Transport consultant says that large-scale rail destination terminals critical to handling ethanol growth

In Illinois, the principal of Transportation Consultants said that the construction of rail terminals that can handle large-scale ethanol shipments is critical to the growth of the ethanol industry. Thomas Williamson, speaking to Reuters, said that with ethanol primarily shipped by rail in the US, most ethanol facilities are able to load “unit trains” that carry 1.5-3.25 million gallons at a time, but only seven destination terminals can receive and unload them. Unit trains terminals can load and unload 50 to 100 car-long trains in less than 24 hours.

Rail transport of ethanol is one of the key “weak links” in the buildup of ethanol infrastructure. In addition to a shortage of rail terminals, there are significant concerns about the safety aspects of transporting ethanol by rail.

Last week in Ohio, an explosion occurred at the American AG Fuels plant in Defiance. The cause of the explosion is not known, but it happened in the loading area of the plant. Three workers were injured, including one who was airlifted to a Toledo-area burn center. The blast broke windows of local residents, but no other damages were reported.

The incident was the 25th ethanol-related fire or disaster in the past six years. A full list of ethanol fires can be found here.

In Colorado last week, a train derailed at Windsor. The derailment occurred on a section of track that had been repaired following previous derailments, and involved an empty ethanol tank car.

In Ohio earlier this month, an ethanol train derailed, caught fire, exploded and forced the evacuation of 1300 homes of people from their homes. Thirty of the 112 cars derailed, including eight that carried the ethanol that caught fire. The train carried one tanker of liquefied petroleum gas, which did not catch fire. The train was bound for Buffalo.

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