Distillery Ethanol process and Storage Tanks

[Bill3752]

I have come across some distilleries that are applying NFPA as follows to atmospheric tanks (designed to 1 oz/in2:
1. Have automatic sprinkler systems - F factor = .3.
2. There is verbiage in NFPA that states that for ethanol can take another 50% reduction on top of that - i.e. F factor = .15.

Anyone have experience with this? Must tanks be designed to a specific standard to incorporate this?

Off hand, taking this level of credit scares me.

 

[ProSafPlant1]

Doesn't NFPA require the fire protection to be a Fixed Waterspray System meeting NFPA 15?

A sprinkler system meeting NFPA 13 with normally closed sprinkler heads isn't equivalent to a waterspray system with open nozzles.

 

[MJCronin]

Distillery fire protection design requirements are contained in this FM Document:

https://www.scribd.com/document/435871312/Destileria

MJCronin
Sr. Process Engineer