Industry Update

Blackmer® X Series Sliding Vane Pumps Aid In Transfer of Ethanol and Other Biofuels In European Markets

Grand Rapids, MI -- March 9, 2009 – In 2003, the European Union adopted Biofuels Directive 2003/30/EC, which dictates that all oil companies on the continent be capable of offering motor fuels that have a minimum of 5.75% biofuel content by Jan. 1, 2010. To meet this directive, fuel producers and suppliers need to possess the capability to blend biofuels/ethanol and motor fuel both accurately and efficiently.

While blending biofuels/ethanol at the loading rack has many operational benefits, getting the ethanol into the blending system is just as important an application as moving the finished product out and into the supply chain. To that end, the United Kingdom subsidiary of a prominent Netherlands-based supplier of precision instrumentation and software systems for bulk-storage operations, developed a range of offloading/blending skids to aid the process.

A key component of these skids are Blackmer® X Series Sliding Vane Pumps, which are supplied by London-based AxFlow UK, one of Europe’s leading positive-displacement pump distributors. As many as four Blackmer pumps—which have received ATEX 01T3 international certification for this operation—are used on the skids, with four-inch pumps used for offloading the ethanol from transport trucks into storage tanks and two-inch pumps used for blending in denaturant, if required.

The Blackmer X Series pumps are ideal for handling ethanol and other biofuels due to their design. Among the benefits of the X Series pumps are:

    • Sliding-vane design self-adjusts for wear to maintain flow rates
    • Self-priming and dry-run capabilities
    • Stripping, or evacuation, of “heels” from transport trucks into storage tanks
    • Adjustable relief valve that protects pump from excessive pressures
    • Easy maintenance allows vanes to be replaced without removing the pump from piping

For more information about Blackmer’s X Sliding Vane Pumps, please contact Tom Stone at stone@blackmer.com or (616) 248-9252.

www.blackmer.com

Blackmer® is the leading global provider of innovative and high-quality rotary vane pump and reciprocating compressor technologies for the transfer of liquids and gasses. For more than a century, the Blackmer name has stood for unparalleled product performance, superior services and support, well-timed innovation and a commitment to total customer satisfaction. Supported by a worldwide network of distributors and original equipment manufacturers, Blackmer pumps and compressors are used in a multitude of applications in the Process, Energy, Transport and Military-Marine markets. Blackmer—headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA—is a member of Dover Corporation’s Pump Solutions Group (PSG™).

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March 10-11. 2010
Anaheim, California