Liquefied petroleum gas transport: Analyzing R&D options for improved safety

The authors developed a simple model to help Transport Canada identify promising avenues for R&D projects to make rail or truck transport of liquified petroleum gases (LPGs) safer and to determine the economic merits of proposals submitted to the department for funding under its Energy Transport R&D Program. The model computes expected net benefits for proposed R&D projects from estimates of R&D costs, potential effects on LPG release rates and consequences, and unit costs of incorporating the R&D results in new and existing rail tank cars and tank trucks. The model accounts for the possibility that the R&D effort may be unsuccessful, and that if successful, the results may not be adopted. The methodology demonstrated that funding for two suggested R&D areas was not economically justified and narrowed attention to two categories of R&D projects.