Petroman Environmental has won the Association of Petroleum and Explosive Administration’s (APEA) 2012 Environmental Protection & Improvement Award for its vapour management recovery system.

The system, which was the prize in a recent Forecourt Trader reader offer, is said to save an average service station 4,000 litres of retained vapour per year. Extrapolated nationally, this represents a potential national saving of around 34mlpa, representing a reduction in tanker movements of 850 per year. The Petroman vapour management recovery system operates by preventing the displaced petrol vapour from being drawn back into fuel tankers via standard Stage 1b vapour recovery systems.

The three-stage process works by reducing the amount of vapour created when petrol deliveries are made. Through the use of the Petroman Softfill perforated beam, the existing vapour is mixed back into the fill stream via Petroman’s Accumulus valve, and vapour pressure is balanced across all petrol tanks to reduce the amount of vapour that is sucked back into the fuel tanker. Petroman managing director, Rodney Carter, said: "It’s always good to have the acclaim of one’s peers, especially when so much effort and development has been put into a product. These products have been my personal babies for a number of years."

Other winners included health and safety consultancy Britrisk Safety, which won the Health and Safety Performance Award; pipework manufacturer Nupigeco, which was named winner of the Innovation Award for its SmartFlex system; and Top 50 Indie The Kay Group, which won Service Station of the Year for its newly redeveloped forecourt in Formby.