Foiled Again

A third-generation Ohio propane retailer has big plans to expand his business on the promise of offering customers a product that prevents any propane vessels from exploding.

Nationwide Safe *T* Propane Inc. of Germantown, Ohio has patented the Safe *T* Foil aluminum insert that is designed to suppress fuel tank explosions by dissipating explosive vapors in a honeycomb of thousands of tiny channels in an inert, non-corrosive foil mesh.

“Vapors need to accumulate in a certain quantity within a fuel tank in order for an explosion to occur, and my product prevents this condition from taking place,” says George W. Kuhn, company president and CEO.

The heavy gauge foil displaces 3 to 6 percent of a tank’s volume, adding minimal weight gain. The insert reduces internal temperature and pressure and cuts down on sloshing of the fuel. An anti-flaking feature prevents clogging of sensitive components.

Through his propane retail operation, Kuhn provides insert-equipped cylinders to his Cincinnati-area forklift accounts on an exchange basis. The 33-pound vessels are prepared for Nationwide by Manchester Tank.

Nationwide leases the enhanced cylinders to propane retailers for $4.50 a month per tank as part of its overall safety program offering. Customer brochures and other sales aids come with the package.

“We use the safety of the tank as a marketing tool,” Kuhn explains. “I’ve had a really good success rate with selling people on safety.”

Starting with a bang

Kuhn was introduced to the safety foil concept in 1986 while working with his father’s propane retail shop. His father saw the product at an industry convention and passed the word along to his fascinated son.

“I convinced him to let me buy 1,200 tanks on credit” and had them fitted, the younger Kuhn recalls.

The technology got an intense, real-life test just a few years later when a massive fire and explosion struck the family operation. On site were 600 traditional tanks and 400 with foil inserts.

“None of the safety cylinders (exploded via BLEVE), but 80 percent of the old-style cylinders did. So we figured this was a good thing,” George W. reports.

Flying shards of metal from the traditional tanks flew across an Interstate highway and ignited a blaze that consumed 250 acres in a field.

By 1996, the son had started his own propane retailing business focusing on the forklift market, National Safe *T* Propane Inc. He began Nationwide Safe *T* Propane Inc. in 2001 to market his tank-safety program. He hopes to develop 30 distributorships for the publicly held company among other propane retailers.

Left: The Nationwide Safe*T*Propane, Inc. filling plant in Ohio. Above: The new Safe *T* Foil-protected forklift cylinders await shipment from the company plant.

Next steps

Beyond the current forklift market, Kuhn foresees equipping propane tanks of all sizes with his product – both at the factory and retrofitted in the field. “It can work with any application,” he says.

As funding becomes available, he anticipates next entering the 20-pound grill cylinder market. He says the insert can be retrofitted in the field in about 15 minutes.

The automotive marketplace is another intriguing target to Kuhn, who foresees heightened popularity for propane as a non-polluting alternative for motorists.

“The industry hasn’t kept up with the technology in the motor fuel market,” he points out, referring to the lack of a broad consumer-based propane infrastructure.

“I’m an old propane guy, and the industry’s missing the boat on the propane motor fuel market. A lot of people are adverse to change, and this is a change.”

Kuhn says his company is meeting with Detroit automakers in an effort to include the explosion suppression technology in the manufacturing process of automotive fuel tanks.

“This could be done at a minimal added cost to the manufacturing of the automobile,” Kuhn says. “Every car in the world is a potential bomb on wheels.”

Taking aim

According to the company, the product has passed a series of tests for both military and commercial applications.

Independent testing at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas has confirmed that the product prevents explosions in the Ford Crown Victoria gas tank, which has experienced a number of high-profile fireballs involving police cars experiencing rear-end collisions.

In addition to providing propane tank safety, the technology has been researched for use in tanks holding other petroleum products.

Some of the higher profile testing has covered ballistics and military applications, such as helicopters.

“In combat situations the enemy aims for the fuel tanks in land vehicles and in aircraft,” Kuhn points out.

Military marksmen have done their best to compromise the system, according to Kuhn, and they have been markedly unsuccessful.

“Large gauge rounds of armor-piercing incendiary ammunition have been fired into fuel tanks filled with the Safe*T*Foil inserts with no explosions occurring.”