TU: Liquefied natural gas: Handle carefully:

Times-Union

Fuel use increasing; donations fund training course at FSCJ South

By Drew Dixon drew.dixon@jacksonville.com  

The use of liquefied natural gas is increasing in Jacksonville — including at the port and other businesses — and with this new fuel option comes concerns about how to handle the gas. Is it dangerous? Could it be harmful in a spill?

To help area businesses and rescue workers deal with some of the challenges of the growing use of LNG, a new training course is being developed at Florida State College at Jacksonville Fire Academy of the South. About $45,000 in donations from a group of area businesses has helped to fund the new LNG training at the FSCJ South Campus off Beach Boulevard.

“Because we have such an abundance of liquefied natural gas in this country, we’re starting to see it being utilized [more],” said Sheldon Reed, director of the fire academy. “I think it’s safer than other fuels.

“The difference between this [LNG] and what we have seen from our other fuels is that it’s a cryogenic, which means that in its storage state, in its liquid state, it’s at minus 260 degrees [Fahrenheit]. That requires some special handling,” Reed said.

At JaxPort alone, the use of LNG has been proliferating. Jacksonville-based Crowley Maritime Corp. has initiated steps to use LNG-fueled ships and is transporting LNG to Caribbean islands such as Puerto Rico. Crowley was one of the donors to the FSCJ Fire Academy training program.
But other commercial outfits such as UPS shipping are using LNG-fueled vehicles to deliver packages . Trains are transporting LNG into the area and several LNG stations for fueling vehicles have opened around the First Coast.

LNG has unique properties, Reed said. If it leaked from a container in its liquid form, it appears odorless, colorless and can be mistaken for water on an open surface. If there is a spill, area businesses and rescue workers need to be educated on how to deal with it, Reed said.

“It converts itself from a liquefied natural gas to a compressed natural gas. The liquid won’t burn. [But] as it warms and vaporizes, that’s when those fires or incidents [happen],” Reed said. “Our first-responders need to be aware of this new product.”

Even in the initial leak or spill phase, the cryogenic or liquid state of LNG can severely harm someone if it comes in contact with skin. Reed said the frozen liquid state may not explode, but at minus 260 degrees it can cause be extremely harmful to people as well as other material near the area of a spill. If the LNG comes into contact with anything at such a low temperature, it’s likely to freeze it and that could ruin many materials or an item could instantly break from being so brittle.

The main control tactic for containing an LNG spill, Reed said, is to use a burlap sack, a sheet or similar material and then wet it down and use it as a dam to block any spread of the leak and prevent it from flowing into drainage systems. Most important, if LNG gets into a drainage system it could then pose the same type of safety threat beneath a building or street.

Charles White, public safety director for Jax-Port, said LNG fuel use is increasing dramatically at the seafaring hub and area companies and emergency personnel are focused on learning techniques to deal with it.

“Absolutely this [safety training] is catching up,” White said. “It’s the emergency preparedness process that we’ve been working on. It’s the safety aspects we’ve been working on.

“Now, it’s really getting into the details for us,” White said. “The training supports the overall first response and the general stakeholders that will have some involvement with liquefied natural gas for the marine industry.”

White said while the immediate focus of the fire academy LNG training centers on the current use of the fuel in the Jacksonville area, the training program will expand as the LNG infrastructure increases and transfer of the gas increases, such as in pipes, on rail and other forms of transportation. The vessels using and transporting LNG at the port now are just in the beginning phase of expanded presence of the fuel.

“The investments that we are collectively making with everyone that’s involved in this are to develop out the core capability for our workforce.

Not just those that are going to respond to LNG but those personnel that will be working day to day within the LNG industry,” White said.
JaxPort is one of the entities that made a contribution to the LNG training class. TOTE shipping and some LNG companies also donated.

“Clearly, they’re leading from the front of the industry for Jacksonville in terms of getting us all prepared,” White said.

Jeff Brunell, analyst for LNG at Crowley, said the company considers it an investment to donate to the LNG training program.

“Our interest in this program and involvement in this program is to stretch our safety response knowledge and experience and help the emergency responders and first responders here … become the hub of LNG in the Southeast and really the East Coast,” Brunell said.

Reed said the educational course has only been operational in the past month and it’s in the fundamental stages and consists of four hours of lectures and some simulations. The course is open to first responders from across the First Coast and businesses who handle LNG. Enrollment in the course is limited for the time being and academy officials approve participants.

Reed said that in early 2016 the course will likely evolve and delve into more intricate issues surrounding the science and application of LNG along with more in-depth tactics for containing the fuel.