone, (to which VOCs are a contributing factor). This follows European legislation which came into force in 1995 to control emissions of VOCs resulting from the storage of petrol and its distribution from terminals to service stations. This "Stage I" Directive applies to terminals, most transport containers (road and rail tankers and barges) and petrol service stations and requires the establishment of a 'closed' system of petrol storage and transportation, under which petrol vapours are recovered and then regenerated back into petrol.

70. Stage I legislation is effective as far as it goes, but it does not reduce emissions into the atmosphere during the process of vehicle refueling. A system can be fitted to the petrol pump to collect vapours not covered by Stage I controls and return them to the petrol storage tank under the forecourt. From there, the vapours will be recycled back into petrol at terminals by means of the Stage I controls.

71. The European Commission had intended to introduce a second Directive in this area, known as 'Stage II' legislation, but as a number of EU Member States have now either brought forward Stage II controls for service stations on a unilateral basis or have plans to do so, the Commission has dropped its plans for a Stage II Directive.

72. The Government intends to consult on its proposals for Stage II controls during 1999.

Consultation has taken place ....

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Petrol Vapour Recovery Stage II - Consultation
Petrol vapour escapes when drivers fill their tanks at a service station. Petrol contains Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). VOCs are a precursor to ground level ozone, the main constituent of summer time smog. Exposure to ozone can damage crops and ecosystems, and presents a direct risk to human health. Benzene, for example, is a genotoxic human carcinogen. Petrol vapour recovery systems can be installed at service stations to reduce emissions of VOCs from vehicle refuelling; these are known as 'stage II' controls.
It is proposed to implement stage II controls in the UK by a limited negotiated agreement with UK industry.
Closing date for comments 9 July 2002
[http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/consult/pvrstage2/index.htm]

ZVA Vapour Recovery Nozzle
This ZVA nozzle is for use on dispensers with a stage II vapour recovery system. Fitted with an unleaded spout and No. 4 guard. Fixed inlet to fit onto coaxial vapour recovery hoses.

Been reading odd snippets that 'filling to the gun' can draw metered fuel back into supply tanks with such 'stage II' systems - any knowledge ??
That probably does more good than harm .... Probably best not to regularly brim at a 'stage 2' setup... If we have them.

 

[AdamW]

Questionnable, isn't it?

Looking at the diagram, the vapour recovery system sucks in fuel vapour from inside your tank. Thus lowering the vapour pressure of petrol in the air in your tank. Which would cause more petrol to evaporate, what with it being a rather volatile substance.

OK, so that vapour is collected instead of just being displaced by liquid fuel going into the tank (currently vapour spills out of your filler cap as the petrol pushes it out). But you will be making more vapour than before.

What we really need are gas-tight fuel tanks and filler systems. Have a nitrogen accumulator to pressurise the tank and have high-pressure fuel hoses to refill through special gas-tight filler nozzles. Alternatively, they should drop the price of petrol by 0.0001p/litre to take into account the petrol they are stealing and reselling to us.

 

[Steve]

LPG uses airtight filler nozzles, but then it has to remain pressurised to remain a liquid. Why cant petrol use the same nozzles as LPG pumps?

 

[empip]

Googled report

1.10
Technical projects and investigations
1.10.1 'Hot petrol'
1.10.2 Gantry meters
1.10.3 Testing of petrol pumps
1.10.4 Portable weighbridges
1.10.5 Automatic In-motion rail weighbridge
1.10.6 Effect of vapour recovery systems on petrol pumps
1.10.7 Software club
1.10.8 RF immunity of weighing and measuring instruments
1.10.9 Frequency range of mobile telephone

... It should be noted that the motorist normally loses 0.108% of the displayed volume due to vaporisation when he fills his tank with a non-vapour recovery nozzle....

So if we take 15m motorists (75%'ish of actual, error factor etc) average 10k miles/annum, say 35mpg or approx 7.7m/litre fuel dispensed and paid for :-
15m x 10k ÷ 7.7 x 0.00108 x £0.92 = £19.35m/annum. Plus the eventual cost of the pollution. (21m litres/annum or if that doesn't impress, then 57,500 litres/day) ... A little contribution from each adds up to a fair old slab, enough to make one's eyes water !!

 

[kendor]

won't be able to get a high when filling up anymore

 

[empip]

Also achieved Associate Membership of optical Engineering today... What a day

 

[PTH]

Firstly the overfill sensor in a vapour recovery nozzle will shut the supply off long before the liquid level reaches the VR inlet to the nozzle. The design of tank filler necks and the nozzle itself should also minimise the amount of splashing that getting as high as the VR inlet.

Secondly, there shouldn't be any more vapour generated during the filling process because item 2 on the schematic controls the vacuum directly in proportion to the fuel delivery rate. The vacuum is of a very low order, so no real difference in the evaporation rate, and, as you are not using that vapour it is better for it to be sent back to a storage tank to condense than to let it loose in the atmosphere, don't you think?

Stage 2 VR is in use in some places - Tesco in Eastville I think is the closest to me, some of the Shell stations in the SE.

It will come in but the pumps are expensive so there is a fair amount of industry opposition.

 

[village idiot]

I believe 'stage 1" - for deliveries of fuel etc.. has been implemented.
Stage 2 -- anyone??

Stage 1b has been on the forecourts for many years now, coming in in stages depending on spirit throughput with the threshold starting at 1000000litres/year, then 500000litres/year, then finally coming down to 250000litres/year
in Scotland SEPA decided this was a good money earner & charged for the licence to install this "emission control device" then another yearly fee to retain this licence.
Stage 2 has also been coming in slowly as the busy sites get upgraded with new pumps
I have had little experience with this side as I have been away from the pump maintence side for a few years but have instead been concentrating on the testing of the undergrond storage tanks & associated pipework including stage 1b VR

 

[empip]

PTH .... Was anyone arguing ??

 

[PTH]

Sorry empip, I didn't mean to appear argumentative, just typing faster than thinking. I use the spell-check but can't seem to find the button for the manners-check.

I guess that we're all agreed that it is a 'good thing'.

.........insomnia?, nocturnal?

 

[empip]

Bit of everything .........
Should have expected a gashead's arrival !! ( )

 

[PTH]

Tee hee. I do not possess either a blue and white or a red and white scarf. The closest I get to sport is a game of dominoes.

 

[empip]

Welcome PTH ... Dominoes eh !! I remember 'shove ha'penny' nights at the Horse & Groom, behind the city council house... (in St. Georges Road)

That was of course, before discovering Aqua Sulis and it's Romantic facilities...

 

[Moz]

kendor
your not that loon who has been cutting pump hoses for his petrol rush ,reported awhile ago in the news ...??? if so can you take some big Jerry cans an fill them for me before the old bill turn up ..lol

 

[empip]

This is f'k all to do with Ken he was just nosin' around, a bit of southern comfort here ..............