PROBLEMS OF TANKS FIRE PROTECTION WITH NEW EUROPEAN FUEL

Issues raised by the authors are related to fire extinguishing fundamentals of the European standard fuels in tanks and tank farms. Relevance of the article is determined by the introduction of Technical regulations “On requirements for motor and aviation gasoline, diesel and marine fuel, jet fuel and heating oil”. Russian fuel market undergoes transition to the use of environmentally friendly motor fuels. Such transition should be fully realized by the end of 2014. European countries, such as Germany, have already been using refined fuel since 2009. Current fire safety regulations in force in the territory of the Russian Federation lack requirements which determine flow rate intensity of fire extinguishers to put out fires. Presence of alcohols within clean fuels determines different approaches to fire extinguishing. Traditional approaches to extinguish fires of European fuels with medium-expansion foam, as shown by laboratory tests, are inefficient. To ensure reliable fire protection of European standard fuels storage it is necessary to apply low-expansion fire-extinguishing foam, derived from fluorine-containing, film forming foaming agents. Designing of such systems should be implemented using sound scientific methods.