Two years ago, Underwriters Laboratory (UL) rescinded certification on E85 dispensing products. According to Ethanol Producer Magazine, Gilbarco Veeder-Root and Dresser Wayne have each submitted pumps (Dresser Wayne dispenser shown left) for E85 UL certification and it is expected that there will be certification in 2009.

According to Scott Negley, Dresser Wayne’s director of product management for North America and secretary on the board of the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition, the equipment his company manufactures has already passed UL’s required testing procedures for E85. All equipment on the dispenser must be certified, however, and that is what the industry is now waiting for. “Until you get a full set of components certified, we are not allowed to put a label—a certification mark—on our dispenser because the system lacks certification,” Negley says. He says that dispensing hoses will most likely be the last piece of equipment to be certified.

Gilbarco’s Richard Browne, vice president of North American marketing, said, “Our flexible-fuel unit has special material coating and elastomers that will stand up to the aggressive/corrosive nature of high alcohol fuels,” Browne says. “Every component in the dispenser that comes in contact with the fuel has been upgraded.” Gilbarco’s dispenser expects UL approval by the end of this year.