From: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) <subscriptions@nist.gov>
Date: Fri, Aug 1, 2014 at 7:32 AM
Subject: NIST Corrosion Lab Tests Suggest Need for Underground Gas Tank Retrofits
To: iammejtm@gmail.com
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A hidden hazard lurks beneath many of the roughly 156,000 gas stations across the United States.
The hazard is corrosion in parts of underground gas storage tanks—corrosion that could result in failures, leaks and contamination of groundwater, a source of drinking water. In recent years, field inspectors in nine states have reported many rapidly corroding gas storage tank components such as sump pumps. These incidents are generally associated with use of gasoline-ethanol blends and the presence of bacteria, Acetobacter aceti, which convert ethanol to acetic acid, a component of vinegar.
Following up on the inspectors' findings, a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) laboratory study* has demonstrated severe corrosion—rapidly eating through 1 millimeter of wall thickness per year—on steel alloy samples exposed to ethanol and acetic acid vapors. Based on this finding, NIST researchers suggest gas stations may need to replace submersible pump casings, typically made of steel or cast iron, sooner than expected. Such retrofits could cost an estimated $1,500 to $2,500 each, and there are more than 500,000 underground gas storage tanks around the country.
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Jeremy Tobias Matthews
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