Finding the right pipeline for ethanol

Delaware Online.com
By JAMES MacPHERSON • Associated Press • September 21, 2008

BISMARCK, N.D -- Outside of the debate over how big a role ethanol will have as a viable U.S. energy source has been the lingering problem of transporting the biofuel, which can eat away pipes used for traditional fuels.

Ethanol has not been shipped on a commercial scale in existing pipelines because its high oxygen content makes it too corrosive. It also absorbs water and impurities in pipelines.

Houston-based Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP this month plans to run a test batch of ethanol through it's 105-mile long underground gasoline pipeline from Tampa to Orlando, Fla.

Industry experts estimate a pipeline dedicated to ethanol would cost about $1 million per mile.
But demand has grown to where development of new transportation methods may finally pay off, said Jim Lelio, Kinder Morgan's director of business development.

About 8,000 barrels of ethanol will be run through the pipeline and, if successful, the pipeline could be transporting ethanol on a commercial scale by year's end, Lelio said.

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