NEWS OF THE WEEK
FIRE INJURES FIVE CHEMISTRY STUDENTS SAFETY: Concerns grow about use of
methanol as fuel in demonstrations
Police and firefighters outside W.T. Woodson High School after a fire injured five students.
in a fire at W.T. Woodson High School in Fairfax, Va., on Oct. 30. The school has released no details about the incident, but local media reports indicate that the fire happened during a chemistry class demonstration called a “rainbow” flame test. The teacher “was demonstrating the experiment … with the different elements causing the fire to change color, and as the fire was dying down, she added more alcohol into it,” said one student interviewed by Fox 5 DC. “It was like a whoosh coming out, and it was like kind of a sideways fireball.” DAYNA S M I TH
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IVE STUDENTS AND A TEACHER were injured
PRESSURE MOUNTS ON BIOFUEL RULE REGULATION: Lower mandates could
DUPONT
harm market for cellulosic ethanol
DuPont’s new cellulosic ethanol plant runs on bales of corn leaves, stalks, and cobs.
UPPORTERS AND OPPONENTS of biofuel mandates are ramping up pressure on EPA in hopes of influencing a rule, due on Nov. 30, on how much corn ethanol and advanced biofuel will be blended in the U.S. fuel supply. The rule will come just as the United Nations kicks off its climate change conference in Paris and shortly after DuPont opened its first cellulosic ethanol facility, in Iowa. Advanced biofuel producers say strong mandates, enabled by the Renewable Fuels Standard, make investments in low-carbon fuels possible. For next year, EPA has proposed to increase the amount of corn and cellulosic biofuel that fuel blenders use but at levels less than those authorized under the 2007 law that set targets for the standard. The proposal signals EPA may not push to accelerate biofuel adoption and that the U.S. will likely lose its leading position to other countries, says Jan Koninckx, DuPont’s global business director for biofuel. “The
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The fire comes amid growing concern about use of fuels such as methanol in educational demonstrations. C&EN counts that at least 46 people have been injured in similar incidents across the U.S. since September 2013. Of those injured at Woodson, two students were flown by helicopter to area hospitals. One was released on Nov. 2, and the second was still hospitalized as of C&EN press time. The other three students were treated at a local hospital and released the day of the incident. The teacher was treated at the school. The American Chemical Society, National Fire Protection Association, National Science Teachers Association, and Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board have each issued safety alerts or recommendations to prevent similar incidents. “Teachers say, ‘Oh, I’ve done it this way for years and never had a problem,’ ” says Ken Roy, director of environmental health and safety for Glastonbury Public Schools in Connecticut and chief science safety compliance adviser to the National Science Teachers Association. “But they’re underestimating the power of methanol.” Still, Roy emphasizes that schools should not ban demonstrations, hands-on experiments, or even methanol in response to these accidents. Instead, teachers need to be trained and required to do hazard analyses and risk assessments prior to demos or labs. They also need to take the precautions indicated by those assessments, such as handling chemicals appropriately and using barriers for protection.—JYLLIAN KEMSLEY
proposal is a choice for the status quo on ethanol, which means growth in advanced biofuel will happen elsewhere,” Koninckx says. DuPont is licensing its technology in China and Eastern Europe. The American Petroleum Institute, a trade group that would like the mandates reduced, and the pro-biofuel Fuels America have launched opposing television and radio campaigns about the standard. Meanwhile, advocacy groups such as the Environmental Working Group are warning against increasing the use of corn ethanol, saying it’s worse for climate change than gasoline. In an odd twist, API’s radio spot cites EWG’s position. EWG instead would like the focus of mandates to shift to advanced biofuel. “Ethanol made from corn stover—the leaves and stalks that remain in the field after the grain is harvested—has a life-cycle carbon intensity 96% lower than gasoline’s,” it stressed in a Nov. 3 report. Since 2007, the nation’s output of corn ethanol has increased to the point that, today, almost all gas contains 10% ethanol. API contends that going beyond that level can damage car engines. Production of cellulosic biofuel began only last year at plants built by Poet-DSM and Abengoa. Because few gas stations supply gasoline with more than 10% ethanol, backers of cellulosic ethanol worry that lowered mandates will squeeze out the new advanced biofuel.— MELODY BOMGARDNER
NOVEMBER 9, 2015
