Todd, Yes, I just finished a biodiesel facility. A straight EH2 approach doesn't really cut it for the indoor storage of some of those liquids. It depends a lot on what sizes and arrangements of tanks you will have, where the methanol is, whether the process is indoors or outside, etc. Basically, the biodiesel itself and raw oils such as cottonseed, palm, and corn oils are class 3B liquids typically, but the methanol and sodium methoxide are the nasty ones (class 1B). Additionally, there is a point in the process typically where the mixing has already occurred but enough free methanol can still be present in the mixture to classify the entire vessel contents as class 1B. We used a closed head foam system indoors and an open head deluge system over a separate methanol storage area. I highly recommend foam for this application versus just water at a high density as you initially mentioned. Feel free to give me a call or email if you would like to discuss it in more detail.
Good luck, Steve Kowkabany, P.E. Fire Protection Engineer Neptune Fire Protection Engineering LLC 216 Seagate Avenue Unit B Neptune Beach, FL 32266 904-652-4200 Phone 904-212-0868 Fax -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Todd Williams - work Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2007 5:02 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Biodiesel mfg I have been asked to look at some criteria for a small (2500 sqft) biodiesel processing facility. Someone (I'm not sure who) defined this as a Class !B flammable liquid and called for a 0.40 gpm/sqft density over the entire building area. While I'm not necessarily challenging this, I cannot find anything to verify it. NFPA 13 and 30 seem to focus more on storage than processing. Has anyone else run into this yet? Todd G. Williams, PE Fire Protection Design/Consulting Stonington, Connecticut 860-535-2080 www.fpdc.com _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
