Southern Pump & Tank

Source: Energy Digital

Date :11/04/2008 04:00:06

General Manager Steve Childers and Marketing Manager Katherine Henkle explain how Southern Pump & Tank Company found its way to the leading edge of renewable petroleum solutions

Written by Emmet Cole and Produced by Melissa Abbott

Southern Pump & Tank Company (SPATCO) was among the first companies to design and build the gas stations seen everywhere today. Now, the company is on the leading edge of renewable fuels, using the latest technology to blend custom grades of Ethanol and Bio-Diesel fuels.

SPATCO has been an industry leader for over 70 years by providing a complete line of equipment and services for handling petroleum and industrial liquids. The company maintains eleven branch offices in six states throughout the Southeast, servicing convenience stores, oil jobbers, municipalities, and companies with fleet-fueling facilities on-site. The company even launched a carwash division in 2002.

This combination of specialties has turned SPATCO into a key player in the rapidly growing renewable fuels market.

“We have the ability to cross all areas of industry in the alternative fuels market,” general manager Steve Childers says. “Our competitors don’t have the design and build capabilities that we have. We provide the total package from start to finish through our in-house engineering and CAD departments. We’re a full product, service, and engineering supplier for our customers.”

In-House approach

This in-house approach provides several benefits for SPATCO’s customers. Often times, customers first have to go to an engineering firm for designs, then another for equipment purchasing, and still another company to get the system installed. SPATCO can do it all in one shot, ensuring greater cohesion within a project.

“We are uniquely positioned in the market because we have both petroleum and industrial divisions which allows us to do the design engineering, as well as furnish the equipment and do the installation,” says Marketing Manager Katherine Henkle. “We provide our customers with petroleum regulations and dispensing expertise, as well as the knowledge of complex/custom pump and control systems.”

This breadth of knowledge proved helpful a year and a half ago, when SPATCO began its involvement in the renewable fuels industry.

Mixing Differentiation

SPATCO offers customers a splash blending solution, as well as custom injection blending options for ethanol and biodiesel. Splash Blending is when ethanol is added directly to a tanker truck along with the base petroleum. This method is acceptable, but not always accurate.

Injection Blending combines petroleum and biofuel into a single product and gives you a completely accurate blend ratio. This method reduces the need for multiple storage tanks and maximizes dispenser flexibility by creating variable product options, based on your needs.

SPATCO also offers a variety of Loading and Unloading Systems including tanker truck, rail, or rack. Pumps and meters are calibrated to your site specifications and optimized for use in distribution or splash blending.

“We have designed and built blending skid systems for customers across the United States. We’ve installed over 60 units to date and we are in negotiations with two large biofuel companies for 200 more units,” Childers says. “Our equipment is custom designed and engineered to our customer’s specifications. If they’re looking for B5 we can set it to blend at B5. Or, B20 or B100.”

The company also creates custom control systems for its loading and unloading systems, as well some of its biofuel package systems. An ethernet connection in the equipment allows station owners with multiple sites to control blend ratios for each site remotely.

“If a retail station owner has locations across the country, we can tie all those together enabling him to look at his usage, make blend ratio adjustments, and more from his home office or on site,” Childers says.

The biggest challenge to this approach, Childers says, is working at older locations that weren’t originally designed for biofuels. “Sometimes, we have to do some pretty interesting engineering to our equipment on the job site to make it work.”

Training and Technology

There are certain differences that arise in the field when working with alternative fuels versus petroleum. SPATCO made the transition with ease. According to Childers, SPATCO’s petroleum and liquid handling employees were well prepared to venture into the alternative fuels market. The company’s innovative and resourceful experts provided solutions to any problems they faced.

This was possible because SPATCO hires only top-quality employees, and then spends an intense amount of time training the staff. The company now boasts more than 90 manufacturer-certified technicians ready to help its clients.

On the petroleum side, the company uses two in-house trainers, who teach technicians the ins and outs of all the equipment. The company trains sales people on products and liquid handling issues, and industrially equips the employees to evaluate, analyze and handle the intensely complex systems. SPATCO also offers educational training to their customers and recently hosted a U.S. Department of Energy training workshop to teach its customers about saving energy through efficiencies in pumps, motors and controls. It’s all part of preparing for the company’s big, renewable future.