Gasoline electrification: moisture and temperature influence

Electrostatic charging phenomenon in gas–liquid–solid flow systems

“…In Germany, between 1992 and 1995, more than 30 fires occurred while vehicles were being refueled, and electrostatic charging was reported as the most probable ignition source (von Pidoll et al, 1997). In the United States, between 2000 and 2004, 161 accidents or fires that were reported to the Petroleum Equipment Institute (PEI) took place during refueling (Nabours, 2003(Nabours, , 2004Perisse et al, 2005). For the last 30 years, flow electrification of insulating oil via electrostatic charging has also been suspected as the cause of power transformer failures (Bourgeois et al, 2005).…”

“…Car manufacturers have developed a filtration system for vehicle engines that is a compact module mainly made of insulating plastic materials (Perisse et al, 2005). Fuels generally have low dielectric constants leading to a significant amount of charge generation via continuous contacting and separating between the moving non-conductive fuel and the walls of fuel pipes or filtration systems (Kiss et al, 2005).…”