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We plan to dismantle a tetraethyl lead additive station and removal of tetraethyl lead is necessary prior to dismantling. Could you advise how this should be undertaken?
 
Answers
21/04/2020 A: Diby Alain, SIR, alain.diby@sir.ci
Dear Nagarathinam S Murthy,
Thank you for your answer. I would just clarify the scope.
Our refinery produces lead free gasoline since 2005.... the scope of my request is the deconstruction and cleaning of the redundant TEL storage and blending plant as it is a highly hazardous and extremely specialized operation. We are looking for companies able to perform this work. Please could you advise us ?
13/04/2020 A: Nagarathinam S Murthy, Ashphil Consultancy, Chennai, nssvdvr@gmail.com
It is rather interesting to see such a query in 2020 when lead free gasoline was mandated in the mid 90s in almost all countries around the world. However, the best way to tackle this issue is: 1. Stop the intake of TEL barrels into the refinery; 2. Start producing lead free gasoline which you can over a period of say 3 to 6 months. This will clean up all assets involved in offsite for blending & despatch of gasoline viz. tank farms, pipeline, pumps, TEL dosing system (including educator, etc.); 3. Keep checking the TEL level in the gasoline is being despatched to ASTM D3237 and the current spec of unleaded gasoline is 5mg/l as Pb. The sooner we get lead below this value, we can declare that the refinery is producing unleaded gasoline. The TEL station can also be cleaned by repeated flushing with high flash kerosene. Also, check for any TEL sludge in gasoline tanks and retail outlets so that any cleaning can be taken up only after repeated cycles of use by unleaded gasoline. Also keep track of the WWTP for any inadvertent ingress of TEL. Good luck to you and your refinery team to wipe out lead.