Transport Canada has posted a Bulletin to their website on ethanol and gasoline mixtures.

For shippers, the classifications to be used are as follows:

• for mixtures up to 10% ethanol (E10): gasoline, UN1203
• more than 10% but less than 100% (> E10 < E100); ethanol and gasoline mixture, UN3475
• 100% ethanol (E100): ethanol or ethyl alcohol, UN1170

Ethanol and gasoline mixtures must not be classified as:

• UN1987, ALCOLHOLS, N.O.S.,
• UN1993, FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS, N.O.S, or
• NA1987, DENATURED ALCOHOL

For emergency responders, the different blends mean different responses in the event of fire. For mixtures up to E10 (UN1203), emergency responders can use the aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) that is usually used to combat gasoline fires.

However, for mixtures in excess of E10 (UN3475 and UN1170), the use of AFFF is virtually useless as these mixtures are polar/water-miscible flammable liquids that degrade the AFFF. Emergency responders should be using AF-AFFF (alcohol resistant, aqueous film-forming foam).

View the complete Bulletin on Transport Canada’s website.

The price of oil is down about 3% from yesterday, yet the price of a litre of gasoline keeps going up. The stations I passed on the way to work today were showing $1.019/L.

Has anyone been into a PetroCanada station in the last couple of days for gas? Did you notice the sticker on the pump that shows the breakdown of the cost of gasoline? Given that breakdown the price of gasoline should be in the $0.65 – 0.70 range. How can they justify the current pricing?

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