During the past year, Buchart-Horn has designed rehabilitation of more than 15 US Army and Air Force gasoline stations in Germany. German law stipulates that the surface of a gasoline station must be sealed against infiltration of fuel products into the earth below.
Vapor recovery is a hallmark of current German regulation.
This means that nearly every service station in Germany must retrieve benzin vapor from the dispensing nozzle with a vacuum pump located on the fuel pump unit. In the United States, where the trend toward vapor recovery is new, only California forces stations to comply with similar laws and ordinances. Several other US states mandate a passive system that seals the nozzle at the fill point on the vehicle.