Billions in AI Infrastructure. One Blind Spot in the Generator Room.

Data center construction spending in the United States hit $49.5 billion through April of this year — nearly four times the pace from the same period in 2025. More than 66 gigawatts of capacity is under construction across North America, with individual AI training campuses routinely drawing 100 to 500 megawatts of continuous power. This is the largest category of new industrial construction in the country.

Each of those facilities has a diesel backup system ready the moment utility power fails. The generators, day tanks, bulk storage, transfer pumps, fuel piping, and containment areas represent tens of thousands of gallons of fuel sitting inside or adjacent to some of the most expensive rooms on the planet. The backup power system protects the data center. But what protects the data center from the backup power system?

Why Diesel Is Still the Standard

Despite growing interest in natural gas and battery storage, diesel generators remain the backbone of data center backup power. Diesel starts fast — NFPA 110 classifies most data center systems as Level 1, Type 10, meaning the generator picks up load within ten seconds. Diesel is also energy-dense enough to store days of runtime in a reasonable footprint.

The fuel volumes are not small. NFPA 110 includes minimum fuel-tank capacity requirements that, for certain shorter-duration EPSS classifications, can require capacity above the calculated runtime fuel requirement. At 200 gallons per hour, 48 hours of runtime consumes 9,600 gallons before any additional tank-capacity margin. Actual required tank capacity depends on the applicable NFPA 110 classification and project requirements. Facilities with 2N redundancy store far more than that, and hyperscale campuses multiply those figures across multiple generator plants.

The Leak Detection Mistake That Keeps Getting Made

Most data centers have leak detection. Water sensing cable under the raised floor has been standard practice for years. The problem is that water-sensing cable does exactly what its name says—it detects water. Diesel fuel is non-conductive. A standard water-sensing cable will not respond to diesel contact. It will sit in a pool of fuel and report normal conditions indefinitely.

This is not a theoretical gap. A slow drip from a day tank fitting or a seeping flange on a fuel transfer line can spread along a containment tray, through a pipe trench, or under a raised floor without triggering an alarm, because the cable in its path was never designed to see it. By the time someone smells fuel or sees a sheen, the remediation is already expensive.

Hydrocarbon-specific detection cable is designed and tested to respond to specified hydrocarbon liquids rather than relying on water conductivity, meaning it alarms on diesel and fuel oil that water cable completely ignores. In a data center, where minutes of outage can mean millions in losses, that distinction is not academic.

What FM-7745 Means for Data Centers

For FM Global-insured facilities, FM Global property-loss-prevention guidance calls for FM Approved automatic leak detection in specified fuel-system locations. FM Approvals Class 7745 sets certification requirements for liquid leak detectors, including hydrocarbon detectors—testing sensitivity, response time, environmental durability, and specific liquid certification. The headline requirement: a 30-second alarm from the moment fuel contacts the sensor.

Thirty seconds matters in a data center more than almost any other building type. A diesel leak in a generator room can create a fire hazard, especially where fuel contacts hot surfaces or other ignition sources, compromises secondary containment, and begins attacking cable insulation. Faster detection reduces the time available for a leak to spread and facilitates earlier response. FM-7745 also requires that the detector be certified for the specific hydrocarbons it claims to detect — specifying "FM-7745 approved" without confirming which liquids are in the listing is one of the more common errors in data center fuel system design.

Where to Put the Sensors

Effective fuel leak detection means mapping the path from the fill point at the property line to the generator connections and covering every point where diesel can escape: bulk storage containment, day tank enclosures, sub-base tanks beneath generator sets, fuel transfer pump rooms, pipe trenches through mechanical corridors, and fill points with overflow containment.

Some of these are indoor, climate-controlled spaces. Others are outdoor pits exposed to rain, condensation, and temperature swings. The detection system must perform across all of them, and it must ignore water that collects in outdoor areas without generating false alarms that train operators to stop paying attention.

Integration with Building Management Systems

Data centers run on monitoring. A leak detection system that alarms only on a local panel depends on someone being in the right room at the right time — not reliable for a facility with minimal overnight staffing. Systems that communicate through Modbus RTU, 4–20 mA, dry contact relays, or Pt100 RTD emulation report directly into existing BMS and SCADA platforms, putting fuel alarms in the same stream as every other critical alert.

Building It In, Not Bolting It On

With data center construction moving faster than the industry has ever seen, fuel system design decisions made now will define detection capability for the next decade. For facilities where applicable code, insurer criteria, or project specifications require fuel-leak detection, incorporate hydrocarbon-specific rope sensors along fuel piping, point sensors in sumps and containment areas, and controllers that integrate cleanly with building management systems into the fuel-system design rather than treating them as an afterthought. They keep the backup power system from becoming the source of the next incident.

Naftosense builds FM-7745-approved hydrocarbon detection systems that alarm on diesel, fuel oil, and other refined fuels in under 30 seconds—with sensors that ignore water, resist false alarms, and carry a 10-year warranty. For data centers being designed or built today, the right time to spec leak detection is when you spec the generator.

To discuss the right configuration for your data center fuel system, visit www.naftosense.com or call (800) 774-5630.

SAF Doesn't Leak Like Jet A. Your Detection Shouldn't Assume It Does

Sustainable aviation fuel went from a talking point to a logistics problem faster than most airports expected. Global SAF production nearly doubled between 2024 and 2025, climbing to roughly 1.9 million tonnes. New blending facilities are coming online at major hubs - Delta just opened one at Minneapolis/St. Paul in July 2026, capable of managing up to 30 million gallons of neat SAF per year. And in the United States, the SAF Grand Challenge is targeting three billion gallons of annual production by 2030.

All of that fuel has to be stored, moved, and blended in infrastructure that did not exist five years ago. Every new tank, pipe run, pump skid, and containment area in that chain is a potential leak point. And here is the part that does not get enough attention: the leak detection at most of these sites was designed for conventional Jet A, and whether it is adequate for the fuels actually flowing today is a question worth asking.

What SAF Actually Is — and Why It Matters for Detection

SAF is not a single product. Eleven ASTM-approved production pathways fall under the D7566 specification, each using different feedstocks and conversion chemistry. The two dominant routes right now are HEFA, which processes fats and oils into synthetic paraffinic kerosene, and Alcohol-to-Jet, which converts ethanol or other alcohols into jet-range hydrocarbons. Fischer-Tropsch and Power-to-Liquid round out the field. Each pathway produces a fuel with a slightly different molecular profile, but all yield hydrocarbons that must be blended with conventional Jet A before reaching an aircraft—currently at ratios up to fifty percent.

The blended product is still fundamentally a hydrocarbon liquid. It moves through pipelines, sits in storage tanks, and pools in sumps just like conventional jet fuel. The leak detection challenge is not entirely new. But the infrastructure handling it often is — freshly constructed blending stations, dedicated storage tanks, additional transfer piping — and that new infrastructure deserves detection systems engineered for the job, not assumptions carried over from a fuel system that looked different ten years ago.

Where SAF Leaks Actually Happen

Follow the fuel from the refinery gate to the wing of the aircraft and count the handoffs. SAF arrives at a blending terminal by rail, truck, or pipeline. It goes into dedicated storage, gets metered and blended with Jet A, then moves through pipeline or truck to the airport fuel farm, into hydrant systems, and out to fueling aprons. Each transfer point — every pump, valve, fitting, manifold, and tank connection along that path — is a place where fuel can escape containment.

Fittings that passed hydrostatic testing during commissioning can develop slow weeps under thermal cycling and vibration once operations begin. A blending facility handling tens of millions of gallons per year cannot afford to learn about these issues from a stain on the concrete or a call from a regulator.

The Alcohol-to-Jet Wrinkle

Here is where things get more interesting for operators who think their existing sensors have it covered. The Alcohol-to-Jet pathway — projected to supply roughly a quarter of U.S. SAF output by 2030 — uses ethanol as its primary feedstock. That means facilities handling AtJ-pathway SAF are working with ethanol in bulk quantities before conversion, alongside finished hydrocarbon product after conversion.

Ethanol is fully miscible with water. It does not float, does not form a visible sheen, and does not trigger conventional hydrocarbon sensors that rely on detecting a floating fuel layer. If ethanol leaks into a sump with rainwater or condensation, it dissolves and disappears. A sensor designed to catch gasoline or diesel floating on water will not see it.

That is a real gap. Facilities that handle both ethanol feedstock and finished SAF product need detection that covers both ends of the chemistry — polar solvents like ethanol and conventional hydrocarbons like kerosene — without generating false alarms from water and condensation that are always present in outdoor fuel environments.

What Leak Detection for SAF Facilities Should Look Like

A detection system protecting SAF infrastructure needs to respond rapidly to hydrocarbon liquids, including the synthetic kerosenes that SAF pathways produce. It needs to detect ethanol and other polar solvents at concentrations that matter for environmental compliance. It needs to ignore water — because sumps and containment areas collect rain, snow, and condensation constantly. And it needs to distinguish a genuine leak from the residual film, grease, and background contamination that accumulate in any operating fuel facility.

That combination of requirements is what polymer absorption sensor technology was built for. PAS-based sensors respond to hydrocarbons through direct chemical reaction with the polymer matrix — not by detecting conductivity or a floating layer. That mechanism works across the range of refined fuels and synthetic kerosenes that SAF blending produces. Paired with intelligent thresholding algorithms, the same platform catches ethanol in water at actionable concentrations without crying wolf every time it rains.

The Infrastructure Is Going In Now

SAF blending facilities are not a future consideration. They are under construction and coming online today. Federal Airport Improvement Program grants now fund on-airport SAF infrastructure. Europe's ReFuelEU mandate requires SAF blending at European airports. Airlines are locking in offtake agreements measured in hundreds of millions of gallons. Every one of those facilities needs leak detection, and the question is whether operators spec systems that match the fuels being handled or default to equipment designed for an earlier era.

If your facility is handling SAF or building infrastructure to do so, the right time to add leak detection is before the fuel starts flowing. Naftosense systems have been engineered for exactly this combination of challenges: fast hydrocarbon response, ethanol and polar solvent detection, water immunity, and field durability that keeps working in outdoor environments for a decade.

To discuss the right sensor configuration for your SAF infrastructure, visit www.naftosense.com or call (800) 774-5630.

Why Ethanol Sumps Need a Sensor That Isn't Fooled by Rain, Grease, or Old Residue

Ask anyone who manages a tank farm or blending terminal what keeps them up at night, and "nuisance alarms" will come up almost as often as "actual leaks." A sensor that cries wolf every time it rains, or every time a little residual oil film sits in a sump, eventually gets ignored. And a sensor that gets ignored isn't protecting anything. That's the exact problem Naftosense set out to solve with the FLD-xRTD-PS, a self-powered acquisition module built for facilities that need to catch ethanol and hydrocarbon leaks without drowning operators in false positives.

Sumps are the low points built into tank farms, blending terminals, and loading racks specifically to catch anything that leaks — a basin where drips and spills collect instead of spreading into the surrounding soil. For most fuels, that containment strategy works well because the fuel floats and pools where it's easy to spot. Ethanol breaks that assumption. It's fully miscible with water, so instead of forming a visible layer, it dissolves right into whatever water is already sitting in the sump — condensation, rain, cleaning runoff — and disappears from view. That's precisely the blind spot the FLD-xRTD-PS and its sensing probe are built to close.

Built for the Field, Not Just the Lab

The FLD-xRTD-PS is designed to live outdoors, in the kind of conditions that would put most electronics out of commission: freezing winters, scorching summers, condensation, humidity, and years of exposure without anyone opening the enclosure. It pairs with a reusable, fully passive sensing probe from Naftosense that's installed in sumps, containment areas, and other low points where leaks tend to collect. Because the probe is passive and reusable, facilities aren't stuck replacing sensing elements every time there's a minor event.

What sets this module apart is the intelligence built into how it reads the probe. Rather than treating any conductive change as an alarm, the module runs advanced measurement and data-treatment algorithms that learn to tell the difference between a genuine leak and background interference like motor oil residue, grease, or the ghost of a leak that happened months ago. That distinction matters enormously in real-world operations, where sumps rarely stay pristine.

Speaks the Language Your Instruments Already Know

One of the more practical touches is how the FLD-xRTD-PS reports its status. Instead of requiring a proprietary output that only works with Naftosense hardware, it emulates a standard Pt100 RTD signal. That means it plugs directly into the temperature transmitters and monitoring systems facilities already have on hand, and it can be tested with something as simple as a multimeter. Engineers don't need specialized diagnostic equipment to confirm the unit is working correctly, and integrators can pair it with practically any third-party wireless transmitter on the market.

The resistance readings themselves are easy to interpret on sight: roughly 100 ohms means everything is normal, a jump into the 151-300 ohm range signals a leak (with 32 graduated steps to indicate severity), and anything above 1 kOhm tells you the battery has run out and the unit has shut down. There's even a distinct reading for a broken sensor string versus a hardware fault, so troubleshooting doesn't turn into guesswork.

No Wiring, No Maintenance Visits, No Surprises

Because the field box runs on an internal lithium thionyl chloride battery rather than external power, installation is simpler and there's no cable run to maintain. Naftosense rates the expected service life at more than a decade, even in extreme cold, and backs the unit with a 10-year warranty. It's IP67/NEMA4X rated, so it can handle outdoor exposure and even direct burial immersion, and it's certified for hazardous locations under ATEX, IECEx, and North American Class I, Division 1 / Zone 0 standards, in either an F4 model (rated to 140°F) or a T3 model (rated to 176°F).

For refineries, distilleries, tank farms, and fuel retail sites juggling ethanol blends, oil-on-water conditions, or both, the FLD-xRTD-PS offers a way to get reliable, low-maintenance leak detection without adding another point of failure to the facility's infrastructure.

FM-7745 Explained: What the Certification Actually Tests and Why Specifiers Should Care

If you've ever read a spec sheet for hydrocarbon leak detection and seen "FM-7745 approved" listed as a requirement, you've probably wondered what that actually means. Most engineers know the name. Far fewer can tell you what the standard tests, why those tests exist, or how to tell the difference between a product that genuinely meets the intent and one that just carries the line on a brochure.

This piece pulls back the curtain on FM-7745 — the testing, the surveillance, the language inside the standard that matters most, and what specifiers should look for when comparing systems.

What is FM-7745?

FM-7745 is the FM Approvals standard for liquid leak detectors. When it was first published in 2009 it focused on diesel fuel detection. In 2012 it was expanded to a broader range of hydrocarbon liquids — gasoline, jet fuel, hydraulic fluids, motor oils, transformer oils, heating oil. The 2021 revision added water leak detectors and restructured the document into distinct application categories. Today it is titled "Liquid Leak Detectors" and covers, separately, hydrocarbon detectors for above-ground installations, hydrocarbon detectors for below-ground installations, water leak detectors, water detectors based on usage-pattern monitoring, and water detectors for roof assemblies.

That last detail matters for specifiers. An approval for an above-ground hydrocarbon application is not automatically an approval for a below-ground one. The standard treats those as different problems.

FM Approvals is the certification arm of FM, the commercial property insurer formerly known as FM Global. (The company rebranded to "FM" in July 2024.) That parentage matters more than people realize. The standard exists because insurers wanted a way to verify that a leak detection product would actually do what its data sheet promised — fast enough to prevent a loss, reliably enough to avoid nuisance shutdowns, and durably enough to keep working in real installations.

A product carrying the FM-7745 mark has been through performance testing, a factory examination, a quality system audit, and is enrolled in an ongoing surveillance program. It isn't a one-time stamp. FM auditors come back.

What does FM-7745 actually test?

The certification is a package, not a single test. Here is what is actually inside it.

Response time. The headline requirement is that the detector must alarm within 30 seconds of contact with the specified hydrocarbon liquid. Thirty seconds is not arbitrary. It is the window between an early indication and an event that has already escalated — fuel reaching a storm drain, vapor accumulating in a confined space, a transformer fire taking hold. If a sensor needs five minutes to respond, the leak is no longer just a leak.

Sensitivity. FM tests detection against the manufacturer's own claimed minimum sensitivity, under three different conditions — leaks on a dry floor, a thin film floating on water, and varying water depths. A sensor that responds quickly on a dry concrete pad but misses a film floating on rainwater will not pass. This is a more rigorous scenario than most people picture, because real installations are rarely dry. Tank farms see rain. Containment areas pool water. Sumps stay wet.

Specific liquid certification. This is the part most spec writers miss. A product is approved for the particular hydrocarbon liquids it was tested against. A unit certified for diesel is not automatically certified for gasoline, jet fuel, or transformer oil. When you see "FM-7745 approved" on a data sheet, the right question is: approved for which liquids?

Environmental durability. Beyond the headline sensitivity and response tests, FM subjects detectors to a broad set of environmental stresses — vibration, corrosion, voltage variation and surges, dust ingress, temperature extremes, humidity, and static discharge — and supervises the system across various failure modes. This is the quiet half of the standard. A sensor that alarms in 25 seconds in a clean lab but stops working after six months on a vibrating skid in a humid coastal facility is the failure mode the durability tests are designed to catch.

Hazardous location compatibility. FM-7745 does not stand alone for installations in classified areas. It works in conjunction with the hazardous location standards — FM 3600 for general electrical equipment in classified locations, plus the relevant intrinsic safety and enclosure-rating documents. A sensor going into a Class I Division 1 zone has to satisfy both sets of requirements. Notably, FM Approvals is the only Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory that combines performance testing against manufacturer-specified hydrocarbon targets with hazardous location certification in a single program. Passive sensor designs and properly barriered acquisition modules are the usual way to handle the field installation.

Marking. The standard specifies how an approved product must be labeled. This sounds bureaucratic but it is how installers and inspectors verify in the field that a given piece of hardware actually matches the approval.

Manufacturing examination. FM reviews the factory where the product is made — production processes, change control, traceability. The point is to confirm that the unit on your loading dock was built the same way as the unit that passed the test.

Quality assurance audit. The manufacturer's quality system is audited at certification and on a recurring basis. If the quality program slips, the approval can be withdrawn.

Follow-up surveillance. This is the piece that separates a real third-party approval from a marketing claim. FM returns periodically to confirm that nothing has drifted — same components, same processes, same performance.

Why the 30-second alarm requirement matters more than it looks

A lot of detection technologies can eventually identify a leak. The 30-second clock is what separates protection from documentation. Anything slower captures the leak after the loss has already happened.

Consider a rooftop diesel day tank above a hospital. A slow drip behind a fitting at 2 a.m. The difference between a 30-second alarm and a 10-minute alarm is the difference between a maintenance call and a fuel-soaked roof membrane, a closure order, and an environmental claim. The standard codifies what insurers have learned the hard way: speed is the asset.

Why "approved for the specific liquid" is the line specifiers miss

Here is a real-world failure mode. A facility specifies an FM-7745 approved sensor because the spec calls for it. The sensor is approved for diesel. The installation is around a transformer using mineral oil, or a process line carrying jet fuel, or a generator that was converted to renewable diesel during a fuel program update. The sensor may still respond — or it may not. The approval does not cover the substance present.

When evaluating a quote, look at the certification listing, not the marketing line. Confirm the specific hydrocarbons the unit was tested against, and confirm those match what is actually in the tanks, pipes, and containment areas it is protecting. If your operation handles multiple hydrocarbons, you want a product family with broad liquid coverage in its approval rather than a single-fuel device.

Common misconceptions worth correcting

A few things come up over and over in conversations with engineers and procurement teams.

"FM Approved and UL Listed mean the same thing." They do not. Both are respected, but they use different test protocols, different scopes, and different surveillance regimes. A product can hold one and not the other. FM-7745 in particular is unusual in pairing performance testing against specific target liquids with hazardous location certification — a combination not all NRTL programs offer.

"If the data sheet says FM-7745, the whole system is approved." Not necessarily. Approval applies to specific model numbers, often a defined combination of sensor, acquisition module, and controller. Substitute an unapproved component and the system, as installed, is no longer the approved configuration.

"All hydrocarbon sensors respond about the same." Performance varies a great deal once you leave laboratory conditions. Cold temperatures slow some chemistries dramatically. Water immersion confuses others. Heavy oils do not behave like light fuels. The FM tests — sensitivity plus the environmental stress battery — exist precisely because data sheets do not survive contact with a tank farm.

"Approval is forever." It is not. Surveillance audits can withdraw an approval. Always check the current FM Approval Guide listing, not a brochure printed three years ago.

"An above-ground approval covers below-ground use." Since the 2021 revision, the standard treats these as separate application categories with their own testing. A sump or vault application needs a listing that explicitly covers below-ground use.

Five questions to ask when reviewing an FM-7745 spec

These five questions cover most of what matters.

1. Which specific hydrocarbon liquids is the product approved to detect, and do those match the fluids on site?
2. Which components — sensor, module, controller — are covered, and is the proposed system the approved configuration?
3. What is the manufacturer's stated response time, and does it hold across the temperature, humidity, and vibration range of the installation?
4. Is the sensor reusable after exposure, or does the protected area become unprotected after the first event?
5. How is the system installed in hazardous locations — passive sensor with a Zener barrier, intrinsically safe field box, or something else — and does the approval cover that arrangement and the above-ground or below-ground application?

If a vendor cannot answer those quickly and clearly, that is a signal.

How Naftosense approaches FM-7745

The Naftosense FM-7745 approved line was designed around the realities behind the standard, not just the marketing benefit of carrying it. The approved controllers, sensor cables, and point sensors detect a broad range of refined fuels and oils — gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, motor and lube oils, transformer oils — within the required 30-second window, across a wide temperature range. The sensors are passive and safe for hazardous locations when wired through the appropriate Zener barrier or intrinsically safe field box. They are cleanable and reusable after a leak event, which means a single incident does not leave a section of the facility unprotected while replacement parts are sourced. And every Naftosense product carries a 10-year factory warranty.

The intent behind FM-7745 — fast, reliable, specific, durable detection in real environments — is the same brief these products were built to satisfy.

If you are writing a specification, comparing quotes, or auditing an existing installation, the move is to look past the logo. Read the approval listing. Ask the five questions above. The standard rewards the engineers who actually use it.

Pipeline Expansion Is Up. So Is the Compliance Bar. Here's How Naftosense Helps

If you work anywhere near oil and gas, you've probably noticed two things happening at once. The broader push around hydrocarbons is leaning toward expansion — more drilling, more transportation, more throughput to keep up with demand that just keeps climbing. At the same time, the rules governing how that product moves through a pipe are being rewritten, and the direction is more nuanced than the deregulation headlines suggest.

That nuance trips a lot of operators up. Pipeline safety sits in its own lane, and after years of operating under an expired authorization, Congress is finally moving to reauthorize and modernize the program — tightening some areas while streamlining others.

That's where Naftosense fits in. Naftosense is a PHMSA-compliant system built specifically to help liquid pipeline operators meet their compliance obligations — every line, every audit, every reporting cycle.

What is PHMSA, and why does it matter for liquid pipelines?

PHMSA stands for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. It's the federal agency, sitting inside the U.S. Department of Transportation, that writes and enforces the safety rules for the country's pipeline network and for hazardous materials in transit.

Its mission is straightforward: protect people and the environment by making sure energy and hazardous materials move safely. To do that, PHMSA sets national standards, runs enforcement, conducts research, and partners with state inspectors who handle the bulk of on-the-ground oversight — roughly 85% of the inspection and enforcement workload.

If you operate a liquid pipeline in the U.S. — crude, refined products, NGLs, CO2, anhydrous ammonia, anything in that family — PHMSA is the agency you answer to.

Why is pipeline safety reauthorization a big deal right now?

Because PHMSA has been operating without a current authorization since the PIPES Act of 2020 expired in late 2023. For more than two years, the agency has run on annual appropriations while Congress worked through what the next chapter should look like.

That chapter is now taking shape. The Pipeline Safety Authorization Act of 2026 is a five-year reauthorization currently moving through Congress, and for liquid pipeline operators it brings real changes worth tracking.

Are pipeline regulations getting stricter, looser, or both?

Honestly — both, depending on where you look.

The current reauthorization draft pulls in two directions at once:

• Stricter where it counts on enforcement. The bill proposes tougher penalties for safety violations, expanded voluntary information-sharing across operators, and stronger state damage-prevention requirements tied to the leading cause of pipeline incidents.
• Streamlined where rules have piled up. The same draft removes regulations deemed duplicative and is positioned by its sponsors as making PHMSA more efficient and predictable.

There's also legitimate political disagreement embedded in the bill. Some lawmakers argue it doesn't go far enough on areas like CO2 pipeline rulemaking and methane leak detection. Enforcement posture under the current administration has also been mixed in practice. So the picture isn't a clean "tightening" or "loosening" — it's a modernization, and the operators who track the details will be better positioned than the ones who don't.

What is clear: the country is moving more energy through more miles of pipe than ever, and the safety framework is being rebuilt to keep pace. Expect more scrutiny on the things that matter most to PHMSA's mission.

What does PHMSA compliance actually require for liquid pipelines?

At a high level, liquid pipeline operators have to demonstrate that they're managing their assets safely across the full lifecycle. That includes:

• Integrity management and ongoing risk assessment
• Leak detection capabilities and response readiness
• Operator qualification and training records
• Accurate, timely incident and accident reporting
• Public awareness and damage-prevention coordination
• Recordkeeping that holds up under inspection

The catch is that a lot of this lives in spreadsheets, email threads, scattered PDFs, and tribal knowledge. When an inspector shows up, or when reauthorization brings new requirements online, that fragmentation is where operators get burned.

How does Naftosense help?

Naftosense is built to take the friction out of PHMSA compliance for every liquid pipeline operator — from a single right-of-way to a multi-state network.

The system is designed around what compliance teams actually need to do day to day:

• Centralize the record. Every document, inspection, qualification, and incident in one auditable place. No more digging through inboxes the night before a review.
• Stay aligned with PHMSA standards by design. The platform is built to PHMSA's framework, so the workflows you run match the rules you're being measured against.
• Get ahead of inspections. Real-time visibility into where your program stands means surprises stop being surprises.
• Adapt as the rules change. With reauthorization moving forward and stricter penalties on the table, having a system that absorbs new requirements without starting from scratch is the difference between scrambling and operating.

The point isn't to add another tool to the stack. The point is that PHMSA compliance is being modernized, and the operators who handle that transition well are the ones who treat compliance as an operating system rather than a fire drill.

The bottom line

Pipeline expansion is real. The energy demand driving it is real. And after more than two years of operating under an expired authorization, PHMSA's pipeline safety program is finally being rebuilt for the next five years — with stronger penalties in some places, streamlined rules in others, and modernized expectations across the board.

If you run liquid pipelines, the safer assumption is that compliance is going to demand more discipline, not less. Stricter enforcement on the violations that matter. Cleaner recordkeeping. Faster reporting. Better coordination with state programs.

Naftosense exists so that operators don't have to choose between moving product and meeting the rules. It's a PHMSA-compliant system that helps every liquid pipeline keep up with what's required today and what's coming next.

If pipeline safety reauthorization is on your radar — and it should be — this is the right time to make sure your compliance foundation is built for it.

Why Your Fuel Leak Sensors Are Missing Ethanol — And What to Do About It

Naftosense | Industry Insights

Environmental Protection

Why Traditional Leak Detection Fails for Ethanol — And What Actually Works

Most fuel leak sensors were built with gasoline in mind. But ethanol plays by entirely different rules. Here's why that matters, and how a purpose-built detection system finally closes the gap.

Naftosense  ·  Oil & Gas Environmental Compliance  ·  7 min read

If you manage fuel storage or transfer operations, you already understand the importance of leak detection. You have systems in place. You have sensors in your sumps. You run regular checks. So it might come as a surprise to learn that when it comes to ethanol specifically, most of those systems are essentially flying blind.

That's not a knock on your operations — it's a chemistry problem. Ethanol behaves in a fundamentally different way than the fuels traditional sensors were designed to catch. Understanding that difference is the first step toward actually fixing it.

The Chemistry Problem Nobody Talks About Enough

Traditional fuel leak detectors work on a simple principle: hydrocarbons float on water. When gasoline or diesel leaks into a sump or containment area, it sits on top of any water present. Sensors designed to detect a hydrophobic layer on a water surface work well for exactly that scenario.

Ethanol, however, is miscible with water. That's a fancy way of saying it mixes completely and doesn't separate. When ethanol leaks, it doesn't pool on the surface — it dissolves right in. For a sensor looking for a floating hydrocarbon layer, there's nothing to detect. The leak goes unnoticed while the contaminated water continues to spread.

"When ethanol leaks, it doesn't pool on the surface — it dissolves right in. For a sensor looking for a floating hydrocarbon layer, there's nothing to detect."

This creates a compounding problem underground. Ethanol's water solubility means contamination can migrate farther and faster through soil and groundwater than a conventional gasoline spill would. By the time the issue is discovered through traditional monitoring methods, the affected area can be significantly larger than it would have been otherwise.

Why Ethanol Is Everywhere Now — And Why That Raises the Stakes

This issue has become much more urgent in recent years because ethanol is no longer a niche product. Government blending mandates have pushed ethanol into the mainstream fuel supply at scale. Today, virtually every gallon of gasoline sold in the United States contains a meaningful percentage of ethanol, typically around ten percent, with higher blends increasingly common in certain markets.

That means refineries, blending terminals, pipeline systems, and fuel storage facilities are all handling ethanol in volumes they simply weren't a decade ago. The infrastructure wasn't always built with this in mind, and neither were the monitoring systems installed alongside it.

Regulators have taken notice. Environmental agencies treat ethanol leaks seriously, in part because of the groundwater migration risk described above. A leak that might once have been contained and remediated relatively quickly can turn into a protracted, expensive environmental response when ethanol is involved. The reputational and financial consequences of a missed detection event are real.

Where Leaks Actually Happen

Ethanol moves through a long chain before it reaches a consumer's fuel tank. It's produced, transported by rail or truck, received at blending terminals, stored in bulk tanks, measured and blended, then transferred into distribution pipelines and tanker trucks. Each one of those handoffs — every pump, fitting, valve, pipe joint, and tank seal in that chain — is a potential leak point.

The challenge isn't just detection at any one facility. It's consistent, reliable monitoring across every node of a complex distribution network, in environments ranging from climate-controlled blending rooms to outdoor storage areas exposed to rain, temperature swings, and condensation. Any detection system has to work reliably across all of those conditions without generating constant false alarms that erode operator trust.

The Naftosense Approach: Built for Ethanol, Not Adapted for It

The Naftosense FLD system was engineered from the ground up for this specific challenge. Rather than retrofitting a hydrocarbon sensor with additional capabilities, the technology is designed to detect alcohols and polar solvents as its primary function — with sensitivity to fossil fuels and hydrocarbons as a secondary benefit.

The system is configured to reliably detect ethanol at concentrations of 20 percent by volume in water. That threshold matters because regulators generally treat concentrations at or above that level as a reportable concern. Below 20 percent, ethanol contamination is typically not considered a regulatory event. The Naftosense system is tuned to the exact threshold that matters for compliance, so operators get actionable information rather than noise.

The Three Core Components

Sensing

FLD-PSP Probe

A fully encapsulated, high-performance sensing probe installed directly in sumps, containment areas, and low points. Factory-installed in a stainless steel slotted tube for protection and consistent positioning.

Acquisition

FLD-MXM-PS Module

The field-level acquisition module that interprets probe signals with intelligent thresholding. Built-in algorithms track electrical conductivity between sensor wires to minimize false positives from condensation, dust, and conductive dirt.

Control

FLD-SMP Controller

The master control module connecting the field system to facility infrastructure. Supports Modbus RTU and 4–20 mA outputs for direct integration with SCADA and PLC systems. Covers wired layouts up to one mile.

Detection Speed: What the Numbers Look Like

One question operators always ask is how fast a detection system responds once a leak occurs. The answer varies depending on what's leaking and the ambient conditions, but the Naftosense FLD-PSP probe delivers response times that are practically useful for real-world operations.

Substance	Typical Detection Time
20%–100% alcohol in water	2 to 2.5 minutes
Gasoline and other hydrocarbons	30 seconds to 10 minutes
Hydrocarbon vapors	3 to 4 minutes

A detection time of two to two and a half minutes for alcohol in water means operators can respond before a small leak becomes a large one — and well before regulators become involved.

The False Positive Problem (And Why It's Solved Here)

Here's a situation any operator with field experience will recognize: you install a sensitive detection system, and then you spend the next six months responding to nuisance alarms triggered by condensation, morning dew, cleaning water, or conductive dust settling on sensor surfaces. Eventually, operators start ignoring alarms. At that point, the detection system is worse than useless — it creates a false sense of security while providing no real protection.

The FLD-MXM-PS module addresses this directly with what Naftosense calls intelligent thresholding. The module continuously monitors electrical conductivity between sensor wires and uses a built-in algorithm to distinguish between the conductivity signature of a genuine ethanol or solvent leak and the conductivity patterns associated with environmental factors like condensation and dust. Alarm thresholds are adjustable from the monitoring panel, allowing facilities to tune sensitivity to their specific operating environment.

The result is a system that operators can trust. When an alarm triggers, it means something real has happened. That's the foundation of effective environmental compliance — not just detection capability, but detection reliability.

Integration With Existing Infrastructure

One practical concern for any new monitoring system is how it fits into existing facility infrastructure. Most industrial facilities already have SCADA or PLC systems managing a wide range of operational parameters. Adding a new monitoring technology only makes sense if it can report into those existing systems cleanly, without requiring parallel infrastructure or manual data transfer.

The Naftosense FLD system supports both Modbus RTU and 4–20 mA output interfaces, which are the two most common communication standards in industrial control environments. That means alarm data flows directly into whatever monitoring platform the facility already uses. Latching alarms with push button reset give operators clear, unambiguous status information, and alarms can also be reset remotely through a Modbus command when that's more practical. Zener barriers enable safe installation in C1D1 classified locations where many ethanol handling operations take place.

A 10-Year Warranty Worth Noting

Industrial sensors installed in harsh environments face real durability demands. The FLD system comes with a ten-year warranty — a meaningful commitment for equipment that may be buried in sumps or installed in containment pits and expected to perform reliably for years without active maintenance.

The Bottom Line

Ethanol isn't going away. If anything, its role in the fuel supply is growing. For operators handling ethanol at any point in the production and distribution chain, the question isn't whether ethanol-specific leak detection matters — it's whether your current system is actually capable of providing it.

If your detection infrastructure was installed primarily with hydrocarbon fuels in mind, there's a meaningful gap in your environmental monitoring coverage. The Naftosense FLD system was built to close exactly that gap, with technology that treats ethanol detection as a first-class problem rather than an afterthought.

To learn more or to discuss the right configuration for your facility, visit www.naftosense.com or call (800) 774-5630.

Ready to Close the Gap in Your Ethanol Monitoring?

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© Naftosense  ·  Ethanol Leak Detection for Environmental Protection in Oil & Gas

Executive Summary: Getting Ahead of Leaks & Spills — Naftosense White Paper

Get the full "Getting Ahead of Leaks & Spills" white paper here.

Leaks in pipelines, storage tanks, and industrial systems present significant operational, environmental, and financial risks. Traditional detection methods — visual inspections, pressure monitoring, and infrared sensing — often fall short in terms of accuracy, speed, and cost-effectiveness. This white paper, authored by Naftosense R&D coordinator Stefan Balatchev, presents polymer absorption sensors as a modern, real-time alternative capable of detecting hydrocarbons and other chemicals with high sensitivity across a wide range of industrial applications.

Technology Overview

Polymer absorption sensors operate through three core mechanisms: selective polymer materials with high chemical affinity, physical absorption that causes measurable changes in the polymer (e.g., expansion, viscosity, dielectric properties), and signal conversion via optical, electrical, or mechanical means — most commonly via changes in electrical resistance or capacitance.

Key Applications

The technology is applicable across a broad industrial landscape, including oil and gas pipelines (particularly at block valves and pig launchers), above-ground and underground storage tanks, offshore platforms and subsea pipelines, and refineries and chemical processing plants. Notably, the sensors also support emerging energy sectors, detecting leaks of ethanol, methanol, biodiesel, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC) — positioning Naftosense as relevant to the energy transition, not just legacy fossil fuel infrastructure.

System Integration

Naftosense hardware pairs with the Lindsay SentraLink LD platform to deliver a comprehensive monitoring solution. This combination provides 24/7 web-based dashboard visibility, remote accessibility via cellular or satellite communication, battery-powered off-grid operation, and automated email/text alerts. The integrated system is designed for deployment in pipelines, tank farms, refineries, and produced water sites.

Core Value Proposition

The system can detect leaks as small as 1 ounce of product, enabling rapid response before minor incidents escalate into major environmental or operational events. Its durability, low maintenance requirements, and adaptability to harsh environments — including deep-sea conditions — make it a compelling solution for both conventional and challenging deployment scenarios.

Conclusion

Naftosense's polymer absorption sensors, combined with complementary monitoring platforms like Lindsay SentraLink LD, offer a reliable, scalable, and forward-looking approach to leak detection. The solution addresses growing regulatory pressure, aging infrastructure, and the evolving demands of new fuel technologies, making it a strong candidate for organizations seeking to proactively protect their infrastructure and minimize environmental liability.