The Use of FRP with Alcohol-Containing Fuels

Abstract

There will be increasing use of alcohols and other oxygenated compounds, such as MTBE and TAME, for enhancing the octane value of gasoline. In some cases, alcohols, such as methanol, may be used as a direct fuel. In recognition of this, many standards relating to the storage, handling, or containment of petroleum products contain ing oxygenates have been adopted, such as UL 1361. FRP has had a long history of suc cessful use in containment of gasoline, but introduction of alcohols coupled with increased levels of reformates makes the fuels more aggressive toward FRP. Designing resins for this purpose is now very demanding, especially in view of stringent standards required to pre vent leaking from underground tanks and secondary containment vessels. This article dis cusses the trends in gasoline production as well as recently completed testing for candidate resins. Of special interest is the good performance observed for novolac-based vinyl esters and high-crosslink-density polyesters.