Can crude oil storage tanks be used to hold heavy oil and residue oil after being emptied?
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Can crude oil storage tanks be used to store heavy oil and residue oil after being emptied, provided that the necessary qualifications are in place?
Crude oil stored in crude oil tanks has a high volatility; therefore, external floating roofs are generally used, and antistatic seals are employed at the sealing points to prevent the evaporation of oil and gas as well as flash explosions. Heavy oil and residue are generally stored in dome tanks; there is no floating roof, only explosion-proof, flame-retardant, and venting caps, making the medium relatively safe. Theories should be able to be stored, but it’s not clear whether there are any specific regulatory standards.
If cleaning is done, there should be no problem, but the insulation of the tank may need to be improved, as heavy oil and residue oil have much higher freezing points.
Thank you:handshake
It is sealed with an external floating roof seal bag and contains diesel; the designed storage temperature is generally 60 degrees. The area of the heating coil is insufficient, and the temperature for storing heavy residue oil cannot be too high – this point needs to be taken into consideration.
Check the drawings; examine the corrosion on the bottom plate
As long as the tank structure and its attachments are in good condition, there is no issue with storing heavy oil or residue oil; however, storing residue oil can easily damage the under-tank sampler. Replacing this sampler is rather troublesome, so it can only be replaced during maintenance when the tank is taken out of service. On my end, after the crude oil storage tanks were filled with residue oil, the samplers located beneath the two tanks were damaged.
Do you know anyone who works in residue oil? I’d like to get to know them